Just wanted to let all the owners of the 360 Air Intakez system know that the rubber seal that is installed on the CAI box does not seal up against the hood. I was curious about how close it was to having a good seal, so I did some measuring. Here is what I found:

All measurements are taken with the rubber gasket removed, measurement is from top of air box to underside of hood.

Front corner of box (closest to radiator) on drivers side, has a 3/8" air gap. This is the best corner for seal.

Front corner of box (closest to radiator) on passengers side, has a 9/16" air gap. Also a good corner for a proper seal.

Rear corner of box (closest to firewall) on drivers side, has a 1 1/8" air gap. This corner is marginal for a good seal with supplied rubber gasket.

Rear corner of box (closest to firewall) on passengers side, has a whopping 2 1/2" air gap!!!!! Not a good seal at all!

I was able to put a small dot of white paint on hood pad, to show where the four corners of the air box come against the hood. Here are the photos:

I plan on using a clear plastic lid to get a good seal against the 360 rubber gasket, making it suck in cool air through the stock air intake hole.
That way the cone filter is still visible when the hood is open.
Right now I am using an aluminum cookie sheet I stole from my wife's kitchen, which works good - but you can't see the cone filter when the hood is open.

Am not complaining about the intake system, I just wanted to make it work better.

Bob

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How are you measuring the gap? Are you closing the hood and coming up through the fender well? Got a slide ruler taped to the outside of the airbox and letting the hood push it down or something? I agree, the heat under the hood can't help performance on a warm day...sealing the top off with plexiglass would probably be the easiest, something I think I might try on the K&N coming....but also plan to run an additional air hose into the box via 3" flex tubing leading to the grill or down by the fog light

 

I knew that someone was going to ask me how I measured the gap, it was quite simple to do. Here is how I did it:


I took a plastic drinking straw and cut it down to about six inches long, so I could tape it into the airbox corner that I wanted to measure. Keep the top of the straw equal to the top of the airbox, which is why I removed the rubber seal. Then take another plastic straw, cut it about one inch shorter than the first straw. Then take the short straw and slit it lengthwise, so it fits easily inside the longer straw, but has enough tension to keep it in place. Then close the hood slowly, looking inside to make sure the smaller straw is up just high enough to make contact with the bottom of the hood. Open the hood and measure how much of the short straw is sticking up past the top edge of the airbox, that is your air gap measurement. Easy, no?

Then to see where on the hood that the straw is making contact, I took half of a Q-tip, dabbed a little white paint on it, put the Q-tip into the straw and closed the hood again. The paint shows up on the bottom of the hood, that is where the corners of your airbox is.

That is how to measure the air gap and get an exact measurement.

Bob

 

so it's a sliding ruler...just made out of straws

 

Ha! MacGyver RT…

 

It was the cheapest way I could think of to measure the gap between the air box and the hood. Turned out to be accurate and easy.

Bob

 

I was curious about that.
Great job MacGyver. [sm=smiley20.gif]

 

Hey, I'm not knockin' you....just wanted to know how you accomplished it [sm=smiley20.gif]

 

MacGyver was resourceful & ingenious. Wasn’t intended as any kind of disrespect. Just a complement… Great work!