SRI vs CAI question

[digitalricepape]

i currently ahve a short ram intake under the hood. on hot sunny days the car seems slower than it would be on a cool night. i was wondering if it was the same for cold air intakes?

 

[Matthew]

no matter what, if its hotter outside, its gonna be hotter air going into the engine...thats why youll be faster at the track on cooler days.

 

[digitalricepape]

i know the temperature is hotter under the hood than outside the car, so performance from having a cai over a sri is a lot better no ?

 

[Matthew]

no not really

 

[PaulMP3]

i know the temperature is hotter under the hood than outside the car, so performance from having a cai over a sri is a lot better no ?

I would say yes. after hard runs your engine bay gets real hot, while the CAI remains the same temp, or closer to the same temp.

 

[Matthew]

except for the fact that if the engine bay is scalding hot, and the tube to the CAI sits directly next to the block, the air is heated quite a bit on its way into the manifold

 

[SilvrProtege5NJ]

Also, its it true that the SRI's are better for smaller engine cars because the air has less distance to travel (and heat up) than a CAI? I dont know if it is correct but that is what this guy told me..


Any insight guys??

 

[CanMP5]

I would say yes. after hard runs your engine bay gets real hot, while the CAI remains the same temp, or closer to the same temp.

Though it is true that a CAI will keep the temp. close to your starting temp, on an actual drive though it wouldn't matter all too much because the air moving through the car at speed will cool the air to the SRI. Someone here had some data on intake air temps for both SRI and CAI while moving, and it only varied a few degrees. But when traffic hits, in the summer time, the SRI temps soared (not enough to truly rule out SRI's).

SilvrProtege5NJ - Actually, the pipe length advantage for the SRI means, the engine doesn't need to use a lot of energy to suck in a high volume of air (better throttle response). A properly tuned CAI pipe could actually do a good job though. As for the heating of the air in the pipe, I am not sure if it matters in this case.

 

[DevilsSi1481]

yeah they both have their pros and cons, short ram being throttle response and low end power, and cold air having high end power and more horsepower cause of the cold air.

 

[slcp5]

I found a sweet one here

http://www.racerdesign.com/images/AIK-02PTG_on.jpg

it's the best of both, no water in the filter like with the cai, but you still get cold air from outside the engine, and less dust landing on the filter.

 

[Matthew]

thats got to be the dirtiest engine bay ive seen yet.

 

[slcp5]

here is another pic of the racer design aero kit
http://www.racerdesign.com/images/AIK-02PTG.jpg

I havn't heard of anyone who's tried it yet

 

[luwe]

that's the same as the simota that i'm using

 

[jjac28]

except for the fact that if the engine bay is scalding hot, and the tube to the CAI sits directly next to the block, the air is heated quite a bit on its way into the manifold

i agree, notice how hot the pipe gets...any incoming air gets warmer.
this topic has been raging on for a long time. i think both are the same in gains.
however, i would be very nervous having the filter hanging low by the ground, i wouldnt want it to suck up some crap into the engine and thus ruining it...

anyway, some will say that the cai is better in gains but so far i havent seen any dyno tests or any prove that it does...

a mazda tech that works on our engines told me that they're the same so i went with the sri...

 

[slcp5]

just to make sure everyone is clear, thats not my filthy engine.

 

[seakrait]

except for the fact that if the engine bay is scalding hot, and the tube to the CAI sits directly next to the block, the air is heated quite a bit on its way into the manifold

keep in mind that the air isn't staying that long enough in the tube to get warmed up by the hot tube - this applies to both the SRI and the CAI...

the only real difference, as mentioned before, is throttle response and low/high end hp.

in fact i think it's the SRI that gives better high end hp and the CAI that gives better low end hp. when you're cruising down the hwy at WOT, your engine needs all the air it can get, hot or cold, to feed itself at the higher rpms. the SRI, with its short tube length, sucks more air in easier. the air might be a bit hotter past the radiator but when you're at WOT and with the air flowing in from the outside, it should be cool enough.

as for this:

the concept doesn't look half bad (though the filter might be crap). if we just replaced the filter with a good quality one, this might actually be not bad...