Sunday, April 08, 2012

Randall Cowl Intake Installation on '94 Miata

Time for a little more work on the '94. Since I got the fuel issues sorted, it's been running great. So today I installed the Randall cowl intake. It's just a carbon fiber tube that connects the factory airbox to a hole in the firewall that ingests air from the cowl area where the air is nice and cool. I bought it from Flyin' Miata and it's one of the few aftermarket intakes that actually shows a horsepower gain on the dyno. I didn't get it for the horsepower, exactly. Mainly it was just because my stock intake tube was cracked and I figured while I was replacing a part I might as well get something that could somehow be considered an upgrade. In other words, because racecar.

 

The tube.
The intake comes with a template, because you have to cut a hole in the firewall. You also have to bend the clutch hard line a little bit to get it out of the way.
Possibly the most imprecise cutting tool on earth, but it got the job done.
Two holes. Sorry for fingers in photo!
With Dremel tool, make one hole.
Touch up with paint.
Cram carbon fiber tube into place.
I found it best to loosen the airbox from its mounts to make it easier to snap the Randall onto the flange.

Driving impression: so far so good. There's a little more intake noise and my highly calibrated butt can detect a little more responsive throttle. Nothing dramatic, obviously. It's a tube.