The Cold Air Intake?

[ar0ck]

Now Ive been considering buying a REAL intake system from a company for my car for some time now. I have been researching the different intakes for some time now, which maybe a little unhealthy. Now my question to you people out there, what do you think would significantly improve the performance of a Cold Air Intake.

Some intakes from various companies claim whatever HP increases but the 2 real differences are a Hard Metal/Aluminum Intake pipe to the fender-well, and others use a soft plastic material, similar to stock yet less-restrictive.

Now the goal of a Cold Air intake, is to get cool fresh air from the outside into the motor? Now if you have either of these two kinds of pipes how can one benefit over the other? When you have an engine thats being heat-laped during a racing event, the heat would generally stay underneath the hood and create high-tempertures.

So In theory, if theirs hot air in the engine, the intake is taking in so little fresh air, and mixing it with hot engine air, correct?

Now a metal pipe would generally got hot in this under-hood enviornment and would possibly heat the inside of the pipes along with this "cold air". But would a plastic pipe do the same, that the temperatures on the inside would match the temperatures of the outside?

So does cold air just not exist?

I can understand that the systems make the actual intake system less restrictive over factory, but how will it gain these 5-10 hp gains when the engine doenst get the fresh air it deserves?

Just some examples of current intakes for MY CAR :
SLP & GMPP
http://makoto.dyndns.org/images/slp_cai/slp_cai_incar.jpg
http://makoto.dyndns.org/images/slp_cai/slp_cai_incar2.jpg
http://makoto.dyndns.org/images/slp_cai/slp_cai_cones.jpg

K&N Moroso & Ligenfelter
http://www.lingenfelter.com/lingenfelter/assets/product_images/images/super01wb.JPG

Current Home Made:
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/749000-749999/749177_14_full.jpg


Any opinions, helpfull comments, or suggestions?

P.S all new intakes generally cost $150~

[NJSPEEDER]

if your home made set up reaches down into that space in front fo teh wheel well i would jsut leave it alone. you have teh same 3inch tubing that all teh metal ones use, so it isn't like they are gonna pick up a bunch of airflow over what you currently have.
even if it doesn't reach all teh way down it can be refabbed to do so for a lot less than $150 and you will benefit teh same.
i have never really been a fan of teh k&n unit. the tubing necks down a bit at that narrow area.

later
tim

[ar0ck]

The filter is located right behind the head-light with all original intake system removed.

Only real reason I was looking to change is it for
A) It Vibrates at full throttle (sounded funny doing 120)
B) Tired of explaining how the pipe is from a universal Honda APC kit :lol:

[Mike]

i say either hightemp paint, or polish the one you already have. or see if you can fab one to go deeper.....

no point in paying for somthing to do the same thing.

[deadtrend1]

Im running the SLP cai with a 1LE elbow. The only thing i hate is how hot the intake gets. I dont know if its the powercoat or something but it gets pretty heated after awhile. I thing i started to notice it after I got my headers coated...

Other then that I like it. I thing it looks cool with the twin intake, but I might ditch it if I decide to go with a WS6 hood in the future. Not sure what i want to do.

Might as well whore some pics ...
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tstrella/transam/dcp1924.jpg
different angle here
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tstrella/transam/dcp1925.jpg

[89 Trans Am WS6]

Plastic is better then metal. the metal ones get extremly hot and thus, so does the air inside the tube. My moroso one gets nno where near as hot as metal ones ive seen. In fact i dont think "hot" is even a good work to desribe it.

[Tru2Chevy]

Does anyone sell a metal one that is temp coated? I think that would help reduce temps a whole lot.

- Justin

[89 Trans Am WS6]

Even wrapping the plasic ones in header wrap should effectivly lower them temp even more. I wouldnt wrap the metal ones because one, metal is hotter to begin with, and two, it prolly would promote rust..just like it does to the headers..if it gets wet.

[deadtrend1]

I just thought the powercoat retained more heat then anything else. Even my STB gets toasty.

[slasherbarb]

im probably gonna go with the lingenfelter,,,same as the moroso and cheaper than all of the other ones...

[bad64chevelle]

My Lingenfelter doesnt get hot at all. I noticed a bit of a performance increase when I added it, but i wouldnt be able to tell you unless i did some back to back dyno runs or track runs. Although my "SOTP" meter detected gains.

