Cold Air Intake over Short ram
For 2002-2003 non-turbo
4g94 engines by: Nemesis
The question has been asked over and over again which intake system is more efficient and give me more hp and torque. I am not talking about brands only about the design. The theory is that a cold air intake is going to give you cooler air since it is going to be facing down towards the ground .But theory isn’t always right since there different inputs the outputs will change, We all learned this in middle school I hope, that cold air sinks and hot air rises up. The colder the air is the more dense it will gives you more power. So Cold Air Intakedesign for our carsshould give you more gains ? Right ? Not exactly Since some of the CAI are designed to follow the existing route that manufacture (driver side of the car) designed it is sitting right beside the header and it soaks in heat from the header and the block. So what does that mean for C.A.I. that are designed for our cars it really doesn’t work since it is pushed up so far forward because it has to clear the trans axel that is located right beside each side of the engine. Now short ram intake Is half way down. It is clear most hot engine components I belive if your make the short ram intake turn down 90 degrees you would actually get a better effect since your getting the cool air and your clear the hot side of the engine and the intake tube is going to be pointing down towards the ground giving you a bettter effect and saving you some money on parts and gas money as well cause gas isn't cheap espically if you live in The city.

 

Or you could just manufacture a heat shield and put it between the header and the conventional CAI. Instead of the heat being radiated towards theCAI tubing it is mostly disipated by the shield, mind you there will still be warm air around, but thats not what causes the tube to get hot, the radiation from the header is the cause.The short ram idea is good, butfrom experience I have learned thatafterlong term driving the engine bay temp's can get really high and your MPG and power will start suffering instead of improving. So a short ram isok,but not fordriving 50+ miles.

 

But for a normal "joe" who really doesnt have much experince manuacturing his own part and finding new mounting spots How will he do it they dont sell the at stores for our cars they will have to be custom done now where is that blocked heat going to head off towards ??? the heat need to be disspensed out this could hurt other engine componets and push the heat to back right and eventually create hot spots in the engine although its good idea and testing needs to be done i wouldnt do it in my car there to many possiblities of stuff going wrong. really dont get the part about engine bay temp. getting hot they would effect the CAI anyways since it reciving radiation from the headers and heat from the sorrunding cars well atleast in my case. it might work if you live in small towns with little traffic.and the short ram i was talking about wasent really a short ram more of a modified CAI but i dont think i could be considerd since the length of the tubeing isnt long you could add an extension to it and get cooler air from bottom of the engine baysince the air is going to be flowing there.

 

You could try coating the intake with that heat disipatingceramic paint they have. I have read it really does a good job at keeping heat isolated, its good for headers, keeps them cold to the touch, so I suppose the same principle can be applied to intakes, except instead of keeping heat in, your trying to keep it out.