So I've been reading up on a few threads on various forums and also talked with a guy who graduated from UTI and started thinking about CAI vs OEM intake systems. He was saying they are great at first but once the engine reaches temp they actually will cause a lose in power cause the suck in warm air vs the stock box. Now I have an Injen intake. It was a simple plug and play install and frantically improved the way the car felt. I later got a tune and it only helped it. I don't feel it's any better than the Steeda or Airraid intake systems. It is however missing the heat shied but from a few threads I've seen on here and other forums they didn't seam to do that much for the cars performance anyway as they all still place the filter inside the engine bay with all the ambiant hot air rather than outside it to extract the colder air outside like most true CAI. Hp/Trq gains are said to be upwards of around 13-14 Hp and 14-15 trq which is give or take a couple hp/ trq from Airraid. However Steedas intake requires a tune so it's hard to say how much it would be if it was a P&Play. Although its gains of 20hp and 30 lbs trq are similar to that of Airraids paired with a BAMA Performance tune. All in all I say get whatever you think is best. I went with mine due to price. Got it off Craig's at $180 still wrapped vs $250 and I'm pretty happy. Oh one more thing not sure how Injen or Steedas intakes are at reflecting heat as both are made of alum piping where as Airraids is a hard plastic the plastic I feel would reduce heat soak for the intake tubing therefore keeping the incoming air from heating up any more than what's already being sucked in. Now on the stock boxes I noticed even after some heavy driving I would take the filter out to check and it was pretty cool to the touch even though the box on the outside was quite warm. Is there any need for these so called CAI? Is there anyway to improve the alum ones say with a heat resistant or reflective material?

What's everyone's thoughts on this? Is there any validity to what this guy said and my thoughts after or am I just thinking too much into it?

 

Im running a factory intake... cai to me is a money scam.... looks pretty under the hood. Thats about it.

 

Talk to Jay at JLT. The temps between stock and aftermarket are identical when moving because you can only be as cool as the outside air. If you're sitting and idling, certainly temps increase, but that's what the fan is for. Within a few seconds of starting to move again, temps are identical.

 

That's what I hear.

Then again I hear: "to get more power, you need to push more air in, the CAI lets in more air than restrictive factory air box because of design.. Blah blah"

I wish I had the answer as well. I don't want to spend on one but its holding me up before I get the tuner.

 

What about the restrictive throttle body? Lol

 

Bone... the anti-christ of CAI's.

 

I dont fall for snake oil

 

It makes a cool sound, worth it.

 

Lol so does exhaust

 

Is there a thread about this somewhere? I'm interested to see what the findings are.

 

You seem to hunt for these threads just so you can spout your opinion against CAI's.

Yet Ford engineers, and actual dyno tests, do show improvement - as has been posted before.

Heck even your Cobra engine draws air from outside the engine compartment doesn't it?

And if cooler air isn't important for producing power - as well as for maintaining power, then why does heat soak sap horsepower (and reduce 1/4 mi times) from super-charged engines?

 

I stay in the "current" tab on my phone..

Im not against them... ive bought them. Im against ppl that dont know the facts about them or dont understand how they work.. I.e. why they require a tune... common misconception.

Never said cooler air isnt helpful. I say the cai gets the air from the same place the factory intake does... which is true...

 

You might enjoy this:


https://themustangsource.com/f669/be...1/#post6635374

 

Not bad. So basically as long a s you've got a tune for a particular setup your going to be ok. A stock tune with a CAI may not be what's best for the car but tune the car with the CAI and it should be ok.

 

The Ford intake system is fantastic, absolutely the best that has ever come from the factory. It will actually keep air charge temps slightly cooler under some conditions than an aftermarket cold air. Where the aftermarket cold air shines is in airflow to support higher horsepower. On the dyno we typically see 9 to 12 horsepower over the stock airbox, mostly above 4,000rpm. A drop in filter is not going to give you any real measureable horsepower.

Here is the dyno sheet we did with the stock airbox vs. a Steeda CAI.





Best Regards,

TJ

 

You are not going to feel a difference over the stock airbox because the power difference between the two is not enough in a heavy car to feel. In addition you don’t feel top end horsepower, what you feel in a car is torque. The top end horsepower from the cold air is not something you are going to feel. I’ve attached a dyno sheet above with the difference between the stock airbox and our cold air. As the dyno sheet will show the power difference wont start until about 4,400rpm. The engine will not take advantage of the extra air from the cold air until higher RPM’s where the extra airflow can be used. As you can see peak to peak gains were around 5 horsepower, but point to point gain were higher, for example between 6,600 and 7,000 there is a solid 11 to 13 horsepower gain in that range.

You can check this out as well ... this is a test we did on our Steeda CAI:

http://www.steeda.com/blog/2012/03/m...-intake-truth/

Best Regads,

TJ

 

Fintile,

We have seen an increase in power with the Airaid and JLT CAI's on our AM Company cars. Of course, the power increase is more significant when paired with other bolt-on modifications, too. However, even with a CAI and tune, we've found gains throughout the power band over a stock Mustang with only a custom tune.

Being able to move cold air through the intake to the engine is certainly important for making max power. Although, that's not the only factor in the equation. Being able to increase the amount of air to the engine, by increasing air velocity is also very important. It's possible to make more power with slightly warmer air in a larger volume, than slightly cooler air in a smaller volume.

CAI's such as Airaid or JLT do not always provide cooler air to the engine than the stock air box. Where they make more power is being able to delivery far more air to the engine than the stock air box with less restriction. Even with the same stock throttle body restriction, the air is moving faster with an Airaid or JLT intake, thus the velocity is increased providing more air the engine.

Hope this helps make more sense of things for you guys. Let me know if you have any questions!

Shane

 

Shane, why did AM stop selling the AFE Cold Air Intake for the 3.7? I was literally about to buy it because I want a blue CAI and the AFE had the best price.

Edit: http://afepower.com/shop/details_new...7L&&brandID=53


You were selling it for $279 I believe

 

I have no idea. I'd ask the AM guys.

 

This. There was a great vid out there with Jay Leno and a Ford engineer with the Boss 302....about 5 minutes into the vid, Jay asked the engineer about CAI's, as the demand for them was high on the mod list. The engineer stated the stock air box flow could not be improved with an aftermarket CAI; they flowed as good as a CAI.

If you want pretty, or noise, then buy one. If noise is your desire, cut off the "muffler" on the air intake tube, then fiberglass it up, and repaint. You'll have what you want then.