So, when I get bored I tinker with my car, I decided to put the AEM elbow, just the elbow (because I am plasti-diping the metal bit cause it is scratched to hell), I have tried it before and had problems, well even though I reinforced the bends with extra hose clamps so it wont flex like crazy and cause compressor surge and choke, I am still having the problem where at WOT and about 3-4 k The boost all gets purged and it stays at vacuum until I let off the throttle. IT is boosting to about 15-18 psi before it purges all the pressure and goes to vacuum. What on earth could this be, It is not install error cause I have done it twice this time more carefully (even though I managed to loose my only 8mm socket, reducer, and extender, luckily I still have the universal, I dunno what happend to it the universal and extender fell through the engine bay but the rest of it just disapeared, oh well.) I am going to put the full intake together again soon and see what happens but I am kinda pissed.

 

it's cuz of your gay ass username... seriously tho, sound like you need to do a leakdown test muh friend.

 

how does one go about testing for leaks? And why does this only happen with the AEM elbow and not the stocker?

Oh and the user name was picked long ago as a joke when I had a base cobalt, look at the join date.

 

i know i was joking about the username.

i think you can rent the leakdown test kit from car parts stores, dont quote me on it tho it also may not solve the problem. wouldnt hurt to try it tho.

 

I just find it odd that I don't have the problem with the aluminum intake and cone filter, just the aem elbow and stock airbox. There has to be something weird going on here. Then again the MAF on these cars is a fickle Bitch. I remember making my own intake for my 2.2 out of silicone tube and spare aluminum tube and it worked fine.

 

Do you have any datalogging software?

 

post some pics. maybe the stock air box is too restrictive and its still causing the pipe to collapse?

 

No, I do not have data logging software, and I took it off for now and it is a PITA to get the elbow off of the turbo so it will sit stock untill I am done plasti-diping the intake.

 

Agreed.

If its installed correctly, and everything is tight, its probably not leaking. I would say its closing off the elbow, you figure how much air is actually going into that tube, if the tube starts to flex at all, its going to restrict flow..... the air filter isnt making it flow any easier, maybe a new one wouldent hurt though.

 

my only thought is that routing it to the stock air box is a tight fit and maybe it is compressing the elbow.

 

Trim about 1/2 inch to 1 inch off the end that connects to the airbox and it will fit better.

 

Just use the factory air-box and factory elbow and do a air-box mod with a K&N drop-in

 

Yeah but it is so damn ugly!

 

hose clamps around the bends won't prevent it from sucking it, just helps it they were to blow out. unless you have something sturdy actually attached all the way around that will hold it out it's not gonna help it's like putting a belt on then sucking in your gut. you can still do it..

 

Your gut doesn't suck in/deform in the same way. This method works similar to when you squeeze a bottle one way and then squeeze on the non-deformed part and it pops back out again. If you can keep the tension uniform around the perimeter, the ring acts as a limited amount of reinforcement because the elbow cannot expand in any direction when it is going to deform.

I agree that there needs to be something better and attaching a ring all the way around would have the best results. I stated in a post not that long ago that perhaps using spaced metal rings with some strong glue or other attachment method may help.
https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/show...7&postcount=22

 

I have the full intake back on with the clamp mod i mentioned, also my mechanical engineer friend and I re-engineered the bracket because mine broke and it was putting too much stress on the breather hose. I am not noticing any surge or flutter but maybe I don't know what to look for, the other problems that I had with the stock air box and elbow have been eliminated.