Well after seeing all the talk about air box mods and Cold Air Intakes, I thought I'd try one myself. On my last truck I had a 6.0L gasser with a Whipple supercharger. I worked with the guys at Whipple while they developed some changes to their kits to get every last HP out of it. One of the areas we saw good improvement from was the air box mod below.
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/5495airfltsmall.jpg

The inside of the fender is cutout lager and an adapter plate is attached to it.

http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/5495cut_out___holls_drilled-med.JPG
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/5495adapter_plate_install-med.JPG

Here's a pic of the air filter with the MAF and adapter plate.
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/5495Air_Filter_w_MAF-med.JPG

On my truck I had already installed a K&N FIPKit and we replaced thatwith this set-up and saw some actual gains in HP and Torque probably from the lower Intake Air Temps(AIT) we saw. What you can't see in this photo is that the cone filter end is also open element not solid plastic so there is more surface area than a standard cone type filter.

I talked with Dustin Whipple yesterday and he is sending me the parts I think I need to retro fit this onto my DMax. I'll work on it next week and see what I can come up with. If it works well Dustin may be able to put something together to sell as a conversion kit. I'm sorry I won't have the right equip. to do some thourough testing, more like seat of the pants testing but I'll let you know what I find.

Chris

Just an update. I got the parts from Whipple but they are designed for use with the Gasser MAS so no go there. I got a K&N kit(donated by K&N Thank you) and I'm going to marry the two together. The delima I have now is that the K&N filter in much larger than the one from Whipple but it won't fit into the filter housing from the Whipple kit. I don't like the K&N housing/shield because it allows lots of hot air from the engine bay in. So my thoughts are use the intake tube from the K&N that relocates the MAS and mate it to the Whipple Filter assembly that draws air from the fender or use the K&N intake tube and filter and build a new sheetmetal airbox that completely blocks off the engine bay air and draws from the fender wheel and down low????

I'll try a couple things this weekend and post pics of what I come up with....but it doesn't look like there will be a readily availble kit from Whipple.

Chris

Where you live Chris?

Rancho Cucamonga

Hey Chris, You Know Any Of The Pitts Clan In Ranco Cucamonga ??

Arm

Hey Chris, You Know Any Of The Pitts Clan In Ranco Cucamonga ??

Arm


Sorry the name doesn't sound familar. Got any first names? It kind of a big town lots of people I don't know.


As far as the air intake I opened up the holes on the fender well.
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/5495cut_out___holls_drilled-med.JPG


But could not get the Whipple filter canister to line up with the intak tube from K&N kit. I ended up just building a sealed sheet metal intake box based loosely on the K&N box. I also cut a hole in the bottom plate and adding a 3" x 6" square tube out the bottom down to just about the end of the inner fender liner. One last thing I did was add a "scoop" to the gap above the bumper where air is drawn into the inner fender.

Hard to expalin I'll post some pics today when I get a chance.

Chris