What's Your Intake Air Temperature?

[magnuman]

A couple months ago I built my own CAI for ten bucks and I would like to report that it works great. You can see it under the following thread. http://www.dodgetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35585
I have since put a wireless remote reading thermometer in the air intake tube near the throttle body. I mounted the readout on the dash below the headlight switch. On the highway (higher air flow velocity) the intake air temp. is within 2 degrees of ambient. In stop and go driving in town (lower air flow velocity) there is as much as 25 degrees difference. I'll probably wait until summer to see how much difference there is then. If there is much more variance from ambient I'll just insulate the air box and try to figure out how to insulate, or build an insulated replacement for the rubber flex tube also. That may be a little more work though. I've noticed that once the engine "heat soaks" the intake air temp. starts to increase. When engine is cold, the intake temp. is close to ambient. I have not yet seen intake temp. equal to ambient under any conditions (using temp. unit in gauge panel). Bottom line is that engine heat DOES affect intake air from the box through the tube unless it is very well insulated, or your on the highway passing more air at increased velocity. I would like to see how much difference there is on some of the aftermarket CAI's, especially those that draw air from the engine compartment. Are they worse, similar or better in temperature variance from ambient? Has anyone done this kind of check, and if so, I would be interested in the results.

[MagnumHemi]

Magnuman,

Your CAI gets my vote it looks great, it appears to be the best way to get cold air in that I've seen so far. That plastic tube on the front of the air box, where did you get that and what was that made for originally? I'm planning on using your mod but adding a nylon material over the intake hole that allows air in but not water. We use this material on the intakes of snowmoblies so they don't ingest snow and water. It's almost like a nylon stocking material.

[magnuman]

Hi MagnumHemi,
The couplings I used were from Home Depot deck drain dept. They are 3 inch soft plastic and easy to cut and shape with snips, but don't saw worth a crap. If you want, you can just sand the nubs off so the tube slids completely over the coupling. I've checked the air box several times after the intake inlet being exposed to water (moderate rain and car wash), and have never seen a drop in the box. I think you'd really have to be in a flood to get much in there, and even then it would only get as far as the box and go out through the drain hole in the bottom. I see your point though on snowmobiles. I've enclosed a pix of the coupling the way in looks, cut on the left and stock on the right. Hope this helps. Have fun building your CAI. Let me know how it works for you. :rck:

[MagnumHemi]

Check this out for CAI temps.

www.watsoncard.com/magnum/

[MattRobertson]

Check this out for CAI temps.

www.watsoncard.com/magnum/

Wow. Thats pretty straightforward, and kind of surprising. Am I crazy or does this pretty much tell us the stock system works just fine insofar as cold air is concerned.

Air flow and filtration are other factors to be sure, but it seems to my untrained eye as if Dodge got it right the first time with the cold air.

[magnuman]

Yes, the stock system is quite good the way it is. The stock air intake is in front of the left wheel well and draws air through the so-called ear drum which is just an air silencer. There is NO restriction through the silencer---you can stick your arm completely through it. The only thing my system does is add the potential to receive more air, if needed, with some ram effect at higher speeds,as it draws air from behind the grill. I left the stock system alone. Because my system is slightly shorter, has a little ram effect, and a little more direct, I suspect more air is coming from it now than the stock inlet (path of least resistence). My tests are similar to Don's though. The biggest difference is I have a slightly quicker recovery after sitting and my temp. difference on the highway is not quite as great.

[ELDuce]

I like that site alot of good pictures of his mod's. Also the addition of the headlight switch from the 300C. But I wonder if the auto works from just installing that or do you need the addition of a sensor somewhere.

[magnuman]

Yes, you need to have the sensor on the center of the dash by the windshield to make the auto headlights work. Switch costs about $40. If you have the sensor, just R and R the switch. There is a "how to" somewhere on this forum or the magnumnet.com forum.

[done]

I like that site alot of good pictures of his mod's. Also the addition of the headlight switch from the 300C. But I wonder if the auto works from just installing that or do you need the addition of a sensor somewhere.


Thank you, I am very pleased with my RT AWD. I was curious about the intake air temp as I couldn't belive that DC would screw that up when they did such a nice job on the rest of the car.

Takes about 10 minutes to install the headlight switch.