C10 LS Swap Actual Cold Air Intake

[Torrey]

Finished up my LS swap (L76 aluminum block 6.0 with LS3 heads) and got it tuned. My tuner said the open element "cold air" intake I had was getting crazy heat soak and costing performance. He recommended I get an actual cold air intake.

Here is the issue: no one makes an actual cold air intake for an LS swapped C10. Nothing to worry about, I've got a band saw, TIG welder and lots of fab tools.

Had to decide on a location. Close to the factory core support intake hole on the passenger side seemed like a good fit. So I made the box and used some nut zerts on the inner fender to get the basics done.

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Next up, I used the "CAI" kit with MAF and ventilation fitting I was already running. I welded it into a single piece and added tubing to pass through the box to the filter. Two silicone couplers seemed better than three.

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I didn't want water blowing directly on the filter, so I added a diverter. I also took a 90 and cut it down to where it points to and through the factory hole.

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A few more nut zerts and a lid and we have ourselves a real cold air intake. I'm dropping if off for powdercoat today and will put a rubber seal on the lid lip. Real happy with how it all turned out. I would love to make a whole batch of these for other guys running an LS swap, but I'm not sure they'd like the price tag!

Let me know what you all think!

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[CalSgt]

Looks really nice, good job

 

[90Supurban]

Very nice! It might be helpful to put a drain hole on the bottom of the box for water. You could even put one of those duckbill rubber drains on the outlet to keep hot air out, but still let water out, may be overkill, I dunno. Are you logging your own data? I would be curious to see intake air temp data while cruising, in stop and go traffic, or just after a hot soak. No matter what, I'm sure it is drastically improved! Did you move your battery to the left side?

 

[Edelbrock]

Nice work man. Your hired!

The only things I might look at is matching the ducting diameters, h20 drain tube in the bottom of the air box, putting an oiled foam cone over the filter (or just switching to a paper filter), and maybe insulating the air box and ducting so that the radiator heat does not heat up the air intake tube. There is going to be LOTS of very hot air blasting all that stuff when the fan kicks on.