What's the metal pipe in the air bride for? Check this out.

[Cobra4B]

Bride = Bridge

I swapped to a new intake on my Z06 as part of my re-paint/restoration project so I decided to clean the filter on the old one to prep it for sale. I realized the K&N on the Panoz needed cleaning so I decided to start my tune-up early and pulled it all apart.

When I removed the air bridge (black pastic flex tube) I found a metal pipe in there that was blocking about 1/4 of the opening on the inside radius.

What's it for? I really don't see any need for it so I pulled it out as it was blocking air flow. The only thing I can think of is to prevent the hose from collapsing under load. However, the oem part doesn't have the metal tube, and this isn't some turbo car pushing 20lbs of boost.

Here's how it looked when I pulled it off the car.

MAF side:


Throttle-body side:


Removed:


I don't plan on putting it back in. Because I'm a waxer at heart I'm going to strip the red paint and stickers from the filter shield and give it a quick polish. That or paint it w/ the krylon wrinkle black I used on my TB and rocker covers on the Corvette.



Here's how the textured paint comes out... I did it fall '06 and it held up to 4 HPDEs last year.

[Cobra4B]

More research via some of my mustang friends an a buddy who works for mototron.

The metal tube is an attempt to smooth out the intake, it wasn't supposed to be pushed up that far. It is also there to prevent the tube from collapsing at high RPM, but will not (should not) be an issue with this motor so I'll leave it out. These motors run out of breath over 5000 rpms.

[94_panoz_#7]

Well, that tube was definitely not in there when it left the factory... Must have been done by the mechanics at one of the schools.

[Cobra4B]

^ Thanks... it's staying out.

[Blue Streak 21]

Crinkle black will make the air filter shield look bitchen. Great idea.

[Cobra4B]

^ Thanks... I'll post up pics when it's done. I stripped it last night out at by buddy's shop (where my Corvette is/was). Used a heat gun to get the stickers started and then peeled them off. Then simple laquer thinner and rags took care of the red paint. I'm going to hit it etching primer, then a coat of 1200 degree black grill paint, then the wrinkle (2 coats). That's what I did w/ the vette parts and it's held up 100% perfectly.

Here's how the Corvette looks right now.... towed it to the paint shop today.



Here's another shot of my engine bay w/ the wrinkle paint... I just installed a new radiator shroud and switched up the intake setup.