Cold Air Intake hogwash

[LSJKU]

"That's Cool, V1".

The Corsa intake box is wrapped in Cool Tape and fully enclosed on sides & bottom with Reflectix insulation. The Corsa intake tube is fully wrapped with Reflectix.

Like I said, V1. Data logging & intake air temps to follow.

To be honest, and I am not making this up, now it's all I can do to keep the front end on the ground through the first three gears.

Looks good, and you did thorough work.

Please share what your data logs show. That will be interesting. You may have us all rushing out to pick up some materials!

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[Dave M]

The Corsa intake box is wrapped in Cool Tape and fully enclosed on sides & bottom with Reflectix R-21 insulation. The Corsa intake tube is fully wrapped with Reflectix ... Data logging & intake air temps to follow.

Cleaned up my "CAI" insulation around the Corsa intake ports a bit to ensure good breathing & cool air from the stock jeep snorkel (visible in the bottom center of the second picture below).

The Good News is I got a great hour plus log from a cold start with highway cruising, back road barnstorming and lots of trips to redline.

The Bad News is when I went to save the log my fat fingers missed the Save icon and clicked the Open icon instead which instantly vaporized my sweet log to the great bit bucket in the sky. SMH! So, no log for you today, sorry. Little ticked over here.

Anyway, I DID review the log while driving and before dumping it, and it appeared the intake temps didn't get much more than 10-15 degrees above ambient the whole time, which I think is pretty good. Now, I was moving most of the time, I suspect sitting & heat soaking would yield higher intake temps at least til you get moving again.

I will let the jeep sit overnight and give 'er another go. I do it all for my esteemed forum-mates and "The Science"!

 

[LSJKU]

Cleaned up my "CAI" insulation around the Corsa intake ports a bit to ensure good breathing & cool air from the stock jeep snorkel (visible in the bottom center of the second picture below).

The Good News is I got a great hour plus log from a cold start with highway cruising, back road barnstorming and lots of trips to redline.

The Bad News is when I went to save the log my fat fingers missed the Save icon and clicked the Open icon instead which instantly vaporized my sweet log to the great bit bucket in the sky. So, no log for you, today. Sorry. Little ticked over here.

Anyway, I DID review the log while driving and before dumping it, and it appeared the intake temps didn't get much more than 10-15 degrees above ambient the whole time, which I think is pretty good. Now, I was moving most of the time, I suspect sitting & heat soaking would yield higher intake temps at least til you get moving again.

I will let the jeep sit overnight and give 'er another go. The things I do for my forum-mates!

I think we all have experienced the "fat finger" syndrome and lost logging data. It seems to happen to me when I have had a particularly great logging run, as it did to you above.

I would love to see the temp data after you do another run. The temps you observed are about what I experience (from memory) while driving on road with the stock intake. I don't recall anything much higher than 208 deg F, even after WOT runs.

 

[zouch]

oof.
wish i could say i never did anything like that!


i use a vented hood with an intake duct that directs airflow to the underhood air intake; i also typically see Intake Air Temps on my iDash showing about 15ºF above ambient while moving at speed.
as soon as i stop and airflow decreases, Intake Air Temp increases as much as 40-50ºF until i am at speed again for a while.

The Bad News is when I went to save the log my fat fingers missed the Save icon and clicked the Open icon instead which instantly vaporized my sweet log to the great bit bucket in the sky. SMH! So, no log for you today, sorry. Little ticked over here.

 

[2nd 392]

Cold air Hogwash
Ohh Sure Sure…

 

[bmpcamry09]

Cleaned up my "CAI" insulation around the Corsa intake ports a bit to ensure good breathing & cool air from the stock jeep snorkel (visible in the bottom center of the second picture below).

The Good News is I got a great hour plus log from a cold start with highway cruising, back road barnstorming and lots of trips to redline.

The Bad News is when I went to save the log my fat fingers missed the Save icon and clicked the Open icon instead which instantly vaporized my sweet log to the great bit bucket in the sky. SMH! So, no log for you today, sorry. Little ticked over here.

Anyway, I DID review the log while driving and before dumping it, and it appeared the intake temps didn't get much more than 10-15 degrees above ambient the whole time, which I think is pretty good. Now, I was moving most of the time, I suspect sitting & heat soaking would yield higher intake temps at least til you get moving again.

