Insulated CAI idea

[danja]

I've been reading with interest some of the many cold-air-intake threads here, but haven't found an answer to this question.

Many ricers like installing the a CAI in their coffee-tins-on-wheels *ahem* I mean "cars" :shutup:

Anyway I notice many of these people use insulated ducting (like air-con ducting in houses, but smaller diameter) to vent air from the road to the intake. I would expect this would make the CAI more efficient as is would absorb less heat from the engine bay?

If you don't know what I'm on about look at this page for example pics:
http://webhome.idirect.com/~trini/car/cai.html

Has anyone tried applying this principle to a Commy CAI? eg. covering the snorkel and possibly filter box with a heat reflecting material?

Input/discussion is appreciated.

PS. Does the snorkel coming from the filter box in the VT's count as a CAI? I hear people spend $200+ on SS Inductions CAIs that look awfully similar to my stock intake...

 

[Shounak]

PS. Does the snorkel coming from the filter box in the VT's count as a CAI? I hear people spend $200+ on SS Inductions CAIs that look awfully similar to my stock intake...

Changing the snorkel is the CAI pretty much. The expensive ones are like your existing one, except these ones allow much more air in.

SS Inductions are a waste of money IMO..

I don't think insulating material on the CAI piping would have that much of an effect. Air isn't in the pipes long enough to be significantly affected by the heat from the plastic. Any gains would be minimal.

People have tried modified CAI's with holes in their airboxes and piping opened at the front of the ccar. They have had good results..

 

[253@7k]

VT's vent air from under the bonnet so I would say replacing it with something like youve shown there would just be pointless. SS inductions

intakes would be far better as they are designed for a purpose where as "air con ducting" is made for air cons. Oh yes the intake on the VT is a cai, as

tiny as it is, because it still brings in cold air. IMO SS inductions are the way to go if you have the cash. I am currently getting round the $500 bump of the

SS intake by making my own fibreglass knock off. Its going to look better, work the same and so far has cost me $50 bucks. Not quite finished though,

just making the moulds so the cost may go up but only to around the $100 mark. Moral of the story is there are better options than things that dont belong on a car.

Steve.

 

[danja]

Thanks for the quick replies fellas.

SS Inductions are a waste of money IMO..

$200+ for a plastic tube is a bit steep isn't it? I could think of more cost effective performance upgrades..

To be honest I'm more interested in cutting fuel consumption down than increasing horsepower. Right now I get ~13L/100 in suburban/city driving which isn't terrible, but has room to improve. I plan to grab a K&N filter next week which may or may not help (but if it lasts 1,000,000+kms then thats justification enough for a $100 price tag).

I don't plan on changing my intake to draw air from the bottom of the engine bay, just curious on how to maximise the effectiveness of the intake I already have. So, so far no takers on the insulation theory?

PS. Hope the fiberglass project works out for you slundy!!

 

[Toms 50th Ani]

I just drilled out a few holes under the snorkle mouth so I got some air flowing through the front grill and hopefully up over the radiator and into the snorkle mouth. It might not have made any difference yet, but at least the engine isn't trying to suck in air where there is no air-flow.

cheers

 

[danja]

I just drilled out a few holes under the snorkle mouth so I got some air flowing through the front grill and hopefully up over the radiator and into the snorkle mouth. It might not have made any difference yet, but at least the engine isn't trying to suck in air where there is no air-flow.

cheers

Haha actually thats exactly what I ended up doing last night. It may or may not have much of an effect, but It looks neat and I can't see how it will hurt. Interesting to see how it works out with the high-flow filter soon. Let you all know in a few weeks.

 

[danja]

Interesting to see how it works out with the high-flow filter soon. Let you all know in a few weeks.

Well... been more than just a few weeks, but my verdict is in: the CAI mod did about bugger all.

Good news is new O2 sensors, 10W-30 synthetic (Mobil 1 if you're wondering) and BP Ultimate made a significant difference.

• Average prior was ~13.5-16L/100kms depending on how hard I drove that week. (lowest I ever got I think was about 12.9, and highest was 17.something
  
• Average now is ~12-14L/100kms (lowest has been 11.6 and highest 14.9, and that was with very heavy foot pretty much all week)

The O2's also made the car much more responsive (feels much more like a new car now) and made it much more consistent in it's fuel usage.

Regarding fuel, although I've used all sorts, I used to usually run my car on Caltex (regardless of brand I've used 98 octane ever since I got the car) but heard lots of good things about BP Ultimate, so gave it a go, seemed to give more power but the 1st tank gave terrible milage, nonetheless I gave it another tank, and it did great on both fronts so I've used it ever since.

PS. Thats 100% city/suburban driving

 

[veclubby]

anyone know how often o2 sensors are supose to be replaced?

 

[danja]

anyone know how often o2 sensors are supose to be replaced?

60-80'000 from memory.

 

[Kall911]

If you were going to go with insullating your CAI,why not go the whole hog and attach those freezer blocks you see in a esky in your airfilter box?:whistling