[MonmouthCtyAntz]

Cant beat the LPE supercooler cai...159.99...its very similar to the moroso/K&N

[skorpion317]

i don't like how the LPE intake flattens out when it bends. that screws up the airflow....it's basically the same problem that the '98-02 LS1's and V6's have with their stock airlids. the outlet is oval-shaped, causing turbulence and robbing horsepower. the oval-ish section on the LPE intake would have the same effect.

alex, wait till i finish my intake design (it'll be soon), and you can have the first one.

[slasherbarb]

hope that intake goes better than when you tried to wire that fan switch...:lol:

[Savage_Messiah]

alex, wait till i finish my intake design (it'll be soon), and you can have the first one.

If alex's car doesn't blow up I want one too...

[skorpion317]

hope that intake goes better than when you tried to wire that fan switch...:lol:

this won't have any electronics involved, so don't worry about that.

[Koll]

Remember, the friction of the air running through the tube will cause the inside to also heat up. The metal is a better disipator of heat and with the plastic, it will just stay hot inside the tube....

Theres some food for thought.

[Savage_Messiah]

yes... in a conventional intake...

[Ian]

just put a nitrous fogger in the intake and spray the **** out of it. That will cool things off. :twisted:

[89 Trans Am WS6]

Whats wrong with turbulent air?:shock:
You actually want some turbulence in your intake air.


As for the intake itself..how do you figure that metal disapates the heat better then the plastic? The metal intakes take heat from the engine compartment itself and heat the tube..your not going to heat the tube from the inside just by moving air, if it does, its very very minimal. Dont forget, where talking about air thats at atmospheric pressure, not compressed air.

[skorpion317]

Whats wrong with turbulent air?:shock:
You actually want some turbulence in your intake air.


As for the intake itself..how do you figure that metal disapates the heat better then the plastic? The metal intakes take heat from the engine compartment itself and heat the tube..your not going to heat the tube from the inside just by moving air, if it does, its very very minimal. Dont forget, where talking about air thats at atmospheric pressure, not compressed air.

metal is a much better heat dissipator than plastic. Why do you think radiators are made out of metal and not plastic? or intercoolers?

[89 Trans Am WS6]

To each his own.

Why do you think all the good cold air kits are plastic and the cheap ones are metal? Ever feel a peice of metal under the hood of a car? it can be hot/warm for hours after the car is shut off. Feel a peice of plastic.

[slasherbarb]

then why is SLP $210 and LPE $160...do we pay more with SLP cause it's 2 filters...

[Savage_Messiah]

To each his own.

Why do you think all the good cold air kits are plastic and the cheap ones are metal? Ever feel a peice of metal under the hood of a car? it can be hot/warm for hours after the car is shut off. Feel a peice of plastic.

Dude just lok at the designs even. or a second ignore the heat issue. the k&n, moroso, lingenfelter, they pinch off down by the filter. The slp is straight and mandrel bent, same diameter throughout

[Ian]

I agree with 89 Trans Am WS6. Plastic TUBING will stay cooler than metal TUBING. Radiators and intercoolers work because of the fins. They act as heat sinks and draw heat out of the coolant/intake air. plastic FINS will not cool as fast as metal FINS. thats why they use metal for radiators and intercoolers. Turbulent air is great in the combustion chamber, not so great anywhere else.

[89 Trans Am WS6]

Thats what i ment, in the combustion chamber.

But right on Ian, the fins of the radiator are what let it dissapate heat...

And what do you mean it pinches down by the filter..i have a moroso and the filter goes in the hole down into the fender area and then a tube comes up out of the hole..and it makes one bend and goes into the elbow..its not a pinch at all..

[Ian]

If the tube pinches down, but widens out too, you aren't losing any volume. So I don't know what everyone is worrying about. Believe me, the makers of the intake have thought about it much more than we have and it wouldn't be on the shelf if it didn't perform the way the company wanted it to.


Another note that I forgot about the metal vs plastic thing. Radiators are made out of metal because they absorb and retain heat so well. the fins then let the heat escape into the atmosphere. If a radiator was made from plastic, it wouldn't be able to release enough heat to be effective because the plastic wouldnt be able to draw enough heat out of the coolant.