Intake Air Temperature Relocation Kit Install On a V6

[66cat389]

Okay, So it's done!

Before I go into this, I just want to thank Marty ( G8 GT V8 ) for helping me with all of this and giving me guidance in uncharted waters. Our back and forth over the last few weeks has been very productive and his advice is the reason I was able to pull this off.

Just like our V8 brothers our MAF sits directly above our radiator hose, and since GM went to an integrated MAF (mass airflow sensor) and IAT (intake air temperature sensor) it is possible for our sensors to read the heat coming off the hose onto the MAF housing and potentially cause heatsoak. So, to rectify this I started thinking about how to relocate the IAT sensor. After seeing this article (http://www.v6john.com/index.php/performance/53-heatsoak.html) I was even more anxious to give this a try. We tried to explore this on the other forum, but then every thing went to hell with a jackass moderator there and I left before I could find help in exploring this further. Enter this board and Marty, shortly after arriving here I posted to another thread asking if this would be compatible with the V6. Marty got in touch with me, and we decided to give it a go. And here is how I did it:

The package arrived, and much to my surprise it was packaged very well. I was half expecting the kit to be haphazardly tossed in a box, but I should have known better.

http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae300/66cat389/IAT%20Relocation/1.jpg

After a cold pushed me back a weekend, I was back on it. But, now I ran into a problem neither Marty or I expected.

http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae300/66cat389/IAT%20Relocation/2.jpg

The top connector is the stock V6, the bottom is from Marty's kit. However, not a problem. Dremel to the rescue!!!

http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae300/66cat389/IAT%20Relocation/3.jpg

I cut notches into the top part of the connector so the tabs on the MAF would slide into the connector. I could have ground down the tabs on the MAF, but I was a little reluctant to alter the stock MAF. At this point I still didn't know if it worked, so better safe than sorry.

Next, time to drill the hole for the IAT. I used a 3/4 inch drill bit to drill the hole for the grommet.

http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae300/66cat389/IAT%20Relocation/4.jpg

I decided to place the IAT sensor down near the filter, it is the furthest place from most of the ambient engine heat.

So, after installing the rubber grommet and putting the IAT sensor in place, I mounted everything back up and tied my wires into place.

http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae300/66cat389/IAT%20Relocation/5.jpg

You'll have to excuse the ghetto intake bracket, it's a temporary solution until I can find something better.

Here is the IAT in place

http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae300/66cat389/IAT%20Relocation/6.jpg

So, with everything done it was time to fire it up! Here we go!

http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae300/66cat389/IAT%20Relocation/7.jpg

SUCCESS!! Everything came up normal, temps read great. And no codes. I only ran it for about 10 minutes, but if it weren't working I wouldn't have gotten a reading. So now, us V6 guys have a way to solve a potential HP robbing problem. (http://www.challengertalk.com/forums/f18/heat-soak-eats-20-lb-ft-torque-36973/)

Again, thanks to Marty for helping me with this. And thanks this forum for making it so easy to make things like this happen. Do yourself a favor and shoot him ( G8 GT V8 ) a PM and get this kit! It is first rate and worth it if you are looking to avoid being robbed of any HP. Us V6 guys need all that we can get.

[Panzer Leader]

Thanks, great write up. Will the company that makes the kit (which is obviously for the V8) now make the required adaptions and sell one for the V6?

[66cat389]

I'm not going to speak for G8 GTV8, but he might depending on demand. You never know. He can probably chime in to let us know.

[G8 GT V8]

Hi Nelson,

Thanks for the nice write up, the kind words, and great pictures to show your progress. I'll certainly see what I can do to get a kit put together that would be a direct plug-n-play setup.

More to come...

Marty

[Panzer Leader]

Just how much of a HP lost can take place with the OEM setup?

[66cat389]

In my first post I referenced an article from from a Challenger forum where a guy used his dyno software to show he was losing about 20 FT/LB of torque due to heat soak. However, it seems the Challenger is a bit more dependent on it's IAT then the G8 is for readings. But still, using that as a gauge you can see how we could stand to lose at least 5 to 10 hp because of this. From what I understand, Heatsoak will also mess up your timing and can cause a decrease in MPG.

[Panzer Leader]

Thanks for info. Please keep an eye on the MPG to see what gains are possible.

[schwartz]

Nice write-up Cat ! You notice any immediate difference on HP or TQ? I could care less about my MPG,it's all about performance for me.I believe i read somewhere this was done on a Camaro V6 and the 1/4 mile results were an improvement, just by a bit.Not sure if you would feel it or not but the temperature change has to be doing something.The colder the better! N1!!

[66cat389]

I haven't really taken it out to see if there is any noticeable improvement. I wanted to today, but my wife kept adding things to my "honey do" list. I will take it out tomorrow and drive it for a bit with my laptop in the passenger seat to see if I notice any changes.

[hazer396]

im scared to do it :X

[66cat389]

im scared to do it :X

Nah, it's easy. Even with having to dremel the slots on the top of the connector, the install only took about 45 minutes to an hour. It might have been quicker but I was working on a six pack of killians at the same time too. Which is why I didn't take it out the same night I did the install.

I did take it out today, and the temps held at about 85 to 90 degrees for the hour I drove it. I saw it jump to about 94 when I was waiting at a drive thru getting lunch. But still, not too bad. I didn't expect the temps to remain so low, but they held pretty consistent with the outside temps. We had a high of 84 weather wise here, so the temps from the IAT and the outside temps held pretty consistently.

[Panzer Leader]

Nah, it's easy. Even with having to dremel the slots on the top of the connector, the install only took about 45 minutes to an hour. It might have been quicker but I was working on a six pack of killians at the same time too. Which is why I didn't take it out the same night I did the install.

I did take it out today, and the temps held at about 85 to 90 degrees for the hour I drove it. I saw it jump to about 94 when I was waiting at a drive thru getting lunch. But still, not too bad. I didn't expect the temps to remain so low, but they held pretty consistent with the outside temps. We had a high of 84 weather wise here, so the temps from the IAT and the outside temps held pretty consistently.
Thanks. What were the temp readings before you relocated the sensor?

[66cat389]

Not sure, I didn't get a chance to fully document everything. I was more curious to see if the wiring would work. I will probably test that next weekend to see how different the temps are. I would suspect that they are pretty different considering where the MAF housing sits.

[hazer396]

if i do get this..
where would i install it on my rotofab? the maf is pretty much attached to the fliter..

[travis gore]

nice write up.good job guys coming up with a solution for the V6.

[66cat389]

if i do get this..
where would i install it on my rotofab? the maf is pretty much attached to the fliter..

I don't think you would need to with the rotofab since it moves the MAF forward, away from the radiator hose. You are still picking up ambient heat, but not nearly enough to be an issue.

[hazer396]

ok cool!

[kidhauler]

Nice write up!

Do you have a write up on your home made CAI? Looks a lot like the Injen available for the Camaro V6. I've been wondering if that would fit our engine bay.

-Dennis-

[66cat389]

I never really thought to do a write up on it. Honestly I just bought some aluminum J bends, and intake parts from Siliconeintakes.com. Then just cut and fit and put it together. I just painted it the other day, so it looks even better. And I replaced the bracket with something much better.

[schwartz]

I installed this the other day and after 2 hours of driving the engine light was on when i started it.First code was C0701-Fault definition not available.The second code was P0021-A camshaft position - Timing over-advanced or system performance (Bank 2). Not sure if its related or not but i cleared them out and its been fine since. I installed the sensor in the same place as cat did but i cut the tabs off the MAF instead.