im looking to make an intake this year to replace the mild steel one i currently have. Im looking to make something that will help avoid heatsoak and keep my iat's down. i have access to a tig so aluminum is an option for me. ive also contemplated making one out of carbon fiber. what do you guys think?

 

I personally have never had an issue using 16 gauge aluminum tubing (in whatever diameter that is needed), a few people I know go the same route when building custom intakes and of course tig weld where necessary to avoid using a bunch of couplers.

I typically log intake temps similar to what the outside temperature is in my civic.

Something I have looked into and thought about using is a plastic tube, such as the airaid builder kits they sell, would probably prevent heat soak pretty well.

 

Alluminum is totally fine for an intake arm, but so is PVC/plastic. The intake itself doesn't create heat, so your biggest advantage is to keep the rest of the system cool and then the intake arm will have no choice but to stay cool as well. I too currently log IATs only a few degrees above ambient air temp, but this is only the case after a few choice cooling mods. First and foremost, the Thermal gasket sets from the likes of Hondata, Golden Eagle etc. I have the Intake manifold and TB thermal gaskets installed, as well as extended intake studs with thermal washers instead of metal washers, and the coolant bypasses my intake and TB. I now have an intake manifold & intake tract that stays cool to the touch, and doesn't even get warm and this greatly helps consistency. Typically tuners will set IAT fuel and ignition compensation so that when the air intake charge gets a certain temp the ecu will start pulling timing and adjusting fuel which in turn dumbs down the power. The reason for this is a safety net against premature ignition/detonation, so rather than turn these settings off in a tune the remedy is to keep the IAT cool. Just the thermal gaskets do help, but my TB/Intake would still get warmer than ambient due to the coolant lines running hot liquid through them. After doing the coolant block off it was a huge difference and the car never heat soaks now even after numerous hot laps.