Especially when you have a modest small capacity 3 or 4-cylinder engine. But be wary of those manufacturers that claim an extra 20 to 30 horsepower from a straightforward cold air intake install. It’s all dependent on your particular application of course. Changing to a cold air intake will not result in measurable gains in this case. In fact, manufacturers nowadays are pretty knowledgeable in making good compromises with their intake systems. Therefore, for sports cars with only an intake mod, even a proper cold air intake, it’s safe to assume that you won’t be picking up any extra power. In fact, sports cars make use of pod filters too, and they can make power without generating more noise. It’s not just the aftermarket, car makers understand that intake flow is important too.Īnd carmakers have a generous budget to spare on developing a proper intake system for their sports cars. One thing you’ll notice with most performance cars is the fact that they already have a very well-sorted intake. The other argument is the fact that most engines, especially performance engines, aren’t limited in output due to the intake. Issue 2: Your Engine Isn’t Intake Limited It’ll just delay and worsen the effects of heat soak. The stock airbox is generally good at keeping heat away from the incoming air.īut once again, heat shields are no use if they instead soak up the heat. Some manufacturers even make use of the stock airbox, modifying it so that a large pod filter can fit within. This is why you see pieces of shiny heat shields surrounding the pod filters, to repel heat. One way to alleviate the effects of heat soak is through proper heat shielding. It worsens as you drive the car for longer periods, making it unfeasible for track driving. Obviously, manufacturers of such kits understand that heat soak is a genuine issue with short ram intakes. But again, it’s typically minor (~3% gains) and varies from vehicle to vehicle. These can bring air in quicker from the low end, improving low to mid-end torque. However, there are genuinely performance benefits to be had from short ram intakes. This leads to people saying that these intakes often compromise engine performance. Therefore, it’s easy to determine that short ram intakes are very susceptible to heat soak. It’s the entire point of course, but this means that these intakes are often located close to the engine, sometimes even to the exhausts. The argument with the short ram intakes is that they are too short. It’s just a stubby intake piping that provides a very short and direct route from the air inlet to the intake plenum. Now, modern cars with short ram intakes don’t need you to cut open your hood of course. In fact, on drag cars with forced induction, it’s common to see an increase in boost pressure at very high speeds (>200 mph). This occurs due to the increased dynamic air pressure. The ram-air effect increases dramatically as the vehicle speed rises. The forward-facing hood scoop opens upon full throttle, ‘ramming’ fresh air through a shorter path directly to the carburetor. One of the coolest muscle cars to really use and market the ram-air effect is probably the ’69 Pontiac GTO. Ram-air intakes were really first used by muscle cars and motorcycles (and jets). There isn’t really an official term for it, but it’s fair to say that short ram intakes are based on ram-air intakes. When you’re thinking of aftermarket intake kits bought off from eBay that includes a couple of hose clamps, silicone hoses, pipes, and a pod filter, it’s more likely that it’s a short ram intake. In fact, it’s fair to say that for some people, the iconic red pod filter is all you need to call it a cold air intake. Since people selling those universal intake kits have also marketed it as such, it further muddles the term ‘cold air intake’. cold air intake manufacturers only design and make their induction kits to be isolated from engine heat. Ultimately, the perfect cold air intake will impart heat upon the air that’s entering the engine. This means that regardless of the operating condition and duration of the engine, a cold air intake should still be able to keep the intake air temperature low. A cold air intake by its very definition is an intake that, overtly, delivers cold air to the engine. Hence, this brings us to the topic of cold air intakes. But this isn’t really possible in most cases, typically because of limited space and cost considerations. Ideally, the manufacturer would have enough room to locate the air intake away from the engine bay entirely. It takes more energy to produce the same amount of power, resulting in more waste. What matters for them is the fact that an engine operating at lower volumetric efficiency is worse at emissions. For carmakers, that’s not terribly important.
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