You don't "need" a cold air intake

NYSpeed Automotive
1

In the fight to clean up my engine bay, and save weight, I was wondering how much of a difference I would have on intake air temps with my cold air intake vs. just having mesh covering up the turbo. There are obvious benefits to both (at least I thought), but the results showed different. I initially figured that having the cold air intake on my car that goes into the fender would provide cooler air, where as the mesh would provide warmer air, but more air flow. So, like most things I ask, no one would have an answer, so I tested it for myself!

Ok, let me start out by stating what I did, and exactly what mods I have again.

Mods that matter:
CF hood with openings to blow cold air from the hood vent onto the turbo
Coolingmist meth kit with 500cc injector
Big MPX intercooler

Only variables:
Mopar Performance cold air intake, K&N filter, PTP water splash box
vs.
only mesh over the turbo opening

Results:

With the normal cold air setup, I drove around data logging intake air temps. Driving slow and parking, they were right around 86 degrees. Cruising around at 40 mph, the temps stayed around 82 degrees. I went WOT through third gear, and the temps dropped to 70 degrees and the car spiked to 24 psi, held 22 psi.

With the mesh over the turbo, no cold air intake, I did the exact same test. Driving around slow, and parked, my temps were between 86 and 89 degrees. Cruising they stayed around 80 - 82 degrees. That is no change at all! Going WOT through third gear, my temps dropped to 68 degrees, and the car spiked to 25 psi, held 24 psi!

What does this mean:

I won’t have track results until tomorrow night, but these above tests were done within 30 minutes of each other tonight, in 76 degree weather. The temperatures at sitting, cruising, and WOT were within 2 degrees of each other, which is negligible, and I made more boost without it.

I am not saying this setup will work for everyone, but preliminary testing shows that with my car, I make more boost, and maintain the same temperature by going to just a mesh covering my turbo, vs. a cold air intake, filter, and temp box.

Very cool :tup:

Tomorrow I am going to the track again. I have changed nothing on the car, and with my cold air intake setup, I went consistent 11.9xx @ 119.xx just 4 days ago. If it is close, or faster, this will confirm my results. If it is slower, then I will know that the cold air intake is better for track use, even though the numbers say different.

–mark

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hummm interesting cant wait to see track times

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Yeah, temps were basically identical between the CAI and mesh. Pretty sweet.

<–the human data logger :lol:

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And for those of you that don’t know how the cold air intake works on my car, it is cold air, since it is sealed off out of the engine bay, into the fender:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3025/2577903323_09eba9ed3c_o.jpg

Some cars have ‘cold air intakes’ that just end up being hot air intakes, this one was actually designed well to begin with, but… isn’t necessary with a really efficient IC and lots of meth.

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Great post. Good thinking. Nice work.

:tup:

I’m interested to see what the dataloig would read for a 1/4 pass for each.

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cai on a turbo car is retarded…think about it , air comes in, get heated by turbo,sent through fmic and cooled. cai is only good IF ANY on NA. simple stuff

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I would guess its the same for the 1/4 pass. I did a full 3k - 6.2k pull in 3rd gear, which brings me up to 95 mph or so. Then when I bang 4th and ride it through, it brings me to 120 mph. That whole time its spraying the same amount of meth, since I don’t have a progressive controller, so I am pretty sure both would be right around mid - high 60’s in this temperature here.

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Heating 140* air is going to be worse than heating 70* air…

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You sir, are an idiot.

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The cooler the air going through the turbo to the intercooler is easier to cool and stay cool.

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^^^

Yup, you guys are right, colder air is better. But… when the system is so efficient, it is cooling it as best it can, and that is why its getting to those temps. The IC is so big, it can get the air going to the cold side pipe the same, so when the meth kicks in, its just as cold.

So its not so much the intake charge in my case, its the efficiency of the cooling. That is why I agree it works REALLY WELL in my setup, but not in every setup.

–mark

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Umm, I hope this isn’t too dumb of a question…but, what do you do with the MAF sensor when you just run the mesh

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Neons are purely MAP based. No airflow sensor.

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Whats the sensor right before the fender? Iat sensor?

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Its a pre-turbo intake air temp sensor. The one that we were reading is in the cold side charge pipe, after the meth nozzle, right before the TB.

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So, what he said above ^ neons don’t have a MAF sensor?

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Yeah, no MAF…do you not trust that I know what I’m talking about? :lol:

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Nope, MAP only. Never have to worry about getting a larger maf housing :lol:

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Your ideas intrigue me. I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter.

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