B18C's test: cold air intake vs. short ram

[B18C]

Cold-air intakes vs. short ram intakes....this is one of those eternal topics like sc vs. turbo.

Being the scientist that I am, I decided to do my own test. And being the good guy that I am, I'm gonna share my results with you lucky people

- With my cold air extension, my intake temperature rises to about 180F (82.2C) after some very aggressive acceleration. With just the SRI, my intake temp rises to about 193F ( 89.4C) after some similar driving.

- Cruising intake temp is around 146-148F (63-64C) with the CAI and 148-152F (64-67C) with the SRI.

- Both types of intakes take about the same amount of time to reach the max intake temp and the same amount of time (about 11-12 sec) to fall back to cruising temp (about 1 min).

- This is was all done with the outside temp being 54-55F (13C).

- Intake temp was measured with the intake air temp sensor on the intake manifold (courtesy of Honda) and was recorded with Hondata datalogging.

- Note that this was done with and Injen 3" intake on a supercharged integra so your results may vary

[Superesc]

oooooo how about the stock air box???

[GTS Jeff]

Awesome. So which one's better?

[4wheeldrift]

Originally posted by Jeff TYPE R
Awesome. So which one's better?

The one that gives you lower intake temps?

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by 4wheeldrift


The one that gives you lower intake temps?

Do 10 degrees really justify the extra $100 for a CAI over a SRI?

[rage2]

Originally posted by Jeff TYPE R
Do 10 degrees really justify the extra $100 for a CAI over a SRI?

10 degrees on a turbo car is like gold. On NA cars, the difference is negligible (but still noticable on a really hot day).

[legendboy]

Thanks mang, I was just wondering about this the other day!

[B18C]

Originally posted by rage2


10 degrees on a turbo car is like gold. On NA cars, the difference is negligible (but still noticable on a really hot day).

Yes but we are talking about 10 degrees Farenheit which is like 1 whp, I think.

I'm also not wure how much more effective it would be on a really hot day. My little 'test' was done with the outside ambient temp being 13o Celsius. If it was like 30o Celsius, I would think the intake temp differences would be even smaller because the CAI is drawing in warmer air to start with.

[B18C]

Originally posted by legendboy
Thanks mang, I was just wondering about this the other day!

[Daddymax]

I just upgraded my crx from a SRI to a cold air. And I love it!

My vtec kicks WAY harder and it feels WAY smoother.

[B18C]

Originally posted by Daddymax
I just upgraded my crx from a SRI to a cold air. And I love it!

My vtec kicks WAY harder and it feels WAY smoother.

I'm personally very much a numbers guy. I don't trust my ass dyno at all.

Intakes are one of those things that I think will forever be debated. It is very hard to get good quantitative results for these things. Can't really test them on the dyno and there are so many variables on the street. Hmmm...maybe I'll try it at the track next time I go...if I ever go again

[redline]

Originally posted by Daddymax
I just upgraded my crx from a SRI to a cold air. And I love it!

My vtec kicks WAY harder and it feels WAY smoother.

[Ekliptix]

I think that the extra length of the intake piping makes a difference on the resonence of the air coming in. That is how CAI give more power from low to mid RPM, where SRA seem to help high RPM's. Yes, I know honda's like to rev, but I can only rev to 6600 before redline anyway.

[B18C]

Originally posted by Ekliptix
I think that the extra length of the intake piping makes a difference on the resonence of the air coming in. That is how CAI give more power from low to mid RPM, where SRA seem to help high RPM's. Yes, I know honda's like to rev, but I can only rev to 6600 before redline anyway.

Reading AEM propaganda again?

[GTS Jeff]

I think Ekliptix might be onto something. Since intake runner length can be varied to change an engine's power characteristics, why can't intake tubing length be varied to achieve the same effect?

[shadowz]

very interesting

[Davan]

Very good study! This info should be posted in a permanent article on the site or something.