you guys know how say they yeild an 8 hp increase, but doesnt the cai really help the most when driving at high speeds with all the cold air flowing into it , cause when its on the dyno no air is being forced into the cone

 

they should have a huge fan blowing air over the radiator / front end. (otherwise it could over heat...)

the hood should also be opened, to let heat rise away from the motor...

 

they put fans in front of the car most of the time to simulate the road... but I guess it could go up a very small fraction...

 

some people will argue that the fan is constant speed therefore not true road conditions... but i the world is not a perfect place...

 

some places i know actually have the fans connected to the computer so it will blow MORE air as the RPM's increase.

but most places dont...

 

yes...very difficult to simulate "real" road conditions on an immobile Dyno...

especially on a true CAI system...

 

try doing it on a ram air set up....
where the wind does make a diff at speeds...

 

That's why a dragstrip is the only real place to see if there is improvement or not. Of course, it requires a very consistent driver... one reason why the best e.t. bracket racers never have to look for work...

 

true....
but it also takes a lot longer to tune properly....

 

Yup, takes all day if you have the track to yourself. All weekend if you don't. But its a tried and true "old school" method that these newfangled dyno's just can't quite reproduce.

Oops, I'm showing my age again...

 

how very true ^^^^^^

 

also, road temperatures are a bit different than air blown in by a fan. might take that into consideration

 

I doubt that any cold air intake will provide a ram air effect.

 

probably not....
unless you build a ram air box around the filter

 

Who said anything about blowing into the cone? )))

The idea is that the air aroudn the fender is cold as opposed to air from the engine bay or behind the radioator........

The fans on the dyno are supposed to compensate for natural air flow through the radiotor so the engine does not overheat, nothing else........

 

right ^^^^^

cold air intake is not a ram air setup...

 

actually once you get moving there is less diference between a cai and a short ram. A cai makes the bigest difference when the car is stopped or a a low speed when little to no air is moving throught the engine bay. At this point the air in the engine bay is quite hot and the air the cai is sucking from the bumper is much cooler. Once the car is moving and the air is rushing through the engine bay the temperature difference becomes quite small(2-10 degrees or so depending on speed) and They perform about the same. So basically the dyno is a good represtentation of a situation where the car is at speed but is not the greatest representation of the difference that is pleasent when moving slow or taking off.

 

Nicely written lava. Makes good sense to me.

 

I remember a guy who posted a month or so ago...did a CAI, header, and something else...basically spent at least $800-$1200 or so and ended up with about 8hp extra.

I guess stating that you will get 8hp with just a CAI is a little optimistic.

 

There's not much difference between a CAI and a short ram period. A good intake should be a supporting modification, not a modification by itself. As long as it filters the air and is as unrestrictive as possible, it's serving its purpose. It will allow everything else to perform at its peak. If you're putting on an aftermarket intake system just for the few hp you'll get out of it, I hate to say it, but your car is probably not very fast.