Well, calling it "cold" air is a relative term. It's not like you would reroute your a/c to the intake to supply the cold air to it. The point is that it is designed to draw colder air into the manifold than stock setup. That's why some of the factory deals come with an insulated shroud to barricade the filter from the hot engine bay. Placing it in the fenderwell farther away from the engine does an even better job of drawing cooler air.

 

[align=center][/align][align=center][/align][align=center][/align][align=center][/align][align=center]`Space, Shute Up & Listen[/align][align=center][/align]




James Matsuda, one of Gale Banks Engineering’s’ design engineers, works on a computer-aided design drawing of a Banks ram-air intake system. Banks said that a cold-air intake must be properly engineered in order to provide increases in both power and fuel efficiency. (Photo Courtesy of Gale Banks Engineering)
[align=center]A new air intake is among the first modifications a consumer will make to his vehicle, according to SEMA research. The other top candidates for modification are computer programming and cat-back exhaust systems, but manufacturers of air intakes believe that their products provide the best performance gains on a dollar-for-dollar basis.[/align][align=center][/align][align=center]The basic purpose of the cold-air system is to bring cool air from outside the engine compartment into the engine. This cool air is denser than the air found within the hot engine compartment. The denser charge contains more oxygen than warmer air, helping to provide better combustion through a more effective air/fuel mixture. The other advantage of most specialty-equipment cold air intakes is their consistent diameter and the absence of sharp bends, both of which help to eliminate turbulence in the air stream compared to some OE intakes.[/align][align=center]“The air intake offers the best bang for the buck versus these other choices,” said Chris Thomson, national sales manager for AIRAID Premium Filters. “An air intake will also enhance the performance gains from those other products.”[/align][align=center]As the performance market shifts—particularly in light of the dramatic increases in fuel prices over the past year—we thought it might be instructive to look at a specific product market to see how it is progressing. We found that air intakes have seen dramatic changes and are still evolving.[/align][align=center]A Little History[/align][align=center]“NEUSPEED was the first to make cold-air intakes for our niche market,” said Aaron Neumann, vice president of research and development for NEU-SPEED. “In the beginning, we were just eliminating the factory air filter system from the air-flow sensor and adding a K&N filter. That was back in the early ’70s. When we saw the effectiveness in increasing horsepower through air flow, our systems became much more technical in design and execution.”[/align][align=center]As air intakes developed, new techniques were employed to more effectively route and calibrate the systems so that they maximized efficiency with the OE systems. Among the advances mentioned by our sources were roto-molded tubes, which allow for more complex geometry and higher heat resistance, and better filtering media rather than the standard cotton media.[/align]



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A good cold-air intake must be designed to not only efficiently channel air from the filter to the throttle body but also be ergonomically correct and appealing to the eye, according to J.R. Granatelli of Granatelli Motor Sports. (Photo Courtesy of Granatelli Motor Sports)[align=cent

 

Thanks Space,

I thought I had read Mod Mickey or someone mentioning that the best CAI system accesses cold air through a whole cut in the fenderwell to accomodate the setup.

Like I said, I'm stupid about this, but one would think that the stock setup retrieves "cooler" air than an "under-hood" setup.

Doesn't the stock setup get air from around the front grill area?

So some kind of high flowing K&N inside the stock box is the quickest way to get power....right or wrong?

(GPD's additional notes: I am stupid, I should have finished reading Space's post. All these things I asked are answered there.)

 

the stock setup brings in air from the front of the car, yes. but the airbox greatly restricts the air coming into the engine. by installing a cone filter under the hood, the engine is getting A LOT more air (because of the greater surface area of the filter). i dont know about the new monte's but in mine, when i felt the airbox after a long run, the airbox was very hot. by the time the air gets to the engine, it is just as hot as the air under the hood. a fenderwell intake would be the ideal setup for CAI, i just personally didnt want to cut any big holes. hope that helps....

-Dale-

 

Good points! Hence, all the re-engineering that goes into CAI's.

 

slayer.
the best ones are in teh lower part of the fender not cut threw it. but you dont find thosw on most street cars real low. so they stay out of water and debree. etc...

I have mine in the fender on teh drivers side it gose acrossed the motor and threw in teh the inner fender well then it drops down a bout the same height as the head light doise and is fastend in there .

Mine is more of a Fender well intake then the typical C.A.I that the folks talk about today.

I dea of mine was to get the cooler air from out side the motor bay.
But it dose sound like i should have a hose on teh end of it for vacuming out the car to LOL

 

There are also many CAI kits out there with bypass filters available. The intake piping has an extra filter inside the engine bay. What is this good for? When a person puts on a true cold air induction (intake, same thing) the idea IS to keep the filter as far from engine bay heat as possible, and with most engine bay setups, the easiest place to put the filter involves placing it closer to the ground, giving more chance for water, debris, etc (as was mentioned) to clog the filter. When this happens, the bypass kicks into play. Gasses will travel along the path of least resistance, regardless of if they are being pushed, such as with turbo or supercharging, or pulled, like the vacuum created in all motor intakes. The resistance from the clogged filter forces the air to find an alternate path into the vacuum of the intake, and since that bypass is the only other way in, that's where it goes, helping to keep, primarily, water out of the cylinder. The down fall of this, is increased turbulence in the intake stream, reducing intake air velocity (same principle as a hole in the exhaust), but I would say that's a very small price to pay for "peace of mind". The over all air velocity should still be higher, with a larger filter that is, and being able to suck in the cooler, denser air from outside of the engine bay makes it one of the easiest ways to add power to a motor.