Hi, I just moved from Colorado, a mile above sea level, to Florida a mile below sea level. I have a K&N air filter and want to get a cool air intake by K&N. How would it do in this thick air down here in Tampa?

 

IMO, geographical location doesnt really matter in terms of intake (unless of course you did a homemade FWI with an ultra low filter in a very rainy area).

Certainly the engine power will vary greatly with temperature, humidity, and elevation - but the tiny amount of power that an intake adds will still be there regardless of location.

The one thing in general I dont like about the K&N intakes is the gap around the edges. They dont typically make a full cold air box, but rather just have some thin partition walls on the engine side that have some decent sized gaps into the engine bay. Downside is at a stop and low speeds, the hot air from the engine can flow through gaps causing IATs to go up. Just something to keep in mind when shopping for intakes.

 

x2, they aren't even marketed as cold air intakes for these cars. They are called performance air intake systems.

The intake temperatures get crazy high, when I had one it was awful

 

Same here, I had their kit on my GP GXP. IATs of 150+ in the summer in stop and go traffic were not uncommon.

I think the FWD cars have a double whammy - you've got the same hot radiator fan exhaust air filling the engine bay that all cars have, but then you've also got that exhaust crossover running right under the edge of the intake box. So metal boxes pick up the radiant heat and the gaps around the piping pick up the heat rising off.

The issue is magnified too on cars with older / slower IAT sensors. They're not really designed for quick temperature shifts as that's not a normal part of driving with a stock airbox. They're never going to see a 100 degree swing in temps in a few seconds like youd get from a hot air intake will going from a stop to merging onto a highway. As a result, the sensor output can lag actual temps meaning the pcm can still be pulling timing longer than it needs to be (and hurting performance as a result).

 

Does anyone know of a true cold air intake for the Monte Carlo SS SC?

I looked into an intake for my car, but it looked like said... it can make intake air hot.
Any gain from higher volume of available air would probably be voided out by hotter air.
Since there is a supercharger, more air would get in better either by smaller pulleys or by larger throttle bodies.

But... if there is a true CAI, I would be interested.

Those protective inserts to prevent hot air coming in don't look too effective.
But like said, they are not listed as CAIs.

Which of the Montes have the older slower incoming air temp sensors?
Mine is an 05 and if it is the older IAT, I will probably stay away from an intake altogether.

 

I believe ZZPerformance sells a cold air intake for these cars

 

not sure about their"cold air intake" but the fenderwell intake is a good one. Just be sure to get apcm tray or figure out how to remount it.

 

I know this is a few months old. But do you have to worry about heavy rain with a fenderwell intake?
Thx.

 

While the fenderwell isnt really sealed, it's also not directly open to rain coming in either (assuming its intact and not gashed open from tire damage or something). Getting small amounts of indirect splashing on it isnt a big deal.

The concern with the FWI in terms of rain is more in terms of driving through water so deep that it starts sucking actual standing water from the ground.

Its hard to tell from your pic - but if the filter is on the end of that pipe sticking straight into the fender, then it's not appreciably lower than stock would be. Youd have to be in water up to the headlight to get the filter in it.

I've just seen all kinds of fenderwell termination points - some people put a 45 or 90 on the end and stick the filter pointing down, and I've also seen people with the flex duct run the filter all the way to the bottom of the plastic fenderwell floor. In either of those cases you're greatly reducing how deep of water you can drive into before destroying the engine.

 

It dont even need to be submerged either.. I just recently had a problem (made a post about it) where I got hydrolocked from sucking water in that was splashing high enough.