I will let the jeep sit overnight and give 'er another go. I do it all for my esteemed forum-mates and "The Science"!

You can recover a lost log. Go to documents>HP Tuners>Vehicles, and in the folder with your VIN you’ll find all logs even if you forgot to save one.

 

[Dave M]

You can recover a lost log. Go to documents>HP Tuners>Vehicles, and in the folder with your VIN you’ll find all logs even if you forgot to save one.

YES!!!

So for the hour and fifteen minute cold-start mixed-driving mostly-moving data log run, the Ambient Air Temp ranged from 77-82F, while the Aircharge Temperature ranged from 77-88F, and started creeping up toward 90 when I pulled back in the garage and idled for a minute (should have let it sit there and heat soak for five minutes but you get what you pay for here!).

That seems pretty effective to me, at least while mostly moving. What else you want to know? Anyone want to check out the log file for themselves?

Edit: If I get ambitious enough I'll put the stock intake back on and do a similar run. You'd like that wouldn't you, just sit there and click your little mouse while I do all the work!

 

[bmpcamry09]

YES!!!

So for the hour and fifteen minute cold-start mixed-driving mostly-moving data log run, the Ambient Air Temp ranged from 77-82F, while the Aircharge Temperature ranged from 77-88F, and started creeping up toward 90 when I pulled back in the garage and idled for a minute (should have let it sit there and heat soak for five minutes but you get what you pay for here!).

That seems pretty effective to me, at least while mostly moving. What else you want to know? Anyone want to check out the log file for themselves?

Edit: If I get ambitious enough I'll put the stock intake back on and do a similar run. You'd like that wouldn't you, just sit there and click your little mouse while I do all the work!

Few things get me as excited as a nice looking datalog c'mon now you know this lol

 

[Dave M]

Few things get me as excited as a nice looking datalog c'mon now you know this lol

HEH, I was hoping you'd say that. Comin' at you. Tell us what you see, I can take it!

Thanks! Dave

 

[LSJKU]

HEH, I was hoping you'd say that. Comin' at you. Tell us what you see, I can take it!

Thanks! Dave

Brad, I believe we are all waiting to see what you find out reviewing Dave's logging run. Inquiring minds want to know!

What ya' see-in, mon? Are Dave's insulated intake temps oodles lower than say, one of the stock air intake WOT logs I sent you? I can get another logging run today for comparison if needed. Ambient air temps have been around 94-96 around here lately (Near Houston; appx 100-ft elevation).

 

[bmpcamry09]

Reviewed Dave's logs. First one is from back when we first started logging before he insulated his intake tube. Log date is 6/3/26 and ambient temp was 79 degrees F. Screenshot below shows intake manifold temperatures hovering around 129 degrees during a light cruise around 35-40 miles per hour. I usually see 125-140 degree manifold temps during cruise and similar ambient temps on all JL Wranglers with cold air intakes. Usually stock intake is on the lower side of that and "cold" air intakes are on the higher side of that.

Here is a similar drive, similar conditions after shot after Dave did his intake insulation. It appears his insulation is helping keep things about 10-15 degrees colder throughout the drive. From a raw HP/TQ point of view, there is no difference unfortunately because at those temperatures, the tuning itself is not adding nor is it removing any timing due to intake temperature. I usually don't see timing get pulled until over about 130 degrees. This can all be modified in the tuning however. As a tuner, I would obviously feel more comfortable adding timing to the cooler intake.

Long story short, Dave's cold air intake isn't exactly hog wash, but it's not something I would go out of my way to do either lol. Here is the part where I hurt Dave's feelings

Cary, I pulled one of your logs, your stock intake did a much better job of maintaining colder air temperatures at even higher ambient. Here is a cruise at 72 miles and hour, with ambient temperatures way higher at 95 degrees. Your manifold temps with this high ambient temp hovered between about 112 and 120 in similar conditions as Dave's fancy pants intake with ambient air temps significantly higher. Here is Cary's data at interstate speed with the factory intake in hotter weather....

And here is Dave's with his fancy pants intake at interstate speed (yeah, not exact same speed, but as close as I could find). Virtually the same manifold temperature. But his ambient temps were lower.

