Cold Air Intake

AL427SBF · #1 (**permalink**) 09-16-2011, 05:48 PM

Continuation of thread Ram Air Carb Tuning @ Ram Air Carb Tuning
Good information there, so I've been looking at "Cold Air Intake Systems" and we all know there are a ton of them out there. In the end it boils down to -

(1) Snorkel your air cleaner away from the under-hood high temp areas so you can pull in ambient air, or
(2) Go the Turkey Pan rout with a reasonable seal to your hood so your air is being sucked from the outside by the cowl scoop.

I won't go into that 3rd option, using a dry-ice box to actually cool the air before it gets to the carb - not practical and I'll leave it that. I think we all get it, cooler air = denser air = more air, and with the right air-gas mixture = more power. By-the-way, "Ram Air" has nothing to do with this, and apply pointed out by Gaz64 - your carb is going to suck what it needs and any perceived positive psi from "ramming" air in is rendered useless when the butterfly's open.

So, regarding the 2 more viable options above, IMO both solutions seem to fall short of actually hitting the mark and getting outside ambient air into the carb. With (1) you are not outside the hood and although the air will be cooler than the air above the manifold (if your snorkel gets you near the front or a fender well), it is certainly not ambient air. With (2) you need to have a good Turkey Pan seal to the hood to avoid that hot manifold air leaking in, and this says nothing of that aluminum Turkey Pan being a pretty good thermal conductor.

I keep thinking, there must be something better out there in the way of a true "ambient air intake" - or at least a custom setup by one of you that does a pretty good job. One idea that crossed my mind was to plumb that real ambient air coming in from the two brake duct holes on the front of the car right up to a sealed air cleaner shroud (assuming you're not using these for brake cooling or "footbox AC"). Anyway, curious to see what some of the other solutions might be, a new product or your creativity to get the job done right!
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