| Cold Air Induction |
| Basics - Engines run off of fuel. Fuel is the correct mixture of oxygen and, in our case, gasoline. When ignited, they force the piston down to turn the crankshaft and operate the vehicle's drivetrain, causing the vehicle to move. The more force the ignited mixture produces, the harder (and therefore probably faster) it will force the piston down, and the faster it will be able to do so again. IE: More power, and faster RPM gains. A general rule of thumb is the more O2 capable of being burned, the more power there will be capable of attaining. The principal of cold air induction relies on this: The engine is under the hood, where it heats up while running, and the air around it gets hotter as well. Pulling hot air into an already hot combustion chamber only serves to heat it up further, causing an increased possibility for detonation, and some other bad stuff of that nature. You don't want hot air, so you want cold air then, right? (1) The most obvious way to attain cold air would be to put some kind of ice around the intake or Carb/TBI, but this gets expensive(dry ice) and generally is a large hassle to replace every two to three minutes because the ice melts. (2) The next best way is to find a *relatively* permanent source of cooler air, the main concensus resting on air from OUTSIDE THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT. Ram air, and most newer factory vehiles have taken this into consideration, and have hoses leading relatively directly to the outside. Factory ones in/near the wheelwells, RAM scoops on the hood or in the nose/fenders. We will be discussing this form of Cold Air Induction and how to use it on your vehicle. Ways to get cold air (1) Relocate the battery to the other side of the vehicle, and putting a K&N style filter in its general place near the computer. Temperatures near here are as *relatively* close to outside/ambient air temps as you can expect to come by in an engine bay, and batteries aren't very difficult to relocate if you can fab up some brackets to hold it/get wire to extend the factory cables. (2) Remove a headlight (off-road only, please;) .) The use of a direct point of entry to the vehicle that a headlight normally occupies is a great way to get some RAM air-style cold air into your engine. Drawback: stated before. Can't be driven on the road w/o cops hasseling you. (3) Mount a scoop of some sort on the hood/fender and have a K&N style filter set near it. Some put small boxes under the filter to help keep the warm engine temps from reaching the filter as quickly; some small form of insulation. RAM air-style cold air will be *forced* into the intake tract. Drawback: You have to cut the hood, or at least get a scoop fabricated to get the air, if you want it to look good too. Time consuming and *relately high risk.* Lookswise, anyways. |