Car/Intake Question

[Masas]

What's the difference between a:
SHORT AIR INTAKE
SHORT RAM INTAKE (same as above?)
COLD AIR INTAKE
and etc if i'm missing others...

and how's the hp/tq gains on those?

 

[NutBucket]

Short ram and short air are used somewhat interchangeably. For most cars, it means a cone filter and straight metal tube w/ a minimum of bends installed in place of the stock airbox/intake tube. A cold-air intake usually means the filter is moved completely out of the engine bay so that it will take in cooler air from the outside vs. the hot air under the hood.

 

[Kadarin]

A cold-air intake draws air into the engine from outside the engine compartment. Being cooler, this air is denser, with higher oxygen content.
A ram-air intake theoretically draws air from a high-pressure area outside the car (i.e. the cowl, or possibly the front of the car. In theory, this will force more air into the engine and increase horsepower.
A short-air intake, I believe, will have a shorter distance between the point where air enters the intake and the intake ports in the cylinder head. This, theoretically, can increase top-end horsepower.

It's not likely that you will see very significant gains from any of these on a car that's near stock.

 

[ElFenix]

couple horsepower at most. combined with a good manifold you'd probably see better gains than the sum of the parts, though.

 

[Nocturnal]

Cold air is basically what it is. It intakes cold air. The piping is usually under your tire away from the engine unlike the shortram which rests under the engine bay sucking in all that hot air that the engine creates. So the cold air just breathes in cold air from the outside of the car basically.

 

[notfred]

There is no difference, all three of them translate to "shiny metal tube worth $10" that cost $199, and do nothing for performance.

 

[nan0bug]

Originally posted by: Tyler
There is no difference, all three of them translate to "shiny metal tube worth $10" that cost $199, and do nothing for performance.

Actually a cold air intake paired with a high flow exhaust are good for a HP increase. What that increase is can be debated time and time again. Dont believe the rice though, an intake alone isnt going to turn your 4 banger into a street rod.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: nan0bug

Originally posted by: Tyler
There is no difference, all three of them translate to "shiny metal tube worth $10" that cost $199, and do nothing for performance.

Actually a cold air intake paired with a high flow exhaust are good for a HP increase. What that increase is can be debated time and time again. Dont believe the rice though, an intake alone isnt going to turn your 4 banger into a street rod.

Your car-modifying credentials, please?

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: nan0bug

Originally posted by: Tyler
There is no difference, all three of them translate to "shiny metal tube worth $10" that cost $199, and do nothing for performance.

Actually a cold air intake paired with a high flow exhaust are good for a HP increase. What that increase is can be debated time and time again. Dont believe the rice though, an intake alone isnt going to turn your 4 banger into a street rod.

Your car-modifying credentials, please?

So the intake SLP put on Firehawk Firebirds was useless

 

[notfred]

I'm not real familiar with the firehawk, It coulda been, I don't know. I know the ram air package for the WS6 cars dosen't do much.

 

[Heisenberg]

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: nan0bug

Originally posted by: Tyler
There is no difference, all three of them translate to "shiny metal tube worth $10" that cost $199, and do nothing for performance.

Actually a cold air intake paired with a high flow exhaust are good for a HP increase. What that increase is can be debated time and time again. Dont believe the rice though, an intake alone isnt going to turn your 4 banger into a street rod.

Your car-modifying credentials, please?

So the intake SLP put on Firehawk Firebirds was useless

As was apparantly the ram-air intakes on the WS6's and SS's, as well as all the cowl induction setup's from the 60's and 70's.

On a properly set up car, it can make a difference.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

As was apparantly the ram-air intakes on the WS6's and SS's, as well as all the cowl induction setup's from the 60's and 70's.

On a properly set up car, it can make a difference.

You really think he's talking about a "properly set up car" and not talking about an anodized blue aluminum tube to stick under the hood of his completely stock 93 accord (or similar)?

 

[halik]

most of the 20 dollar intakes that you see on ebay are useless,
if anything invest your money in k&n or some other decent brand (greddy, injen etc.) where you can see the actual dynoed difference

<- uses k&n fipk on his DSM, k&n dynoed about 8hp gain on a 97 gsx

 

[Heisenberg]

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

As was apparantly the ram-air intakes on the WS6's and SS's, as well as all the cowl induction setup's from the 60's and 70's.

On a properly set up car, it can make a difference.

You really think he's talking about a "properly set up car" and not talking about an anodized blue aluminum tube to stick under the hood of his completely stock 93 accord (or similar)?

No, but you didn't specify if you were talking about that in particlular, or just in general. If you were/are referring to sticking a piece of metal pipe in a stock honda/toyota/etc. then yes, you're right.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

As was apparantly the ram-air intakes on the WS6's and SS's, as well as all the cowl induction setup's from the 60's and 70's.

On a properly set up car, it can make a difference.

You really think he's talking about a "properly set up car" and not talking about an anodized blue aluminum tube to stick under the hood of his completely stock 93 accord (or similar)?

No, but you didn't specify if you were talking about that in particlular, or just in general. If you were/are referring to sticking a piece of metal pipe in a stock honda/toyota/etc. then yes, you're right.

I figured that's what he was talking about. You ever hear an LS1 driver ask a question like in the first post?
I don't mean to say that intake piping can never make a difference in the performance of a car, just that it wont in his case (and pretty much all cases where someone asks about "cold air intake")

 

[Heisenberg]

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

As was apparantly the ram-air intakes on the WS6's and SS's, as well as all the cowl induction setup's from the 60's and 70's.

On a properly set up car, it can make a difference.

You really think he's talking about a "properly set up car" and not talking about an anodized blue aluminum tube to stick under the hood of his completely stock 93 accord (or similar)?

