Cold Air Intake

[DeltaCotton12]

I run the cold air, throttle body spacer and a performance muffler. My 4 cyl needs all the help it can get. Its a manual tranny, 33" bfg's. I re-geared the axles from 4.11 to 4.88. She rides almost like stock, power wise. Only noticeable difference is on the highway. 5th gear is a little sluggish.

But come wintEr time, I can tell a difference in the power.

[cwink]

My dad put it in his 99 Tahoe. I drive that truck now. That thing will get up and boogie. .

[Warren]

My question is cold intake worth the money by itself...i have been thinking about one for a while

[H20fowlkiller]

My question is cold intake worth the money by itself...i have been thinking about one for a while

it is but its not like your going to feel this huge power gain like all the companies say you will

[Warren]

how much difference ballpark wise are we talking about in mpg with air intake only

[H20fowlkiller]

5-10 hp 1-3 mpg, like i stated in an earlier post i would uprgrade the spark system if i could afford it because no matter what the same amount of fuel is going into the cylinder and an CAI will help a good higher volt. spark sys. if would burn everything in the cylinder =more hp and more mpg

[Drakeshead]

What spark system are you refering to? Are you saying just to install better spark plugs or the entire coil system?

[MudHog]

i run a S&B cold air intake, 4 inch motoblue exhaust, 75 horse injectors, a hugh torbo and a few other things on my 06 duramax, getting 19 to 20 mpg when i keep my foot out of it, it makes a lot of sports car drivers made when you blow smoke all over the side of there car or smoke them at the redlight, but on a modified diesel seems like the warmer it runs the better power there is, cold air comming in on a diesel helps a lot with exhaust gas temps,

Diesels operate off of heat and compression. The hotter it runs, the better it runs. That being said, there's a safe limit on how hot it can run before failure starts to happen. This is when you start to monitor your EGT (exhaust gas temp.). Ways to cool your exhaust gas down is to let as much of that gas out and not keep it around in the system to allow IT to warm things up. Cold air doesn't greatly effect EGT as they are on two sides of the turbo. However, colder air in, will in turn help lower the engine temp, but then the lower the engine temp, the lower it's efficiency. Colder air is denser and does have more oxygen than warmer air. So what your going is introducing more oxygen with the same amount of air, thus more performace. On a diesel, this is why the air flows through an intercooler. The intercooler helps to cool the air after the turbo. By nature, when air/gas is compressed it heats up. So if you have cold air going into a compressor (tubro in this case) the outlet air will be hotter than when it went in. The intercooler will cool that air down before it gets put into the engine.


For a gas engine a cold air intake alone will yield small results, but it will yield results. Measuring by the seat of the pants, you won't notice a major difference, as in, it alone won't give you that hopped up sports car throw you back in your seat feel. Measuring by numbers, you may see a slight increase in the mileage. Slight meaning, if your getting 15.4mpg, you may see an increase to 15.7. There is no one thing that will yield big increases. A number of small things will add up to a larger increase though.

[duramax]

Most studies have found that modern intakes are as effective, or more effective than aftermarket intakes on a stock vehicle. Plus factory filters stop more particles than oil type filters (K&N etc...). Don't count on it saving you any money on gas mileage or any noticeable power gains. The difference on a factory vehicle is neglegible at best. Put a turbo or supercharger on your engine, then you might want to think about a better intake. Definitely don't fall for the Tornado or any other "spiral air" scams. They have been proven to do nothing or negatively affect your engine.

Studies on even seriously tuned vehicles have proved time and time again that these 5-10hp gains and 1+ MPG gains with an intake alone are pipe dreams. On your little 4 banger engine, you would be lucky to get more than 1 or 2 hp (the same could be gained from simply puting a fresh air filter). If you gained more than 1/2 a mpg, you should go play the lottery, because you are lucky. Air up your tires, put a fresh air filter in it, and keep your foot out if it, and you WILL see a difference in your MPG's.

[rsm688]

Most studies have found that modern intakes are as effective, or more effective than aftermarket intakes on a stock vehicle. Plus factory filters stop more particles than oil type filters (K&N etc...). Don't count on it saving you any money on gas mileage or any noticeable power gains. The difference on a factory vehicle is neglegible at best. Put a turbo or supercharger on your engine, then you might want to think about a better intake. Definitely don't fall for the Tornado or any other "spiral air" scams. They have been proven to do nothing or negatively affect your engine.

Studies on even seriously tuned vehicles have proved time and time again that these 5-10hp gains and 1+ MPG gains with an intake alone are pipe dreams. On your little 4 banger engine, you would be lucky to get more than 1 or 2 hp (the same could be gained from simply puting a fresh air filter). If you gained more than 1/2 a mpg, you should go play the lottery, because you are lucky. Air up your tires, put a fresh air filter in it, and keep your foot out if it, and you WILL see a difference in your MPG's.

x2....just not worth it

[H20fowlkiller]

What spark system are you refering to? Are you saying just to install better spark plugs or the entire coil system?

entire coil distributor computer package but as high priced as most these things are even the CAI its hard to justify it unless you are gonna do some serious stuff.
I had a buddy with a 4 cyl. jeep with 31's and his 5th gear was sluggish so he did go with a CAI, throttle body spacer and exhaust and he did get a good little pick up he wanted to do the spark sys. but ended up with a truck since went to school in arkansas