Same here, we also cover considerable distances and I wanted a bit more hp as well as fuel economy from my 3.2L N/A. I installed Andy's bracket about 15 months ago and have recently fitted a direct cold air intake with cone filter in place of the stock air box. These are the only 2 mods I've made which can claim any credit for improvements in performance and/or fuel economy, and together they have given me very noticeable acceleration improvements and reasonable improvements in fuel consumption:

City was approx 13.8 L/100km (20.5 mpg) now about 12.4 L/100km (22.3 mpg)

Highway was approx 11.5 L/100km (24.6 mpg) now 10.3 L/100km (27.4 mpg) based on a recent 800km road trip at 60-70mph

In this country we work on metric and I've converted the above numbers for the benefit of the thread based on litres to imperial gallons (not U.S. gallons). Google has easy calculators for both.

I don't stab the go pedal, I brake steadily, I'm not interested in how many seconds I can wrench the car from stand still to 100kph, in other words I drive conservatively. If I did the opposite, I'm sure the economy gains would be gone. Overall I enjoy that it seems to take her less effort to get up, and the cruise / overtaking acceleration at mid range now feels much more "confident". IMO both mods complement each other and are very worthwhile.

 

Jagent,
can you please post a photo and details of your cold air intake?
I put a pod filter on instead of the filterbox (removed) but I haven't got a specific cold air intake - my assessment of the engine bay is that there is nowhere to 'ram' cold air in, no gaps anywhere. How did you do it?

by the way, Pod plus Andy's bracket makes for a more lively car by far (3.2)
I don't know about economy - I do short trips with a heavy foot

 

No worries, I'll take some pics and post them - give me a day or two to get to it.

The only real source of cold air is behind the headlights. Jag obviously thought the same as they positioned the intake flange for their standard air box in that position (and then stifled the air flow with a constricted set up!). Ideally the cone filter needs to be as far away from engine heat as possible. I fitted mine right into the headlight cavity, snug but it will fit. I then decided pulled it back a little to also take advantage of air coming through the existing hole in the inner wing, and that air directly hits the filter side on. The piping set up easy to fab, I used various 90mm PVC pipe sections & elbows, but could have used an after-market flexible pipe, although most of those are only plastic unless you pay dearly for silicone. I did use a silicone sleeve with a 100mm ring clamp for the first section which fits onto the MAS pipe.

The next step was to make up a heat shield to cover the filter and piping (top & engine facing). I used a 2mm polished aluminium sheet (sold at Bunnings) which is easy to cut and bend, and lined it with sections of 3mm cement sheet. IMO this is the most important component. After long hot runs the external surfaces of the shield are hot, particularly the engine facing one of course, but the inner lining and filter itself stays much, much cooler. The shield also acts as a splash guard to prevent the risk of water flinging up past the pulleys and onto the filter. I was caught in a storm recently and tested this very successfully! I made up some small brackets to mount the shield, anchoring to the existing air box mounting and a another behind the front relay box. It holds securely in place and no part of the shield touches the pod or piping and air is able to flow freely around them.

Admittedly it a was fiddly exercise over a couple of weekends with a few trial fits and tweaks to get it right, but it was a lot of fun to do and achieved a good outcome. Back soon with the pics.

 

OK, here are the pics of my cold air intake. To save time and get these pics done I left the heat shield in place, but I'm sure you'll get a good idea of the set up (also ref. the previous description I gave). The shield removes in one piece and isn't too difficult for maintenance when really necessary, requiring 3 securing nuts to be undone. Disconnecting the header tank hoses to clear the way also makes it easier to remove (keep the hoses elevated and tied back to avoid losing coolant!).

I agree AL NZ, this set up together with Andy's bracket has totally transformed the 3.2 and I will confess to having tried it out on full throttle, although as I said previously I usually drive less enthusiastically to conserve fuel.

Hope this helps, let me know if not.

 

I have a couple of brackets left before I have to make another batch, if anyone wants one now.

 

Still have a couple brackets?

 

I have installed Andy's bracket, changed to 98 RON petrol. An improvement. Stage I.

Stage II is remove restrictive air box and install a pod filter - easy. This makes the most of stage I and really opens out the top end from about 4000 rpm when the twin cam effect kicks in.

I think stage III will be Doc's extractors/headers/exhaust manifold, and in my case I want long twin pipes, one from each bank of 3, for mid-range torque and remove catalytic convertor (as per AJ6 Engineering TT concept). When I have done this, I will post again.

stage IV would be to convince Andy to come to NZ and custom-tune my ECU for the above. Not gonna happen unless Andy wants a trip ... And the sensible thing if one wants more power is buy a 4.2 or 5.0 XJR/XKR

but I love the underdog/sleeper/Q-ship, so that's why I am chipping away..

 

I have just ordered the bracket, and my K&N pod filter arrived today. Now I just need to go to the motorsport shops and find myself a nice piece of pipe with a bend in it so the filter is in the same place as the old air box. I am very keen to see how it does when I'm done!

