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Well I know Trooper is not the typical vehicle on this board. But it still sports a 660 and that's what counts right?
Needless to say there is no CAI kit for these things. Even if there was it would not fare well in water crossings or mud holes. I need something higher and more water resistant. My old setup was a stripped down stock air cleaner with a flipped lid and a K&N. No doubt it flowed enough air but it was straight under hood air.
My first approach was a Spectre Carb/TBI hat with some tube that would mount up high and draw air from an air box with a cone filter in an air box that had a cold air source. However there is simply no room for a box like that. The filter box had to remain on top of the engine.
So my next approach was to utilize the stock air cleaner but not have it pick up from the rad support or under the hood. The first gen Trooper has 3 bolt in plates in the cowl. One to mount the wiper motor and the other two I assume are for service and installation of the wiper linkage. One thing for sure is they lead to a large cavity with a fresh air source. I chose the one on the drivers side because it was well protected from the elements so no water would get in. The stock air cleaner however was not going to be of any help. I needed something similar but easier to adapt. Off to the scrap yard!
It wasn't long before I stumbled across some dodge Dakota's with a air intake just like GM TBI systems yet it had just a short metal tube that connected to a very long plastic flex hose that had an elbow on the end that clipped into the firewall. It was just what I was after. It was also free of hot air pickup doors and thermal valves which all the GM units feature but I did not want. I did need a GM riser ring to lift the cleaner up a few inches and facilitate a breather tube. I also grabbed a GM cleaner that featured a internal steel baffle that went inside the cleaner and prevented all the air from entering the filter right at the tube and causing that big black spot on the filter to form. I just removed the baffle and riveted it to the new cleaner.
Once I got it all home it all went together quite easy. One small change I had to make was to flip the metal pickup tube on the filter housing so it pointed slightly upward. A simple job now thanks to my new Miller Dynasty TIG Welder. I also closed up a small grommet hole. I removed the block out plate from the firewall and cut a rectangular hole in it to fit the plastic Dodge elbow. Then it was a simple cut with a knife to trim the plastic intake tube. The housing even fit my old K&N filter.
Here is the job all finished.
Needless to say there is no CAI kit for these things. Even if there was it would not fare well in water crossings or mud holes. I need something higher and more water resistant. My old setup was a stripped down stock air cleaner with a flipped lid and a K&N. No doubt it flowed enough air but it was straight under hood air.
My first approach was a Spectre Carb/TBI hat with some tube that would mount up high and draw air from an air box with a cone filter in an air box that had a cold air source. However there is simply no room for a box like that. The filter box had to remain on top of the engine.
So my next approach was to utilize the stock air cleaner but not have it pick up from the rad support or under the hood. The first gen Trooper has 3 bolt in plates in the cowl. One to mount the wiper motor and the other two I assume are for service and installation of the wiper linkage. One thing for sure is they lead to a large cavity with a fresh air source. I chose the one on the drivers side because it was well protected from the elements so no water would get in. The stock air cleaner however was not going to be of any help. I needed something similar but easier to adapt. Off to the scrap yard!
It wasn't long before I stumbled across some dodge Dakota's with a air intake just like GM TBI systems yet it had just a short metal tube that connected to a very long plastic flex hose that had an elbow on the end that clipped into the firewall. It was just what I was after. It was also free of hot air pickup doors and thermal valves which all the GM units feature but I did not want. I did need a GM riser ring to lift the cleaner up a few inches and facilitate a breather tube. I also grabbed a GM cleaner that featured a internal steel baffle that went inside the cleaner and prevented all the air from entering the filter right at the tube and causing that big black spot on the filter to form. I just removed the baffle and riveted it to the new cleaner.
Once I got it all home it all went together quite easy. One small change I had to make was to flip the metal pickup tube on the filter housing so it pointed slightly upward. A simple job now thanks to my new Miller Dynasty TIG Welder. I also closed up a small grommet hole. I removed the block out plate from the firewall and cut a rectangular hole in it to fit the plastic Dodge elbow. Then it was a simple cut with a knife to trim the plastic intake tube. The housing even fit my old K&N filter.
Here is the job all finished.
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