Hive: Help me find an airbox

I'm looking for an air-box for the Midlana project. I would prefer to use an OEM style box and paper filter. I'm trying to avoid aftermarket oiled filters. Flat or cone style would work, but I need an inlet hole I can hook to a hose to draw fresh air, and an outlet that points in somewhat the right direction. It needs to support 350 horsepower +- for my basically stock SRT-4 engine.

Here is the space I have to work with:

There is room for a box that is wide and flat (around 12" long  x9" wide x3-4" high at the left side where the motor mount brace is, more on the right side), or tall and narrow (12" long x 4" wide by 10-11" high). A round shape in the 8 inch diameter range would also work. 

I have tried shopping the junkyard, but the few I have thought were close and brought home ended up being the wrong shape to fit the area, or had the outlet pointing the wrong way.

What say the Hive?

3.0L V6? there is an outlet under the inlet that goes to a flexible hose that goes to the drivers side fender.  Where the red wire is.  

Volvo 240 is worth a look. I'll try to give good dimensions including outlet diameter later today. Photos too.

I'd probably start by choosing a filter and then building a box to house it.

So you want the exit pointing at the turbo, where do you want the inlet? 

(Upside down 1999ish saab 9-3 box seems like it might have the right orientation - inlet at the top facing the back of the driver seat, outlet at the bottom pointing toward the turbo - not sure  if the size is anywhere close though)

Mid 80's gm fwd port injected car will have a steel round canister that sits front left behind the headlight with a tube to the throttle body and a drop in round paper filter

In reply to bgkast (Forum Supporter) :

Fabricate one. Use CAD ( cardboard aided  design). Make it out of cardboard ( not corrugated)  then either coat it in fiberglass  or make it out of aluminum.   You can figure out the space you have to work with and check for something in that size at a parts counter. 

Keith Tanner said:

I'd probably start by choosing a filter and then building a box to house it.

This. ^^

Most of the junkyard boxes you will find had trouble supporting the 150 hp they had.  I don't think they'll work for 350 hp without serious modification.  I think by the time you modify a stock box with epoxy and a hole saw, you might be ahead of the game to build what you want.

I built one for my car in high school using lauan and a fiberglass kit.  I basically took two stubs of PVC pipe, glued them into a (really ugly) box. and stuffed a cone filter in it.  I put a hinged lid on top with some foam weatherstripping.  I never finished the project.  The plan was to duct the inlet to behind a headlight for colder air but never got to that point.

And it was high school, so I probably picked up 500 hp.

Can't you use a cone filter?  They need not be oil wetted - my Solstice uses a regular filter that looks like this one on one of my projects. (Looks like we bought our blue silicon tubing joints from the same manufacturer!)

Here is the Solstice system - the sock is a prefilter to strain out the larger stuff and goes over the filter (looks like a K&N but not oil wetted).

Another thought.  Look up some of the F150 air boxes from 1997-2003 or so.  They were a round can.  They already supported 250-ish hp and it was widely known that if you remove the silencer cone from inside they flowed as much as an aftermarket intake.  Ditch that skinny nozzle on the left and remove a little piece inside and this should flow like gangbusters.

Pics and dimensions of Volvo 240 below. Note that it has two inlets, the larger of which hasa thermal door in the normally closed position, but it is easily removable. The outlet ID is 25/8", so that is the restriction. The large triangle on the end is eligible fro amputation. It has no other mounting tabs. First pic is outlet up and small inlet. Last pic is large inlet.

For the F150 air cleaner mods, look here or search for Gott's Mod

Thanks guys! I'm trying to minimize fabrication, as I have the whole rest of the car to fabricate. I'm also trying to avoid the aftermarket cone filter style setup, as I want to pull air from the forward end of the box in front of the intercooler. I could build a box around it, but again fabrication.

The options suggested look good. The Ford cone airbox popped into my head after I posted yesterday. It looks like there are 3 options, a small one from aerostars, explorers etc; a big one from F-150s and the like; and a 90 degree option from mustangs. Anybody have diameter and lengths on these?

The Volvo looks like the right shape, but it may be a tight squeeze. I'll measure. The chrysler options looks promising too. I had also thought about a Saab 9-3 box after looking at pictures of my old one. I haven't been able to find one in the junkyard to measure.

Thanks and keep it coming I'd there are other ideas!

Maybe a medium-duty truck's air box would support a lot of air?? (Isuzu npr's, etc)

The filter box on my '06 Ford Super Duty 5.4L sits right on top of the intake, dead center of the engine.  The air enters from the bottom, goes through the filter and then the air drops straight down.  The whole thing is pretty thin.  There are two clips that hold the panel filter door closed.  With those clips undone, the filter slides out like a drawer.  

Air enters near driver's headlight, past all the resonating bellows then it is an oval opening below the filter.

Sample of oval opening from this ebay ad

More pictures in this listing.  You'll find one of these in millions of Ford trucks.  

S10 Blazers have a tall and narrow. 4.3l v6

An 88 or so fox body Mustang 5.0 box might fit. The filter element size is 11.5 x 9.5

Keith Tanner said:

I'd probably start by choosing a filter and then building a box to house it.

easyiest thing to do.

Well my 7/8 scale ford filter mock-up does not look very promising...