No, but you didn't specify if you were talking about that in particlular, or just in general. If you were/are referring to sticking a piece of metal pipe in a stock honda/toyota/etc. then yes, you're right.

I figured that's what he was talking about. You ever hear an LS1 driver ask a question like in the first post?
I don't mean to say that intake piping can never make a difference in the performance of a car, just that it wont in his case (and pretty much all cases where someone asks about "cold air intake")

Not that I recall, but I've run across a few Camaro owners whose daddies bought them the car, and they don't even know how to check the oil, so I try never to assume anything.

 

[Syringer]

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

As was apparantly the ram-air intakes on the WS6's and SS's, as well as all the cowl induction setup's from the 60's and 70's.

On a properly set up car, it can make a difference.

You really think he's talking about a "properly set up car" and not talking about an anodized blue aluminum tube to stick under the hood of his completely stock 93 accord (or similar)?

No, but you didn't specify if you were talking about that in particlular, or just in general. If you were/are referring to sticking a piece of metal pipe in a stock honda/toyota/etc. then yes, you're right.

I figured that's what he was talking about. You ever hear an LS1 driver ask a question like in the first post?
I don't mean to say that intake piping can never make a difference in the performance of a car, just that it wont in his case (and pretty much all cases where someone asks about "cold air intake")

Uh, how can you possibly know what kind of car the guy drives based on a very general post?

Please share your mind-reading tactics with the rest of us.

 

[NutBucket]

A true cold-air intake, one that locates the filter outside of the engine bay will make a difference on said Hondas/Toyotas. I'll be putting one in my Accord after I do my motor swap. It might not be good for any power by itself but certainly pulling in cooler air has some advantage. I do agree that the other types of short-ram intakes they sell for imports are pretty much useless.

 

[nan0bug]

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

As was apparantly the ram-air intakes on the WS6's and SS's, as well as all the cowl induction setup's from the 60's and 70's.

On a properly set up car, it can make a difference.

You really think he's talking about a "properly set up car" and not talking about an anodized blue aluminum tube to stick under the hood of his completely stock 93 accord (or similar)?

Well, I don't know about just a warm air intake, but if he installs a cold air intake or gets a cowl induction of some sort, and he follows it up with a higher flow exhause, he should see a hp increase. Whether that HP increase will be minor or major depends on a lot of other factors, but he will see one.

As far as my car credentials go, I've got an 88 z24 that I'll have to post pictures of sometime. The transmission died on it so I don't know how much more work I'll be putting into it. I may just say f#!$ it and get myself a mid-90s Impala SS instead

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: nan0bug

Originally posted by: Tyler
There is no difference, all three of them translate to "shiny metal tube worth $10" that cost $199, and do nothing for performance.

Actually a cold air intake paired with a high flow exhaust are good for a HP increase. What that increase is can be debated time and time again. Dont believe the rice though, an intake alone isnt going to turn your 4 banger into a street rod.

Your car-modifying credentials, please?

So the intake SLP put on Firehawk Firebirds was useless

As was apparantly the ram-air intakes on the WS6's and SS's, as well as all the cowl induction setup's from the 60's and 70's.

On a properly set up car, it can make a difference.

Most of the ram air stuff from the 60's and 70's were marketing gimmicks. Cowl induction? Please. Chevy tried to convince people it worked. It didn't.

The boundry layer on the hood of those cars prevented ram air from working, except at idle. The scoop must be raised quite high for it to work. The only really functional ram air was the 6pack scoop from Chrysler. It was huge and sat 7-8 inches off the hood. It could actually grab the fresh air.

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: nan0bug

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

As was apparantly the ram-air intakes on the WS6's and SS's, as well as all the cowl induction setup's from the 60's and 70's.

On a properly set up car, it can make a difference.

You really think he's talking about a "properly set up car" and not talking about an anodized blue aluminum tube to stick under the hood of his completely stock 93 accord (or similar)?

Well, I don't know about just a warm air intake, but if he installs a cold air intake or gets a cowl induction of some sort, and he follows it up with a higher flow exhause, he should see a hp increase. Whether that HP increase will be minor or major depends on a lot of other factors, but he will see one.

As far as my car credentials go, I've got an 88 z24 that I'll have to post pictures of sometime. The transmission died on it so I don't know how much more work I'll be putting into it. I may just say f#!$ it and get myself a mid-90s Impala SS instead

Hahaha! Ok I will be serious now.

The only hp increase he will see with that setup will be 3-5 hp if he is lucky. People keep overrating these mods.

That would be like taking an early 80's 305 2bbl and putting a 4bbl on it with headders and thinking you have a street machine. Will it make more HP? Yes. How much? Maybe 20 hp. Its a racecar for sure now.

If instead he put better flowing heads, more cam and compression (9:1) and tuned the distributor and carb to work together he just may make significant power.

It all comes down to a whole package that functions properly together rather than just throwing a few mods at it and hoping its fast.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I have to agree with Tyler on this one. For the 4.7 Dakotas, the BEST improvement you're going to get over stock is about 4HP (ontop of 230). If you want to see real gains (w/o opening up the engine), go for an intake manifold or cam(s). In the case of the WS6 package's intake, they went to an extreme best case scenario where the intake was quite literally a 4-6" straight line. Given that they were coming from a 3' long tube that had a few bends in it, it's a worst case to best case scenarion and they barely gained anything. Most cars don't have much difference between a well made aftermarket and the stock. Also, remember that most cheaper aftermarket intakes DO NOT carry CARB EO numbers. So you're not likely to pass smog with them on. $400 for 4HP? I can get cams and an intake and get 25 for that price.

While we're on that topic, exhausts rarely give you lots of horsepower on lightly modified engines. Quite often, you'll lose a couple. (though a well done exhaust sounds nice)


Good, cheap, easy. Pick one or two, you can't have all three.