Cold air intakes

Topic: Cold air intakes (Read 34138 times) previous topic - next topic

Cold air intakes

January 23, 2006, 12:26:03 AM

Just been wondering about this...my stock intake like most of yours I imagine consists of plastic and flexible rubber tubing running from the air cleaner to the fender well. Some 90's Mustangs I've seen have a similar configuration, only with some having aftermarket aluminum tubing instead. Does that actually keep the air any cooler? I could see it breathing more easily because of a smoother inside surface...

Cold air intakes

Reply #1 – January 23, 2006, 12:43:04 AM

It doesn't keep the incoming charge cooler, no...at least not really. That metal pipe soaks up heat like a sponge, I found that out with the intercooler pipes on my car.

Most people put on those purdy chrome intakes just because they look a lot better than the factory setup, and with the cone filter and smoothed out intake tract they make more power (and sound better)

Cold air intakes

Reply #2 – January 23, 2006, 04:58:33 AM

I have a MAC coldair kit on my 88 cat's speed density 5.0 HO and the darned thing keeps coming loose and gets twisted every now and then. I think I am going to put my stock air box system back on and sell the coldair kit. Too much maintenance!

Cold air intakes

Reply #3 – January 23, 2006, 03:47:50 PM

Quote from: whitebeastxr7

I have a MAC coldair kit on my 88 cat's speed density 5.0 HO and the darned thing keeps coming loose and gets twisted every now and then. I think I am going to put my stock air box system back on and sell the coldair kit. Too much maintenance!

I have a MAC on my car too. Tighten the hose clamps as tight as you can and make sure you are tightening it over the metal tubing and the rubber and not just the rubber. Every once in a while it comes loose and I get extra air sucking in but it's not too bad to remedy.

Cold air intakes

Reply #4 – February 04, 2006, 09:12:33 AM

thats true, I took a little time and readjusted it again, so far so good

Cold air intakes

Reply #5 – February 05, 2006, 11:41:44 AM

I am using the BBK kit for cars w/o MAF. No problems here, but it is considerably louder, meaning; I can hear massive air movement coming from the fender. Like a shop vac sound at part throttle.

Cold air intakes

Reply #6 – February 05, 2006, 01:54:14 PM

I have the Summit (BBK?) kit on the convertible with a mass air meter. Works fine, and I like the smooth tubes and slight Venturi effect of the whole deal. Less resistance, no sharp edges, and higher velocity = better power. Unfortunately I don't think one can really notice any improvements with a CAI kit on the street. A dyno test, yes...the track, perhaps...but on the street it's negligible. Kinda hard to justify the cost of a CAI kit in that respect. Another thing to consider is that MAF meters really don't like the junk coming off a K&N filter, so keep it easy on the filter spray and it's all good. They also will whistle on acceleration. It's kind of annoying...so turn up the radio, or get some loud lers, to cover the noise.

Cold air intakes

Reply #7 – February 05, 2006, 02:32:13 PM

The idiot ricers in my town think I have a supercharger under there. Let them believe that... they wont ever run beside me. HAHA

Cold air intakes

Reply #8 – February 05, 2006, 03:05:44 PM

The intake on my Mustang would whistle at a certain throttle position. It was kinda entertaining.

Cold air intakes

Reply #9 – February 05, 2006, 05:06:31 PM

A cold air intake MIGHT make for 10 HP on a 5.0. On newer cars, especially the new Mustangs people are seeing up to 35 HP and more at the tires. Keep in mind that ANY cold air kit on the new Mustang requires a computer re-tune to see those kinds of numbers though. With some (mine included) it was an abso;ute necessity otherwise the car would throw out a check engine light and go into safe mode.

Cold air intakes

Reply #10 – February 05, 2006, 06:13:56 PM

Quote from: Red_LX

It doesn't keep the incoming charge cooler, no...at least not really. That metal pipe soaks up heat like a sponge, I found that out with the intercooler pipes on my car.

Most people put on those purdy chrome intakes just because they look a lot better than the factory setup, and with the cone filter and smoothed out intake tract they make more power (and sound better)

Its a little different with intercooler pipes, and air intake pipes. You dont really get colder air, you could say that its slightly colder, because its smoother through the intake, and the air has less time to heat, but between plastic/rubber and metal tube, you wont notice anything, the air isnt there long enough, and the tube wont get hot enough for the air to get heated.

Cold air intakes

Reply #11 – June 27, 2014, 06:29:22 PM

Do Mustang CAIs fit T-Birds?

Cold air intakes

Reply #12 – June 27, 2014, 08:57:38 PM

We found that a lot of cold air intakes are counter productive as far as HP goes. A lot of guys put on those fancy aluminum air cleaners and connector pipes that hold heat rather nicely and heat up the intake air sensor it sees hotter incoming air. In return it pulls out spark advance. We now do not use to much of those fancy chrome pipes that hold heat and we always relocate the intake air sensor in front of the radiator in the air stream far away from engine heat. I am doing a TC as we speak and when i am finished i will post all the sensors i have relocated and picked up a few HP to boot. Sometimes as much as 15* of timing is removed by the ECM because of an intake air sensor seeing higher than normal temperatures with those pipes. And relates to quite a bit of HP loss according to my MUSTANG when you are down 15* of advance. Have a good weekend guys.

35 wheel hp gain from a cold air intake in my opinion is a stretch at best, Personally i have not got that type of increase using my mustang. And we have actually tested it on the mustang with a net reduction in hp rather than an increase. The higher head as i explained pulled out timing and a substantial amount of timing at that.

Cold air intakes

Reply #13 – June 27, 2014, 09:56:58 PM

I will be having a brand new BBK chrome CAI as soon as I toss some more cash towards my heads. It's a "looks" thing. I need to get the engine compartment all flashy so when I open that bad a$$ hood....BAM!!!! In your FACE!!!! LOL.

Cold air intakes

Reply #14 – June 27, 2014, 10:39:40 PM

I heard that the rubber tube has all those flutes in it to help utilize the venturi effect and will outflow an identical sized metal tube.

i dunno if i buy that personally, but i have seen a few guys who swapped between a k&n brand new out of the box. hethey all ended up with more power out of the stock square paper filter