Folks - i have a BA XT - stock to the washer fluid!

i have read a lot about "CAI" and its purported benefits.....
the theory being that colder air is denser, and therefore supplies more oxygen
so you can burn more fuel and make more power....
Also that the factort intakes are somewhat restrictive....

so......

on the stock I6 the air intake already takes air from outside the engine bay,and
should be colder that inside.......
i have measured the intake tract - and bugger me if the most restrictive part
is the throttle body itself - so making the pipes bigger shouldn't do much?

of course the vendors of aftermarket inductions claim gains of 10-15 rwkw
which i find a bit dubious..

so.....

I wanted to get some real-world examples of how, on a similar NAI6
either a pod-type CAI or addition of a lower snorkel actually added to performance or otherwise...

Opinions welcome (i.e. "i done the mod and she went heaps harder")
but dyno charts/0-400 times are better....

Anybody got some real evidence?

cheers,

there are dyno charts out there they do work to an extent, 15rwkw isnt overly noticeable but when i did my last car i found that it reved alot better throughout the rev range, doesnt run out of puff etc.

its not really the coldness of the air that changes much i assume because a decent factory system shouldnt be drawing hot air anyway.
forcing the air into the air box and filter is the key, so a high flowing filter is a good thing.

ford intake pipes always seem to squash down and always have a big tight bend in them to get to the t/b, adding a better designed and bigger pipe will help also.

its a cheap, effective mod it should be one of the first things you do engine wise

to be honest i wouldn't bother with a CAI, i would only do it if it was the last thing you needed to do to try get more power, full exhaust system will make a huge difference compared to a CAI also cams would be good.

to be honest i would start with a good cai system. you may not notice it now but you will with other mods. not to mention that if your standard system is restrictive and attracts/holds heat you WILL gain bum dyno performance providing you know how to use it... they didn't add the second intake tube to the turb airbox coz they thought it would look cool....

15kw isn't much of difference ? bullshyte it isn't. it may not be huge but it 's noticable.10kw here, then 5 here, 4 here and 8 here = 27kw, which from a stock restrictave system (not just intake) isn't that hard to achieve (exhast + filter + cai + cam) combined with improved diff gears and suspension would implement a complete makover of a stocka.

you have to start somewhere, or finish somewhere for that matter, when your after it, your after it! you have the power.

view FIEND's thread on air intake pressures. informative and will give you ideas. yes, cold air in an EFI car is more efficient, but i still believe that its more to how you drive it

The CAI is good, but like everything its a win loose.

Win - cooler air is more dense.

Loose - cold air travels too slow.

Cold air intake will help with power, and efficiency to the tiniest amount.
The colder and denser the air, the more fuel is needed to run stoichometric (14.7:1) effectively increasing the size of the engine (is a way of explaining it).

Because of the efi system pumping more fuel into the cylinders the colder the air gets, you'll still be using the same amout of energy (petrol) to get from A to B at the same rate of acceleration.

THEREFORE, the ONLY way to reduce the amount of fuel used is to firstly: accelerate ALOT slower, take your time, relax, second: reducing restrictions on the exhaust, flowing the head, measuring and seeing if your intake is a restriction and fixing that (intake wont be a problem on alot of cars).
Thirdly: modifying the digital signal from the map sensor or otherwise to make the car run leaner then stoich.. ie.. 15.2:1.. Or stopping the car from dropping to 12.1:1 under heavy load.

Autospeed.com contains everything you need to know

Simple answer is much better than picking up crappy hot air from near the engine, as older car's did. I picked up power with an improved CAI & intake pipe in my EB.

Cheers

ToranaGuy