Lexus LS Gets Custom Cold Air Intake
Club Lexus member makes us wonder, why buy when you can DIY?
Without a doubt, one of the simplest and most popular mods today is the humble cold air intake. The reasons why are simple. Factor air intakes are restrictive, designed to be cost-effective, quiet, and efficient. The problem with this is that they do so at the cost of air flow. So installing a cold air intake effectively trades noise for an increase in power. For enthusiasts, that’s obviously a good thing.
While many aftermarket cold air intake options exist, making one yourself isn’t too difficult. To demonstrate this, Club Lexus member 05ls430518 decided to make one for his Lexus LS430. And, luckily for us, he documented the entire process here in the forums.
To fit the rather large piping and filter inside the fenderwells, the OP had to first remove the plastic piece by the headlight.
Next, it was time to figure out a housing for the whole thing.
“The red area is where the box will be. It will be made of aluminum flashing. Any part near the engine bay will be covered in heat reflective tape. I am still drawing out the plans, but it will be getting done in two weeks.”
And with a little work and some basic tools, the intake tube was fully wrapped.
As with most custom projects like this one, cardboard makes an excellent mock up tool.
“So the brown paper is going to be the aluminum tubing and the cardboard piece will be remade out of aluminum or steel flashing. Both will have heat reflective tape on them. This is what the end result should look like.”
But, as usual, there is always at least one thing complicating matters.
“The power steering lines are in the way. And I am trying to make a straight piece for the heat shield, which is kind of difficult due to the frame being at a slight incline, along with the radiator placement.
Purple lines show where it will bolt on. The red shows the problem areas underneath the cold air intake. The PS lines run along the frame, and the area by the PS reservoir has a bunch of stuff in the way. I will have to move or adjust my design to get the heat shield to sit flush against the strut tower. The bolt hole circled in purple closest to the fender is where the top lid is going to be bolted up.”
As work continued, more problems began popping up, however.
“I got the tubing duct and the reducer is the wrong size. So I am sending it back and ordering another one, which will be here in 2 weeks. The duct is on the drivers side. I have to get rid of the sharp edges, which is why there is tape on it. It will have plain black Gorilla Tape when it is all put in place. The tubing is bent up over the power steering lines so it does not interfere with cooling. The only things left are to trim everything up, make sure there are no sharp edges sticking out, install the reducer, and finish making the heat shield.”
With most of the work done, the OP is now just waiting on the correct adapter piece before this project is finished. Be sure and head over here to catch up on what’s been done already, as well as see the finished product!
