Hi all,
Interesting thread, 2013 rio manual hatchback here. No expert by any means but I wanted to share what I have done.

I started with removing the grill to remove the angled plastic flap that blocks the L-Pipe. This was only to increase airflow as the bar blocks over 50% of the opening. I then went to work on the grill by removing the angled vents behind the grill itself. I left everything else alone because I noticed the better airflow I was looking for to begin with. I my remove the fog lamps covers as well but I am not expecting HP or TQ boost at all. If I wanted more power I would have ported & polished the throttle body, intake manifold and exhaust manifold with the heads. I also would have changed the cam gear by simply going to a salvage yard and grabbing a larger one off and civic. For int town I get 26-28 mpg, while on the freeway I do extremely well with 35 mpg plus. I took measurements within a week's time with outside temperature being between 75-82 degrees Fahrenheit.

I have taken the liberty of already pulling a throttle body to make a guide for the process but would suggest doing the same on a practice unit before using your stock piece. At $30 or less it is pretty cool way to pick up a new skill.

The reason to do the ventilation eases, are to increase airflow to the engine compartment not the intake. The throttle body, Intake Manifold and exhaust manifold and heads porting+polishing will increase airflow while removing factory imperfections. Where it goes sour is when people add cheap parts and overdo the sizing of their piping.

My caliper, digital, measure the stock intake at 2.75" from the box to the engine, while the resonator goes down to a measly 1" diameter. The L pipe that feeds the whole system is 6" wide by a half inch high. So the earlier comment of maximizing power output from the factory is simply false. There would be no reason to make the intake bend, restrict then widen when Corvettes use the grille air intake ram for the last forty years, and they are plastic too. With the 3rd gen kia rio placement of the intake system the most efficient horsepower system would have been a hood ram like the subaru wrx. The plastic bar on top is an example of the manufacturer directing air into their limited system as opposed to the easier proven route of the vette. Since the design was attached to a different/ improvement, then the original vette's design than would not be patent infringed either as it is making a direct path to the combustion chamber.

 

I would not use K&N filter, they are not good for engine longevity.

Tests show that they filter WAY less dirt out than conventional filters. Totally not worth 1.3hp more!

K&N Air Filter Review - Debunking the Myths (and why OEM is better)

 

Hi folks, just to throw my two penny's worth in, I have a 2015 1.4 manual with the intake silencer/depression box removed. I also replaced the panel filter in the standard box with a K&N filter and plugged in an OBD2 performance chip from Pro-racing.
This has all made quite a difference, worth every penny. Recommend to anyone with a Rio, they just plug in and away you go. Unplug it and your back to normal, not that you would want to go back to 'normal' after driving it with!
Pretty sure though 99% of it is the chip & K&N's doing, but the intake sound now goes with the increase in performance.
And before anyone ask's, I would have bought a 1.6 if they came in manual. But at least it now goes like one.

 

I hope you know this was never about HP. I didn't even mention it in the original post.


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My air intake box bracket broke and caused the box to fall and my car quit shifting but I fixed it temporarily now today it fell again quit shifting radio started blinking on and off pulled in my drive way shit my car off and it now clicks like a dead battery all dash stuff works and lights are bright but it won't start

 

I mean I'm pretty happy with my mileage. On the way to and from work im never under 40 mpg. Sadly the other driving I do in the afternoons is like mostly city with lights and i usually drive a little angry because people here are REALLY terrible at driving.


I guess the biggest thing that this intake project and yesterday my PIAA horn install did is bond me with the car. I personally don't feel like it's MY car till i work on it. I was all over the engine bay and such and really got to look around and work so I do feel like now this Rio is MY car! This leads to me taking better care of it and wanting to keep it around till 100K. That reminds me: I need to anti-seize the spark plugs lol.

 

Guys, do not argue... Provide good reasoning when supporting your statement.

Fuel economy or efficiency? Power or ecology?

You can't put them all together and get 300 HP from 5l/100 km. Period. Not today.


So, the truth is that HOT air will provide more efficient burning process. Heat is needed to evaporate petrol. Also, the burning process needs heat. If the mixture comes in cold, first it will be warmed up, what takes away energy. Sure, with cold/denser air you get more oxygen, hence more fuel can be injected. Slightly more power than in hot air/less fuel.
As you all know there is a heated duct in air intake. Also, all you know that you get better fuel economy when driving on summer (not only due to different petrol mixtures).


So, you get more power per volume of petrol burned when using hot air, but on the other hand you get less power. As I said - nothing for free.
And noise is a great cheater...

Why do you get more power at low end?
Due to lesser restrictions.


Finally, something what may surprise you.
When do you get the best efficiency of your engine?
Any guesses?

Somewhere between 1500-2800 (+/-300 RPM) at WOT. WOT stands for Wide Open Throttle.
It may sound weird, but think of it - WOT provides all air needed, you do not produce much power at 1800, but get lots of torque. More air coming, more efficient burning process.
Sure, more fuel as well, but at WOT it takes you less time to get to the same speed.
Manual shift mode and you fly through gears.
It can be very well seen on stick shifts.

