There is a long-running debate about short ram intakes vs. cold-air intakes. The negative to the short ram intakes is the very real possibility of heat soak and thus a loss of power due to the higher temperature air that the car is asked to breathe.

My brother, owner of an RSX-S, is also a scientist and so he decided to start gathering real-world data about ambient air temperatures vs. under-hood air temperatures. This is not meant to prove anything (yet) but is just the start of gathering some actual data for further discussion. Thought everybody here would be interested...

http://forums.clubrsx.com/show...88461

 

Good write up I will still build a heat shield for my J's(Home-Depot style) I'll be sure to post up the before and after pics.

Hey, maybe I should do that today

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by white rocket &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Good write up I will still build a heat shield for my J's(Home-Depot style) I'll be sure to post up the before and after pics.

Hey, maybe I should do that today </TD></TR></TABLE>

I need to build one for my J's as well. Any write up from you would be great...

 

Very interesting, thanks !

Could you post the temperature-results.jpg please, you need to be registered at the rsx board to view it.

 

Holy resize...

 

pics are not working

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ITR3189 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">pics are not working</TD></TR></TABLE>

lol same here

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by drifter_X &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

lol same here </TD></TR></TABLE>

Pictures work for me.

 

Interesting results. I wonder if the results would have been any different if this was on a 90+ degree day.

 

Very interesting...i was thinking of buyng oneof those interior/exterior ice warning temp gauges purely for that reason but never got round to it. I did however buy those Billion thermo stickers and stuck one on my intake pipe (aluminum) right up at the throttle body, i regularly get temps of between 50-60degrees, but i can only check the temps once i have stopped and pop the hood. I have a cold air feed which i believe works well and i have a pretty good heat shield around the filter, so what i need to determine is how much a hot intake pipe heats up air entering the filter before it enters the throttle body. I'm guessing very little, the air travels at a reasonably fast velocity, and i cant see it picking up that much temp in the 20 or so inches it has from filter to TB. If i do get one of those in/out temp meters i will try and fix one sensor to the inside of the intake pipe at the throttle body and the others inside the filter, that will give a better understanding of how much heat soak is occuring through the lenght of the intake...but i'd need another sensor/temp gauge to read the temp inside my front bumper near the hole for the cold air pipe is. It would be a very interesting experiment!

 

I am fabing something this week for my J's out of dryer ducting and zip ties. Ill get some pics up

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EKology &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Interesting results. I wonder if the results would have been any different if this was on a 90+ degree day.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I was wondering the exact same thing. Also, what effect high humidity has.

 

i couldnt see thoes result pics.

so what was the end? short ram vs cold air
what's better

he was saying it only raises about 10 degrees?

 

^
he's saying heat soak is not a problem .. when the car is in motion

 

13 degrees above ambient temperatures will give about 3% less dense air... so maybe 3% less power, about 6 HP on our cars.

Did he post up the difference between the short ram and the CAI?

 

I tried out a similar experiment today. I also bought one of those interior/exterior temperature gauges and mounted the sensor inside the heat shield on the filter, so as to get a reasonably accurate reading on the temp at the filter (refered to intake temp from now on). Once everything was in place i started the engine and let it get up to full heat to find out the intake temp when stopped. I let it idle for approx 15 minutes till the fan came on. The temp reached 32degrees celcius and was still rising ever so slowly. I measured the outside temperature before doing any of the above and it was a steady 15.6degrees celcius. I then went for a drive...once on the move the intake temp started to drop steadily. I have about 500 yards to drive on a crap road to get out on to the dual carraigeway and even at speeds of less than 20mph the temp was dropping. Once out on the road and driving at a steady 62mph (100kmph) the temp continued to drop where it steadied off at 12.1degrees C. I pushed the speed up to 120kmph (75mph) and held that speed steady for about 8 miles and the temp dropped to 10.5deg C. With both windows open and the heater at cold and switched off i was getting an internal temp of 16.1degrees which was near enough ambient outside temps. So my experiment proved that my cold air feed works well and does a good job of preventing heat soak from the engine while on the move. I'm guessing that the vent in the hood also sucks out some of the hot air. I decided to leave it as a permanent fixture so see how it fairs out on hotter days during the summer. My intake pipe does get pretty hot after driving and i reckon that there will be some heat soak because of it but i also think it will be minimal given the velocity of the air from the filter to the throttle body.

 

One of the best wirte-ups on H-T in a long time.

Way to settle or atleast contain a never ending debate on which is better.

 

wonder what it would do with some sort of J's racing or Mugen type Hood and how much would that affect it?
Maybe even test that against the washers under the hood bolts getho hood.

 

I have the J's Racing style hood, (although i think mine is buddy club or Ings or whatever) but it has a vent which has to aid in cooling under hood temps and the cold air feed comes directly from the front bumper as seen below.




Modified by mugenracer at 1:56 AM 5/19/2005

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by white rocket &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Good write up I will still build a heat shield for my J's(Home-Depot style) I'll be sure to post up the before and after pics.

Hey, maybe I should do that today </TD></TR></TABLE>

My setup

 

good stuff

 

I hope to contribute to this thread next week, I have a AEM CAI that was cut short with a K&N filter on it and will be picking up a full AEM CAI this weekend. I hope that when I get my caR tuned this coming week Jack would not mind doing two dyno runs to compare the power difference in them. Who knows... I might also do a octane difference, 93 vs 100 If we have time and if he wants to accept my money for this.

 

but the heat soak thing.. the car has to be in motion.. then it will read like 10 degrees higher.. but on dyno.. it might be little different cuz the car aint moving?
even with the blower.. i dont think it's as good as it is "in motion"

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by itr1244 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">but the heat soak thing.. the car has to be in motion.. then it will read like 10 degrees higher.. but on dyno.. it might be little different cuz the car aint moving?
even with the blower.. i dont think it's as good as it is "in motion" </TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh, that's one thing they might want to address. Ambient temperatures when being dyno'd. How much it differs from driving, idle, etc.

 

Ok so I won't post my findings