How much of an affect do these intakes have on performance.

[Cornerdealy]

I'm talking about the "Hot" Cold air intakes... like the one pictured here:

 

obviously they are not as affective as a real CAI or Ram air, but is there any noticible performance enhancement as compaired to a stock air box?

 

The reason I am sking this is because I'm looking at my options for intake. Seeing that ram air hoods for 1st gen GP's are pretty much custom jobs only, I don't want to go in that direction because I don't have the skill to do it myself, and i don't have the money to get it done ( I would love to have a cowl hood). I was considering hood louvers (sp?), but then again i really don't want to risk fucking anything up. The other option is a real CAI, but don't you have to do stuff like move the battery to the trunk and shit? I really don't want to be moving stuff around like that.

 

Now, after looking at countless cardomain pics, I've noticed that the majority of people use the types of intakes pictured above, but aren't they just sucking in hot engine air if no modification was done to it?

 

Sorry for the semi long topic here, and please correct me if i'm asking a stupid pointless question, but i'm pretty much a humble newb to cars and I'm trying to learn all I can.

[SmoothSteve3]

Having a conical filter like above definitly isn't as good as a cold air intake, but I think that they're still better than stock air boxes.

 

By using the kindof filter you showed, air flow is a lot less restricted. Basically, your engine breathes better.

 

I have a 90' Lumina, and mine did two things:

 

1. Made my intake a lot louder ( i can actually hear it in the passenger compartment now)

 

2. Made a noticable difference in my high-end torque

 

The decision is yours, but i'd go ahead and do it. Its fairly cheap (30-50 bucks), lets your engine breathe, and looks pretty cool too.

[Cornerdealy]

well I wanna make sure i get the right thing before I actually buy it. My friend was also talking about experimenting with some ghetto pvc intake where we could take out the fog lights and make some custom ram air, but i don't know if the foglight holes would be accessible (but I might just experiment with pvc anyway, because if it doesn't work out, then no big deal. Keep the comments coming!

[no1kicker]

You could always just get a K&N replacement and gut the airbox.

[EurosportZ34]

No, I'd go with the cone intake. I got them on both my Luminas. I know there is some performance gain but now I don't really notice much gain, but prolly cause I'm so used to them being on now. One cool thing is that when you revv your engine it makes a air sucking sound that is really noticeable. Also my exhaust is louder and more noticeable than before. Plus you also have the appearance mod to with the cone intake. It's up to you but again I'd go with it.

[runt]

I have a WAI like the one you have pictured up there on my car (not the type from RedZ like that is), and I would say that it does make a difference. Now it's not as great as a true CAI, but it does seem to "open up" the engine better. I do lose a little bit of low end torque, but most of the time you can't even notice it. Up high though, it does scream! Personally, I would recommend something like you have pictured if you don't want to mess around with the PVC on your own.

[Cornerdealy]

thanks for the input guys. I'll probably fool around with a makeshift pvc intake to see if I can hook up a CAI somehow, but if that doesn't work I'll probably just get a regular WAI.

 

please feel free to add anything else if need be.

[89oldscutlass]

I have what everyone is calling a "hot"CAI and you do loose a little bottom end torque but then again you gain a little hp top end power. In my opinion either setups are "hot" CAI,s.The problem with the setup that goes through the fender well is that when your engine compartment heats up the tube heats up and the air has to travel so far before it enters the intake that the air is warm when it enters the throttle body. The key is to shorten the distance between the cold air outside to the throttle body. If you go with a cowl hood you can cut the hole in the hood close to the throttle body and run your cone filter through the whole you cut in the hood getting the cold air to the throttle body quick as well as lowering the temp in the engine bay. Thats how Im going to do mine.

[sonyman87]

I'm talking about the "Hot" Cold air intakes... like the one pictured here:

 

obviously they are not as affective as a real CAI or Ram air, but is there any noticible performance enhancement as compaired to a stock air box?