 

Zathras, don't worry about the pipe - length of pipe increases resistance to flow.
It will work fine just clamping the pod on the end of the factory intake, once filter box removed. The exhaust is on the other side of the engine, temps underbonnet aren't great in the 3.2.
You'll be screaming around Hamilvegas once the summer heat leaves. If you go for a midnight winter fang out towards Morrinsville, you'll easily see 170-180km/h with the aircon turned off. Just watch out for the red commodores..
Are you interested in a set of Doc's extractors? Not cheap - about `1700 Oz dollars plus shipping, and probably some GST. So a lot of $$ for moderate gains, maybe better spending the money overhauling suspension bushes, water hoses etc.
Have you found a good mechanic for your car yet?

 

Cheers Al

I will have a crack at fitting it straight on the end like you suggest and see how we go

Got her up to 140 last night passing a truck but with 4 fatties in the car and a full rank of gas she definitely felt less sprightly than I am used to, which I am hoping these mods will assist with a little.

Still working on the mechanic. I did chat to the guy who did my warrant and he is keen to work on it, perhaps he is just keen for my money? I feel that dropping a couple of grand on the car will tidy up a lot of the little issues it has,stay tuned....

Cheers

Chris

 

Which pod (brand/part #) did you use?

 

Al, I'm curious that you feel the under-bonnet temps aren't so great in the 3.2, how did you measure the difference against the 4.0?

I agree with pipe length increasing resistance (although we're only talking a few inches here), but I believe heat-shielding the pod and/or getting the pod down in behind the headlight to capture some cooler air (preferably both) helps to combat summer temps without limiting your best performance to night time or winter driving!

Cheers,

 

Yeah but you are in Aus and Al and I are in NZ. Summer in Aus is quite different to summer here, I think our summer is about the same as your winter! If it gets over 30 here we think the world is ending !!

 

I made it as an assuming comment -
I haven't measured temps, but a 3.2 is 215 bhp vs about 322 bhp for an XJR. So I am thinking smaller engine will be generating less heat than, say a supercharged car. However a 4 litre may even run cooler than a 3.2 as it may not be working as hard

 

I fitted a 68mm diameter K&N filter. I bought it on a whim, estimating the diameter. It was a stretch, and once I had the filter box off I could measure the diameter, and it is 75-76mm. However my 68mm one fitted so I made do.

So get a 75-76 mm diameter one!

 

I made the pipe from a piece of straight stainless exhaust tube and welded a washer onto it all sourced from local exhaust shop the pipe came from his scrap bin washer I had

I also fitted a shield to the pod as the belts will throw stuff at the filter not good if its raining getting the pod saturated

Also be careful using an oil type pod the oil killed my first 2 AFM,s they are hot wire type I use a non oiled type

the washer then mounts with one of these Square Cylindrical Vibration Mounts Rubber Neoprene Urethane Sorbothane Silicone Gel Ring Mounts Stud Nut Type to the original mount hole I used a large diameter mount to support the weight of the pod ,tube and AFM once you remove the original air box there is no support for the pod and AFM

on my old XJ40 I just cut the piece of tubing of the end of the air-box
I have attached a couple pics the XJR is a bit hard to see but you can get an idea of what I tried to do from the pics

 

Doc, your set up looks very similar to mine (N/A engine, not XJR) with the pod tucked right behind the headlight cavity and using the existing air box support mounting points (my posting with pics is earlier in this thread). Apart from helping to combat engine heat, I also felt it was important for the shield to protect the filter from dirt and splash up's. These filters are otherwise extremely exposed.

 

I know this is going to sound really dumb, but I can't figure this out - I am a computer guy, car modification is a bit foreign to me... The factory air box has a short section of pipe that mates with the end of what I assume is the airflow meter. You said just clamp it on the end but there's only a tiny little flange sticking out, how the heck am I supposed to clamp on to that? It's not even as wide as the stainless ratchet clamp thing that came with the filter. Or do you hacksaw off a piece of the air box?? Don't want to do that if I can avoid it.. Or do I get some sort of joiner and attach that? How do I clamp that on? I am a little mystified..... I am scratching my head just looking at it, you guys seem to have no problem doing this stuff but to me it's just not obvious at all...

Cheers

Chris

 

Not a dumb question at all Chris! I had the same experience. I bought a silicone sleeve to connect the narrow flange on the AFM pipe to my extension pipe (the pod filter then being fitted onto the end of that). Problem is, the generic intake pipe measurement is 76mm, as was my silicone sleeve, but the flange is 90mm. I was able to stretch the silicone sleeve just enough to make a tight fit after heating it in boiling water. To get it as far on the flange as possible I cut 2 notches into the sleeve so it would fit past the air box locking lugs and push up to the stop, a small gain but enough to get the width of the clamp on securely. I ignored the clamp that came with my silicone sleeve (equivalent to the one you have with your pod filter) and bought a 105mm clamp from Autobarn. If you really want to put your pod filter straight onto the AFM pipe, you could try the same technique by cutting notches in the filter collar. I preferred not to destroy the stock air box in case I decide to revert to original, it may be necessary for RWC if ever I sell the car.

Cheers,

 

Hi, thanks!

I know, I know, there's no such thing as a dumb question but there is such a thing as a dumb person :-)

I will mull over your suggestions when I visit a Motorsport shop tomorrow

Cheers

Chris