You know, there's a verys simple solution to this debate. I have a MAC CAI. Some one let me borrow their K&N FIPK. I will warm the car up with the stock airbox and intake tube,drive a 1 mile course, and measure the Air Intake Temperature via my OBD II scanner/data recorder. Then I'll swap on the MAC CAI and drive the same exact 1 mile course, recording the AIT again. Then I'll swap out to the K&N and do the same routine. That will at least solve the debate of heat soak. Matters of the actual HP gains have been answer in previous issues of MM&FF.
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"If a man hasn't found something worth dying for, he isn't fit to live." - Martin Luther King Jr.
You know, there's a verys simple solution to this debate. I have a MAC CAI. Some one let me borrow their K&N FIPK. I will warm the car up with the stock airbox and intake tube,drive a 1 mile course, and measure the Air Intake Temperature via my OBD II scanner/data recorder. Then I'll swap on the MAC CAI and drive the same exact 1 mile course, recording the AIT again. Then I'll swap out to the K&N and do the same routine. That will at least solve the debate of heat soak. Matters of the actual HP gains have been answer in previous issues of MM&FF.
Where are you? I have the K&N FIPK.
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2004 Mustang GT (1 of 8,000,000+)
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/593952
Engine bay mounted filter vs Fender mounted filter
What’s the best cold air intake (CAI) kit for my Mustang? How many times have I seen a thread with that question? The CAI has to be in the top 10 most debated topics in the Mustang world. Some argue that these CAI kits aren’t worth the money. Some argue that it’s one of the first mods a Mustang should get. Personally, I didn’t care if it was worth the money when I decided to get one. I wasn’t really concerned at the horsepower per dollar ratio of the CAI. I like how the CAI looks and it was within my budget and it was a really easy mod to do. That meant a lot for a desk jock like me.
When I decided to get a CAI, naturally the next question was which CAI to get. I read thread after thread on different message boards comparing the different cold air intake (CAI) kits available for the Mustang. I realized there were so many choices but I narrowed it down to two general types. There are ones with the filter in the engine bay protected by a heat shield, and ones with the filter in the fender. The arguments around the filter location are all about the air temperature. The engine bay mounted filters are said to suck hot air, while the fender mounted filters suck cooler air. The popular engine bay mounted kits are the Steeda and K&N kits. MAC and Densecharger are popular fender mounted kits.
I’ve seen this air temperature argument so many times and thought to myself, this was something I could easily validate. I went to the hardware store and looked for indoor/outdoor thermometers. I found this digital thermometer with an outdoor sensor on a 10’ wire for $10. Perfect! I bought two so I could take temperature readings in the engine bay and in the fender at the same time. I hurried home and opened up the hood. I attached one sensor along the front brace, just behind the passenger side headlight. The sensor was about two inches in front of the K&N filter in the engine bay. I attached the second sensor to some cable inside the fender. It was about 4 inches into the cavity for the air silencer. I ran both wires into the car and attached the two thermometers to an old CD. I rechecked all my connections and I was ready to start my data collection. The geek inside me was happy and I’m sure I got a few weird looks from the neighbors. Time to drive around.
[These message forums don't make it easy to post data in a tabular format so I'll just summarize the data.]
The data tells me that once I am moving above 15 mph, the temperature difference averages around 3.5 degrees. With the a/c running, the engine bay was around 4-5 degrees warmer than the fender area. At speeds less than 15 mph, the difference goes above 10 degrees. The engine bay is definitely hotter but only by a few degrees when the car is moving.
Does the air temperature matter? I can’t answer that. I’ve seen some claims on the Internet about losing 1 hp per 10 degrees increase in air temperature. If we assume that is true, then having the filter in the fender gives you ¼ to ½ hp over the guy with the filter in the engine bay.
Do I miss that fraction of a horse because I got the K&N FIPK? No. If we assume the 1 hp per 10 degrees is accurate, then my car will produce 2-3 hp more in the early morning than my drive home at 5:30 pm only because of the weather. The ¼ to ½ hp is negligible.
Does the extra half hp result in better mileage or performance? In a laboratory or on paper, Yes. But in the real world, a slight incline in the road, or a light wind, or having a passenger, or a little traffic will have so much more impact on mileage and performance that the ¼ to ½ hp is again neglible.
My recommendation is to choose a CAI that has the larger filter for more surface area, and one that has the shortest path to the throttle body.
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2004 Mustang GT (1 of 8,000,000+)
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/593952
I installed a BBK cai on my 97GT anybody use this one? I also installed a BBK 75 mm tb. When I had the tb off I took a dremel tool and honed out the upper plenum a bit to better match the new tb. I also took tin snips and made the hole in the fenderwell bigger to avoid all that laying on the ground. All said and done I felt a sotp fell, It sounds cool too.
After reading forums from several sights, I can comment this thread has a lot of good info.
After 4 years it is time to up the mods on a stock 00 GT vert. I have been able to make a decision based on your opinions.
I feel a MACstraight shot or mass air system or the AEM Brute force will be good choices for me. I would like some performance gains, ( limited I realize) but we all have to admit the "look" is important as well. I think the above choices give you both results.
Thanks propellerhead for your test results. Sometimes it is a simple little test like that which shows some true results. Is there a doctorate in your future?
I will be cruising the forums for continued mods, look forward to your advice there.
Received my JLT RAI today, it is VERY nice. I'll be posting results in here and in a new thread when I have it dynoed over my mac system.
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Current Mods: 3.55 gears(?), C&L Plenum, 70mm TB, white face gauges, LCAs and Sub-frames (waiting), JLT RAI, Mac Catback
Mods up next: Mid-length headers, mid-pipe
Mods in the near future: Heads, internals, and misc. engine things.
Mods in far future: Complete new suspension, new wheels, and complete body repaint and repair(to fix the dings of daily driving)... and then make her a weekend only car.
1998 SVT Cobra #4941 of 5174 built on June 19,1998
4.30s, Speedcal, WMS CAI, Pro 5.0 shifter, Sniper Tuner, March pulleys, Mac O/R H pipe, Flowmaster orig. 40's, King Cobra clutch, D/S rotors, FRPP 9mm's, Max. Motorsports C/C plates, Termy front control arms, H&R SS springs, MM solid steering rack bushings, Tokico HP struts and shocks, Mac subrames, HID Bi-Xenon 6000k kit, Saleen 18" wheels, Saleen S-281 spoiler, sequential tails
Up Next: Termi diff, 31 spline Axles, LPW girdle, MM LCAs