In conclusion, a cold air intake is not really helping cool your intake temperatures, and could be even making it worse. Insulating your new cold air intake will help, but ultimately, the factory system does the best job keeping temperatures in check.

Cold air intakes serve one main purpose in my opinion, noise. If you like induction noise, go for it. Any horsepower gain at wide open throttle (I see maybe 5 HP difference at most between aftermarket and stock) will be negated by the lack of colder air at speeds we actually use our Jeeps.

I will hold to my stance that the best way to manage temperatures is a lower fan activation point, paired with an earlier opening aftermarket thermostat, and most importantly, under hood heat management via opening up your Rubicon air vents or going aftermarket.

 

[LSJKU]

Reviewed Dave's logs. First one is from back when we first started logging before he insulated his intake tube. Log date is 6/3/26 and ambient temp was 79 degrees F. Screenshot below shows intake manifold temperatures hovering around 129 degrees during a light cruise around 35-40 miles per hour. I usually see 125-140 degree manifold temps during cruise and similar ambient temps on all JL Wranglers with cold air intakes. Usually stock intake is on the lower side of that and "cold" air intakes are on the higher side of that.

Here is a similar drive, similar conditions after shot after Dave did his intake insulation. It appears his insulation is helping keep things about 10-15 degrees colder throughout the drive. From a raw HP/TQ point of view, there is no difference unfortunately because at those temperatures, the tuning itself is not adding nor is it removing any timing due to intake temperature. I usually don't see timing get pulled until over about 130 degrees. This can all be modified in the tuning however. As a tuner, I would obviously feel more comfortable adding timing to the cooler intake.

Long story short, Dave's cold air intake isn't exactly hog wash, but it's not something I would go out of my way to do either lol. Here is the part where I hurt Dave's feelings

Cary, I pulled one of your logs, your stock intake did a much better job of maintaining colder air temperatures at even higher ambient. Here is a cruise at 72 miles and hour, with ambient temperatures way higher at 95 degrees. Your manifold temps with this high ambient temp hovered between about 112 and 120 in similar conditions as Dave's fancy pants intake with ambient air temps significantly higher. Here is Cary's data at interstate speed with the factory intake in hotter weather....

And here is Dave's with his fancy pants intake at interstate speed (yeah, not exact same speed, but as close as I could find). Virtually the same manifold temperature. But his ambient temps were lower.

In conclusion, a cold air intake is not really helping cool your intake temperatures, and could be even making it worse. Insulating your new cold air intake will help, but ultimately, the factory system does the best job keeping temperatures in check.

Cold air intakes serve one main purpose in my opinion, noise. If you like induction noise, go for it. Any horsepower gain at wide open throttle (I see maybe 5 HP difference at most between aftermarket and stock) will be negated by the lack of colder air at speeds we actually use our Jeeps.

I will hold to my stance that the best way to manage temperatures is a lower fan activation point, paired with an earlier opening aftermarket thermostat, and most importantly, under hood heat management via opening up your Rubicon air vents or going aftermarket.

Brad, that's some impressive "real-world" data that all should see. It's been my contention for quite a while that adding a CAI was mostly a cosmetic mod and did not really affect performance. My contention is that it's pretty much the same for any aftermarket exhaust system. But if you at least add a high-tuck exhaust, your getting it out of harms way on the trail.

Your graphs say the same thing I saw on my Raptor when Matt was tuning it. I did all the heat management stuff to my Raptor and Matt got over 500 rwhp out of the Ecoboost. I know the turbo outlets are the restriction and need to be addressed if I want more power. And like my Raptor, I will keep running the stock intake and (mostly) stock exhaust on the Jeep. I'll save the money and maybe invest it in a potlaod of AFe Ducks to give away, or something....

 

[Dave M]

Here is the part where I hurt Dave's feelings

Fair. The data is the data. I asked for it.

here is Dave's with his fancy pants intake

But wait, there's an ad hominem flag on the play!

All good. Knowledge is good.

The Corsa intake does sound good and its Donaldson PowerCore air filter supposedly filters better than stock. Probably reinstall the stock intake and see if the sound (& filtration) difference is worth it. Guessing resale on my Corsa intake will be pretty limited around here

Thanks Brad!

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