Someone please help me understand cold air intakes (CAI)

[Stereodesigne]

I understand why cai help on some vehicles but on my 96 Tahoe 5.7 it has the factory airbox that houses a cone style k&n filter....
With the factory boxing keeping it from the hot air rather than having a cai with no boxing under the hood which would suck in hot hot air.....
Am I right? :banghead:

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[daddy]

Stock boxes with a replacement intake tube from Airaid perform as well as anything. Aside from noise though, you aren't really going to see any benefit anyway. Stick with what you have, it's cheaper and just as effective.

 

[Zembonez]

Re: Someone please help me understand cai

So called "Cold Air Intakes" are mostly a sham.

Sucking heated underhood air instead of external air so that the owners can enjoy the sound of their high school dreams does nothing for performance... but some gearheads love it.

There are a few on the market that actually provide modest gains...

 

[RedRider]

Re: Someone please help me understand cai

A site sponsor recently did a test on several CAIs. The results can be found in this thread.

http://www.truckmodcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23730

 

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Re: Someone please help me understand cai

Sucking heated underhood air instead of external air so that the owners can enjoy the sound of their high school dreams does nothing for performance... but some gearheads love it.

I've already seen some ricers running an external CAI pipe thru the front bumper, and in some French cars (as can be seen in the Renault Twingo) the air intake goes thru the hood, which seems to be an effective way to overcome the air heating issue.

 

[Stereodesigne]

There's a ricer around here if it rains and puddles his filter gets soaked....he's got the filter 8 inches from the ground behind the front bumper

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[Zembonez]

OK... so I was being a bit of a smartass. Some of the CAI setups sound pretty cool on a V8. A few even offer a tad better performance. I suspect most are there for the sound!

 

[Boilerup15]

I had a K&N CAI on my last truck. It really didn't do anything, which is why I will never waste my money again.

 

[Zembonez]

In the Black bear test, the replacement tube that uses the OEM airbox was as effective as anything else if I remember correctly. I can see that being worth the money.

Here's a PDF file of their findings. You can trust them 100%.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/55742651/Intake Testing/Intake Testing Results - Intake Testing Results.pdf

 

[Sodbuster]

Jrod, give me back my money!