cold air intake vs. standard intake

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

cold air intakes are nothing more than hype over short ram. period. its not COLD AIR....its normal air. done end of discussion.

 

[dbhittin 5,000+ posts]

cold air intakes are nothing more than hype over short ram. period. its not COLD AIR....its normal air. done end of discussion.

thank u... kinda what i said. they both end up being the same temp

 

[Cobra Commander 10+ year member]

cold air intakes are nothing more than hype over short ram. period. its not COLD AIR....its normal air. done end of discussion.

You obviuosly dont understand the combustion process...Its "cooler" air meaning relativley cooler, few degrees cooler...no its not cold. When the car is actually moving the CAI (longer one) draws in the "cooler" air from the bottom. Those few degrees can make a difference in performance... Short rams allow for "more" air to enter vice the restrictive stock air box, but the tempture of the air could be the same or higher also know as Warm Air intake.

Those of use who have intakes and know WTF we are talking about can probaly attest that a car sitting in the sun on a hot day runs crappier than normal. While on the other end, you could start your car on a cold day (fuel injection) with out warm up and go WOT and notice that you car may pull harder, idle smoother etc. But this is dependant on the car....

Even saying all that, they are worthless "alone" but vital when matched to other performance mods...

 

[dbhittin 5,000+ posts]

theres my short ram i made.. is it cold air? yes it is.. how, theres a hole right next to the head light... now let me show u the stock intake

 

[Red Rocket 10+ year member]

The CAI will add a couple of horsepower but really nothing you'll notice most likely. I got it for my car because my car is supercharged and the CAI really makes the supercharger whine and that's a great sound.

 

[dbhittin 5,000+ posts]

thats the stock intake... right next to the header.

 

[dbhittin 5,000+ posts]

The CAI will add a couple of horsepower but really nothing you'll notice most likely. I got it for my car because my car is supercharged and the CAI really makes the supercharger whine and that's a great sound.

like i said, little things like intake and exhaust help alot of FI cars...ALOT more than normal cars

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

They work. How much depends entirely an how crappy the stock one is, as well as to how responsive your engine is to gaining power.

For some cars, take a Mini Cooper for example, the gain is like 2hp. On other cars, like a Viper, I've seen gains closer to 20hp.

Its up to you to decide if the performance/$ ratio is justafiable.

 

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

u say the cold air is "cooler" and the "short ram" pulls more air correct? doesnt this completely cancel each other out? the only way these intakes make a big difference between "cold" and"short ram" is in high horsepower applications.

in my mustang i can gain 12 horses untuned, dyno proven. with a tune/intake combo.....i can gain 20 quite easily. with a muffler....26-30. my cars intake/exhaust/motor/everything is very restricted and opening it up the little bit that a good muffler and intake along side a tune does, makes amazing power for the price. its something like.......550 for the tuner TO BE YOUR OWN and the intake. which is really good price wise. and the muffler (40 series) is cheap...

 

[marleyskater420 5,000+ posts]

u say the cold air is "cooler" and the "short ram" pulls more air correct? doesnt this completely cancel each other out? the only way these intakes make a big difference between "cold" and"short ram" is in high horsepower applications.

in my mustang i can gain 12 horses untuned, dyno proven. with a tune/intake combo.....i can gain 20 quite easily. with a muffler....26-30. my cars intake/exhaust/motor/everything is very restricted and opening it up the little bit that a good muffler and intake along side a tune does, makes amazing power for the price. its something like.......550 for the tuner TO BE YOUR OWN and the intake. which is really good price wise. and the muffler (40 series) is cheap...

What is high horsepower applications? I know 250hp cars that see gains of 20hp from a cai.

Your tuner is retarded. Get a catback atleast. This is America, mufflers are for *****es.

Honestly, I just don't agree with your whole intake thing, I started to reply to your post, but I just lost my train of thought because I kept thinking "who the hell buys flowmaster mufflers when they want performance?". Honestly.

The CAI will add a couple of horsepower but really nothing you'll notice most likely. I got it for my car because my car is supercharged and the CAI really makes the supercharger whine and that's a great sound.

I read this and thought to myself, "This guy owns a type r". Honestly, swear to god.

Its a 1997 Olds Bravada, so it will never be a "fast" car. Just looking to add a few things here and there.Thanks for all the help on this guys.

