# CAI and hood weight...(cold day=car much faster)



## 330Guy (Apr 16, 2002)

today was about 20-30 degrees colder than it's been the past few months, and let me tell you, the car is SIGNIFICANTLY faster. So my question is:
would installing a CAI create the affect of a cold outside temperature on the car in warmer weather? (or closer to cold air?)

Also, the hood on a BMW weighs SOOOO much! is there a light-weight hood? I feel like that could be at least an easy 100 lbs. which would make the car significantly faster.

thanks.


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## Jspeed (Dec 23, 2001)

Technically, the factory intake already ingests the cool air from the kidney grille area. The problem is that the air can still be affected by engine bay heat while it's traveling thru the air box, air flow meter, and throttle body. Someone is experimenting adding heat shielding to those areas and has reported positive results.

Regarding the hood there are carbon fiber ones available that weighs under 20 lbs. I personally would be interested in an aluminum hood.


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## geomax (Dec 22, 2001)

The only doubt I would have going to a lightweight hood is how rigid it would be. If it were so light, I think it would be more prone to flexing, shaking, etc, at speed.


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## Nick325xiT 5spd (Dec 24, 2001)

IMHO, the issue with a carbon fiber hood is that you are paying so much for a rather minimal gain. I think there are a lot of better places to spend money first.

I'm definitely curious about anything that really cools the air feed, though. My car dies in the heat.


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## nate (Dec 24, 2001)

Nick325xiT 5spd said:


> *I'm definitely curious about anything that really cools the air feed, though. My car dies in the heat. *


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## The HACK (Dec 19, 2001)

330Guy said:


> *today was about 20-30 degrees colder than it's been the past few months, and let me tell you, the car is SIGNIFICANTLY faster. So my question is:
> would installing a CAI create the affect of a cold outside temperature on the car in warmer weather? (or closer to cold air?)
> 
> Also, the hood on a BMW weighs SOOOO much! is there a light-weight hood? I feel like that could be at least an easy 100 lbs. which would make the car significantly faster.
> ...


There's a lot of misconception regarding cold air intakes. Nothing short of an AC unit attached to the front of your kidney grills can POSSIBLY create a cold air intake. What cold air intake does is draw in air that's cold and either employing a heat shield or heat resistent tubing to keep the air entering the engine at AMBIENT TEMPERATURE rather than get heat soaked by the engine. The stock airbox is actually designed to do JUST THAT. Except with the stock airbox design, the filtering surface coupled with the restrictive nature of the box limits the amount of air that can enter the engine. What the Dinan CAI or ECIS CAI does is employ a free flow K&N or ITG or whatever cone shaped filter that's available and either heat shielding THAT or use a carbon fiber intake tube that draws air from underneath the bumper (which is free from engine heat). The free flow filter is what makes the HPs on these CAI designs...The trick is of course, protecting that air from the heat of the engine.

But cold air intake just sounds so much cooler than "air intake that protects from engine heat soak and employs a free flow air filter".


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## 31st330i (Jan 11, 2002)

*Re: Re: CAI and hood weight...(cold day=car much faster)*



The HACK said:


> *There's a lot of misconception regarding cold air intakes. Nothing short of an AC unit attached to the front of your kidney grills can POSSIBLY create a cold air intake.*


I actually read an article about 10+ years ago where this guy rigged an A/C evaporator (the part that's normally under the dash) to an add on intercooler for his then new turbo toyota truck. the experiment showed only a mild (but still measurable) improvment. in the end it was deemed not anywhere close to being worth the cost (and he was an "insider" getting parts for cheap and performing his own work).

*



Except with the stock airbox design, the filtering surface coupled with the restrictive nature of the box limits the amount of air that can enter the engine. [...] The free flow filter is what makes the HPs on these CAI designs...The trick is of course, protecting that air from the heat of the engine.

Click to expand...

*adding the free flow filter is not what really makes the HP here. removing the stock air box (the restriction) is what does this. the OEM filter is not a major restrictor here (maybe 1% or less - going from an article I read where every single piece of a miata intake [throttle body to snorkle] was flow benched), especially not the older style with more surface area and no layer of foam.

*



..."air intake that protects from engine heat soak and employs a free flow air filter".

Click to expand...

*disagree on your comment here. heat soak will affect any intake (to varying degrees) eventually.


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