Cold Air Intake (CAI) vs Fender Well Intake (FWI)

Usually right at ambient when driving. So the intake tube is probably 100ºF or so. It feels cool relative to everything else in the bay, unless sitting idle for a long period. Then everything just cooks under there.

A note on silicone - because it's a good insulator, it has the perception of having "coolness". I used to work for a company that put silicone grip handles called "cool grips" on a product that was heated in an oven. The thought was silicone would stay cooler than the rest of the product, but in fact the grips got hot after heating long enough.

AA wrote:

Usually right at ambient when driving. So the intake tube is probably 100ºF or so. It feels cool relative to everything else in the bay, unless sitting idle for a long period. Then everything just cooks under there.

A note on silicone - because it's a good insulator, it has the perception of having "coolness". I used to work for a company that put silicone grip handles called "cool grips" on a product that was heated in an oven. The thought was silicone would stay cooler than the rest of the product, but in fact the grips got hot after heating long enough.

i was considering building the fwi out of silicone tubing. or a combination of silicone and aluminium

I've got my sensor in a silicone coupler right before the TB/MAF. I'll get a good log tomorrow or Friday and let you know what the temps sit at. I remember during the winter it was only a couple degrees above ambient (in the 20's) and during idle it never went 20 over ambient.

Mounting of the IAT sensor is the key, imo. And using a mil-spec sensor helps report quicker changes. Check my Omega sensor installation thread.

OK so basically alot of people over at the gtp forums and regal gs forums say your better off sticking a cone filter over the throttle body and calling it a day rather than doing what I did and making my own intake that pulls colder air from the fender. Does the open cone actually flow better than an FWI or Cai? I personally don't believe it but if there's some people claiming it's better I'm willing to try it

h20man wrote:

OK so basically alot of people over at the gtp forums and regal gs forums say your better off sticking a cone filter over the throttle body and calling it a day rather than doing what I did and making my own intake that pulls colder air from the fender. Does the open cone actually flow better than an FWI or Cai? I personally don't believe it but if there's some people claiming it's better I'm willing to try it

I combined your post into this thread as there is a lot of good information covered about this topic. A cone filter on the throttle body will flow slightly better as there will be less tubing for the air to go through, but your AIT will be a lot hotter than a FWI.  The filter would be sitting right over the exhaust crossover.  Stay with your FWI as the colder air is worth it.

If you're going to take your hood off, and leave it off, by all means slap a filter on your TB.
You think you have KR now? Go ahead and put that filter on with the hood.

I agree i figured the colder air is better, I just see guys over on other forums steering people the wrong way when they start moddng these cars, maybe I'll look into making a Cai box