My example - today in the morning, at distance of 10 miles to work in "city driving" I got 5.5 l/100 km, which translates to 43 MPG (US) on my Elantra. That's via ScanGaugeII.
And I was not hypermiling. It was driving with the traffic except I was letting the car to coast when approaching red light.

 

Yes fuel economy is very hard to test. In regards to the stock intake system I took out it has been rendered inoperable by the removal process. Sorry man.

Like I said I started this whole thing because I wanted to declutter the engine bay and remove unnecessary intake piping.

 

It does mean better efficiency. Your argument only works during acceleration. On the highway with cruise set at a certain rpm less fuel WILL be used. It's just a fact. It's stoichiometry.

I still disagree. Less air and less fuel means less power, more air and more fuel means more power. So putting less air in the cylinder does not increase to work being done by each litre of fuel. To improve fuel economy you would need to increase the amount of work being done by X amount of fuel, and I just don't think that this is the case here.

Either way fuel economy is hard to test!

You should do a bunch of acceleration tests, with an without intake, so we can learn some valuable info!

 

Yer flogging a dead horse here, there are none so blind as those that will not see.

Pat.

 

I've noticed everyone on this forum likes to argue a lot. Look at my OP. do you geniuses see where I posted anything about trying to gain power. I took the shitty 10 miles of intake tubing off to simplify the airflow and to loose all that plastic.

Feel free to act like a asshat on someone else's thread. This thread is about the intake system, how it's overly complicated, and how its not needed to operate as intended.

PS: manufacturers do not always do whats best. look at carbon deposites on engines because manufacturers decided to go with GDI and also just dump oil vapors straight back into the intake.

 

it just amazes me that people think they can get more power from a engine by simply removing parts,adding a air intake kit ,a chip,........et,ect....
dont you think the factory already squeezed out every bit they could while still maintaining good fuel economy and driveability?

theres some good videos on youtube that debunk all these cold air intake gains ,k&n filter gains,chip mods ......

most of the time your losing horsepower ,but as long as your getting that throaty sound out the muffler i guess your happy .

if you want a faster car BUY ONE . thats how you get one ...lol...

 

you'll find that the stock airbox is actually very turbulent and restrictive, so on our engines, a new intake actually does help.
Check this dyno graph from BMC filters, testing their OTA intake kit vs. the OEM intake.
Surprising, isn't it?

 

Warmer air = less dense = less fuel per combustion cycle = more mpg. I did go up a little on my drive home.

This does not = better fuel economy.

Less air/fuel per combustion cycle means more combustion cycles to do the same amount of work, which means no better fuel economy.

LOL Hey everyone lets just stuff our intakes to block them....we will get way less air and way less fuel and we will have amazing fuel economy!! LOL....

Right now my friend you are a complete sucker for the placebo effect. Yes I am quite sure your fuel economy and low end torque went up....except it didn't.

EDIT: What would have been smart would be to do 3 0-30mph and 3 0-60mph runs before and after, so we could have some hard stats to go on here...

 

It does mean better efficiency. Your argument only works during acceleration. On the highway with cruise set at a certain rpm less fuel WILL be used. It's just a fact. It's stoichiometry.

No need for silly arguments about blocking intakes off. Helps no one.
We will see if this placebo effect continues. Time will tell.

Yeah I should have done some runs but I really didnt do this for performance gains. Just wanted to make it easier to ingest air. I was expecting some mpg but that was marginal. Maybe 1 or 2 on the way home but yeah it's not scientific in any way.

But hey it's my car and it's now closer to the way I want it. Do what you please.


PS: I honestly doubt intake air temperature is affected. THe stock air would come in, get funneled down, around the chassis member, through a very inefficient felt type rippled tube, and then back up into the air box. all that time spent inside the engine compartment and heat soak on the black plastic components would raise temperature. Now it simply gets to the engine faster and with much less resistance.

 

The power you hear and it fools the butt.
What have you done with the engine breather?
K&N type kits are available to give you cool air run and less filter resistance but needs to go with slightly opened exhaust to get small benefit.

Jeff

 

I mean i'm here to tell you that it felt like it had more bottom end torque. Who knows. Anyway If anyone wants to do the same I would go for it. No ill effects.

 

yes, you get better MPG, but loose power on the other hand. Nothing is for free. You won't have 300 HP from 1.6 engine and having 40 MPG at the same time.
Sure, the power is there (in petrol), but engines produce max 30% of it.


Problem you might find is highway driving (windy day). The air intake is not simple pipe. There is also a small compartment that is a resonator.
It is quite important for equalizing pressure in the intake... as well as making the engine not surge for air, limiting unwanted sound... although I personally like this low end throttle deep gurgle sound

 

Warmer air = less dense = less fuel per combustion cycle = more mpg. I did go up a little on my drive home.

In any case on the way home even with ECO on it felt MUCH better. Faster response and the engine no longer feels like it's struggling. I was able to accelerate better and the car did not have to downshift as much to go. Obviously the butt dyno is way inaccurate but as for MY opinion Im glad I did it.

 

I don't know how much it will help, might even hinder performance. You will be getting much warmer air into the intake now...