 

The reason I am sking this is because I'm looking at my options for intake. Seeing that ram air hoods for 1st gen GP's are pretty much custom jobs only, I don't want to go in that direction because I don't have the skill to do it myself, and i don't have the money to get it done ( I would love to have a cowl hood). I was considering hood louvers (sp?), but then again i really don't want to risk fucking anything up. The other option is a real CAI, but don't you have to do stuff like move the battery to the trunk and shit? I really don't want to be moving stuff around like that.

 

Now, after looking at countless cardomain pics, I've noticed that the majority of people use the types of intakes pictured above, but aren't they just sucking in hot engine air if no modification was done to it?

 

Sorry for the semi long topic here, and please correct me if i'm asking a stupid pointless question, but i'm pretty much a humble newb to cars and I'm trying to learn all I can.

 

I have information about HOT cai

i call them FAI.. free air intakes!

 

I have a temp gauge in mine. and i can tell you on a highway the most you will see the temp increase compaired to outside air is only ~10degrees.

 

In a city when stoped at a light. it can reach over 100degrees... but it will go back down if you get some speed and let the air flow through the

radiator.

 

stoped = hot

moving = good

[Cornerdealy]

after some thought, i'm thinking about getting a "hot CAI or a FAI or a WAI or whatever else you wanna call it, but then also install hood louvers. Because they don't really need any paint matching or molding or anything, they are just cut a hole and snap them in right?

 

Do you think there will be a better improvement if I hook up the louvers and then direct the intake like right under one of them if i can? or even if i can't it will still allow colder air to come in as i'm driving and hot air to escape while i'm at a stop right?

 

Also, does anyone know of a good site where I can get some good louvers from for a decent price?

[Cornerdealy]

I'll be interested to see what you find out. That is really why I made this topic in the first place. I figured if the cone intakes are just sitting there in the same place as the air box, then how could they really be improving the intake? I understand that it makes the engine sound cooler, but if you take a torque hit then what's the point?

[913_4se]

you could always cut out the factory air box and but the cold air intake inside the box this might help with the heat ? not sure

[mfewtrail]

I vote for find a way to build your own sealed box(open front to the size of your choosing) w/ a good conical filter inside. I'm working on doing just that right now, although it won't look like a typical box due to the radiator and battery being right there, I'm going to have play around with it for a bit to get it to fit right. I'm still deciding on materials to use at this point. I'll likely post pictures and whatnot when I actually start building it.

[Cornerdealy]

yeah definitely let us know and post plenty of pics if you come up with something good. I might wanna model mine after yours if it works and it's not too much trouble to get it made and installed.

[J]

i put a intake like that in my car and it fucked performace more than it helped, just my .02 cents

[Cornerdealy]

i put a intake like that in my car and it fucked performace more than it helped, just my .02 cents

 

from what i'm seeing, that seems to be the truth. But why do so many people put them in then? Is it because it looks/sounds cool? Is it because they are uninformed and just copy what everyone else is doing? I'm not trying to offend anyone here, I'm just curious to know why something like this is so popular, but has no real effect on performance (and in some cases makes it worse).

[RedZMonte]

I'll be interested to see what you find out. That is really why I made this topic in the first place. I figured if the cone intakes are just sitting there in the same place as the air box, then how could they really be improving the intake? I understand that it makes the engine sound cooler, but if you take a torque hit then what's the point?

the intake will help all around. you are getting more overall air into the engine. flat out. the stock air box is restrictive as well as the accordian pipe. the intake has a high flow filter with more surface area then a drop in and the intake pipe is smooth flowing. link another guy pointed out, when the car starts to move there is allways air circulating under the hood. if you are conserned about under hood temps you can remove the weather stripping on the fire wall. that will act simmilar to a "Cowl" and allow air to be vented out and keep it cooler.

 

I did not notice a loss in TQ or HP on my cars when i added an intake. infact the top end pull was much better on every car i have put them on.. think of it this way. try sprinting around the block breathing through nothihng but a straw. now sprint it again breathing through your mouth. you are breathing allot more air when you don't have to suck it through a straw.

 

 

RedZ