Engine parts>me.

Meh, I'd spend the 10$. The little difference in power may help you one day when you're uphill w/ a full load....not really..but we always need an excuse to make our cars faster.

There are short intakes which some refer to as warm air intakes. They have supposedly shown increased HP at WOT in the higher end. So, they are not always bad. I had an "initake" in my IS300, dynoed 7 hp more. Not that big of a difference but what I did notice, is better throttle response and pick "AFTER" 50-60mph at WOT. It was really significant, but it depends on the car.(As was stated earlier.)

You know, I'm only going to believe short rams vs. CAI when I see proof. Theoretically, we want the shortest,coldest path to the engine. That is what most CAI designers try to do, so therefore, I'm going to have to side with the properly designed CAI people here. If the piping is the same diameter, and one takes in over 30degrees colder air, I see no way the shorter, hotter (closer to the engine) one will out-perform it.

However, I could be wrong, and if anyone would be kind enough to show me where someone has disproved what I think, I'd love to learn more.

i read an article saying not to make intakes out of PVC piping, i think it said that once heated up it releases gasses that corrode your seals and gaskets or something( im not trying to argue in any way Marley //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif )

Somehow, I can see that.

 

[dbhittin 5,000+ posts]

marley is funny lol...

 

[kuijo 10+ year member]

u wont notice a diff between cold air vs short ram depending on the "car". so that being said, your tubing is still next to the engine, so the air is gonna heat up.. also, most probly didn't know this, on your intake manifold, there is coolant lines that go through and heat it back up.. soo either way, its not gonna help at all. u can remove those lines and reroute them like i did to my cars, but some its not worth it... nother thing u can do is wrap the intake piping with thermo wrap and that helps it from gettin hot... ive done lots of research and tried things and ive found that the grey pvc pipe works best for intake cause it doesn't get hot like metal and yea lol... anyways go ahead and say im wrong, but its just intake.. not like ur gaining 50hp from it.. who cares

Untrue, The air passes through the tube rather quickly, not allowing enough time for any considerable tempature increase. Where the air is taken from makes a huge diffrence. The short rams take air from inside the engine bay. The cold air takes it from outside, thats the diffrence.

AS well CAI are most often longer then SRI's, this increases air velocity, which will also increase horsepower.( but not too long because then there creates diminishing returns )

SRI's will give you better throttle response but the horsepower gain won't be as much as a CAI

 

[marleyskater420 5,000+ posts]

Untrue, The air passes through the tube rather quickly, not allowing enough time for any considerable tempature increase. Where the air is taken from makes a huge diffrence. The short rams take air from inside the engine bay. The cold air takes it from outside, thats the diffrence.
AS well CAI are most often longer then SRI's, this increases air velocity, which will also increase horsepower.( but not too long because then there creates diminishing returns )

SRI's will give you better throttle response but the horsepower gain won't be as much as a CAI

x2 to the max.

 

[dbhittin 5,000+ posts]

Untrue, The air passes through the tube rather quickly, not allowing enough time for any considerable tempature increase. Where the air is taken from makes a huge diffrence. The short rams take air from inside the engine bay. The cold air takes it from outside, thats the diffrence.
AS well CAI are most often longer then SRI's, this increases air velocity, which will also increase horsepower.( but not too long because then there creates diminishing returns )

SRI's will give you better throttle response but the horsepower gain won't be as much as a CAI

ok, look at my two pics i put up...k now the cold air intake for the 240 goes where the stock one does.. right over the radiator and next to the header... ok, so that being said, u see why i did the short ram on the other side of the engine bay and it gets cooler air from the hole by the headlight... get my point? i said each car is diff and for me thats what was best

 

[marleyskater420 5,000+ posts]

ok, look at my two pics i put up...k now the cold air intake for the 240 goes where the stock one does.. right over the radiator and next to the header... ok, so that being said, u see why i did the short ram on the other side of the engine bay and it gets cooler air from the hole by the headlight... get my point? i said each car is diff and for me thats what was best

Yes, but I consider that a CAI, not a short ram.

The design isn't a short ram design, its just short piping. There was no feasable way to get the piping to the other side of the engine bay, let alone any reason to in the first place.

Look at a ramjet502 and that will show you what is meant by "short ram" intake.