Cold air vs. Ram-air

[4geze63]

What is more benificial, I made the standard homedepot intake out of ABS and PVC piping which works great.

So basically whats better for power, having the intake tube longer where it has a better chance to pull in abit cooler air, or have it shorter so it is more direct and less distance for the air to travel to the turbo.

Reason why I ask is I recenlty shortend my intake tube by aboyt 4 inches with a more direct angle flow.

 

[paranoidTSi]

I would say RAM-AIR, the quicker the air gets to the turbo the quicker the spool. I think COLDAIR intake is pointless for turbocharged vehicles, because even when the air on the intake is cooler it still gets heated up by the turbo as it passes through, this is where the intercooler comes into play, it cools the air AFTER the turbo.

This is just my two cents, do what you wish.

 

[4geze63]

good point

 

[Generation X]

I would say RAM-AIR, the quicker the air gets to the turbo the quicker the spool. I think COLDAIR intake is pointless for turbocharged vehicles, because even when the air on the intake is cooler it still gets heated up by the turbo as it passes through, this is where the intercooler comes into play, it cools the air AFTER the turbo.

This is just my two cents, do what you wish.

True... but even though the turbo heats up the air when it passes through it, it still won't be as hot exiting the turbo compared to not running a CAI. I have seen intake temps drop as much as 30 degrees before, with my set up. I have some pictures of my CAI in my gallery, feel free to check them out.

 

[GSGoinFast]

ive heard that cold air can actually slow the turbo down because it is denser. i think a short ram with a high flow filter should do you fine

 

[miteclgst]

I would not go and make up a CAI that would have all sorts of bends in it because that would kill flow, but there is no fighting the idea that the cooler the air is going into the turbo the cooler the air will be comming out. I mean look at how our cars perform around the winter months when the air is cool and dense, and compare that to how the car seems to loose it's spunk when you have a good hot day. There is a lot of heat in the engine bay, heat shields or not the exhaust gasses running through the manifold and subsequently throught the turbo can reach +1400*F, taking that into consideration plus the idea that the turbo engines just run hotter than n/a engines and all of this heat is less than 1 foot away from the filter of your intake. I think that a turbo car would definately benefit from the addition of some cold air into the mixture. A 2 1/4 pipe weaving it's way through the fender and into the wheel well would probably negate any performance gains with the extra restrictions that it would add. But I think if a design could be implemented that would allow for the short ram air design of the intake along with the ability to get some cooler air from any place other than the engine bay, that we could definately benefit. I had an idea for this that kinda fell through the cracks but it involved a simple abs or metal or some sort of elbow to direct air from behind the leftmost air vent in the front bumper (vent that used to lead to the stock SMIC) and exited directly underneath the air filter. A baffle or two would be nice to keep the rain out. I wouldn't want something that was hard piped to that location because then if it did rain you would be screwed but if the pipe just directed some of the outside air underneath the filter then you would probably see some gains. This way the intake could either take air from underneath the hood (at low speeds) or cold air at high speeds. I don't know I have to get around to making something up.

 

[BrownBa14]

Think about it. Colder air hitting the turbo is a +

 

[DsmBoi50]

to many bends hurting flow? Come on. Its an intake, it just gets sucked in, compressed and pushed out. I use a CAI that i made from a 92 integra intake. Cut it in one spot, get some couplers and then it runs down to where the stock side mount used to be.

 

[alex99gst]

clean, do you have any pics of that or anything, or a link to the intake you are talking about?

 

[IHeartTurbo]

Ram Air doesn't exist. http://www.300zxclub.com/showthread.php?t=42727

 

[Endz0r]

True... but even though the turbo heats up the air when it passes through it, it still won't be as hot exiting the turbo compared to not running a CAI. I have seen intake temps drop as much as 30 degrees before, with my set up. I have some pictures of my CAI in my gallery, feel free to check them out.

it looks like you have a ram air pipe with some air that is passed up to the filter thru a tube...

 

[Generation X]

it looks like you have a ram air pipe with some air that is passed up to the filter thru a tube...

That would be correct sir.

 

[IamCool]

What if it suck up some water on rainy days?

 

[Endz0r]

some water isn't really going to hurt ur turbo. more then likely it will just evaporate as soon as it hits the blades.

then again, i'm stupid so i don't know why i'm talking.

 

[GSGoinFast]

what i would like to know is why this thing was brought back to life?

 

[civickiller]

I got a 95 talon tsi fwd, and i was wondering if i can beat my friends 94 3000gt stock vs scock. I also got 400venom chip.

 

[Slipstream]

Not only why was it given new life, but why are we now bench racing based on chip mods in a completely unrelated thread?