warm/cold air intake, something thant made me think a bit. Options

[4-eyed-freek]

hey everyone! im a current student at UTI in chicago and last week my brakes teacher was lecturing on how stupid cold air intakes we and he kept calling them a warm air intakes, and he is right in a way..... BUT this week i started my basic engines class and my new teacher couldnt stress the inportance of a cai on a car because...(THIS IS WHAT HE SAID) if you think about it, your engine is running at somewhere around 212 in most cars. so the 100+ degree temp in your enigine bay that your cold air intake is taking in is actually colder than your internal engine thus meaning that the really warm air in you engine bay is actually cold air for your car.. so who is right?!?!?! i thought about this to myself and talked it over with other kids in the class and i got so many diff. answers. lets here what you guys think.

[richee3]

What your teacher was referring to as a "warm air intake" is actually a short ram intake, NOT a cold air intake. It does suck in warm air from the engine bay. It will add a tiny amount of power, if anything. However, a true cold air intake will have a few feet of piping and will get the air filter out of the engine bay, where it's sucking in cooler air. If I recall correctly, the best air temperature for your engine is between 50-70. (Somebody feel free to correct me on that.) A true cold air intake will still only add a few horsepower, but it's more effective than a short ram intake, or "warm air intake."

Short ram intake:


Cold air intake:


Notice how the cold air intake has a lot more piping and it moves the air filter away from the engine. In the case of a 7th gen Celica, and this is fairly standard, the air filter ends up inside the fender where it's not getting any warm air from the engine at all. Hope this helps.