Highbeam removal vs rain

[tjts1]

even better - try this: datalog your intake air temp sensor directly with your standalone EMS and a laptop. :roll: I've done so for the last year and a half in all sorts of conditions - winter, summer, track/autox, city traffic, border traffic. Far more data than you could have collected eyeballing the external temp sensor duct-taped to your airbox. The outside temp sensor responds once every minute or so. my IAT responds in real-time. I can tell you two things:

1) on a 70f day, if you are getting 110f intake temps you've been sitting in traffic for a good 20-30 minutes. If you're moving at all, it's going to drop to ambient very quickly (10-20 seconds or less depending on speed).

2) on a hotter than hell day, it's not going to matter because even the ambient air is going to be 90-100f. once you're moving, it's going to cool down to the same temp, but it's not magically going to cool it to less than ambient, and it's still only going to take a few seconds.

my intake temp on a summer autox might reach 40-50c after I park the car and shut off the motor until the next run. A typical autox run is only 30-50 seconds long - and it will be back to ambient temp (say, 25-30c) by 1/4 of the run. I collected data on a day that was so hot we literally had to ask people to move their jacks off the pavement because they were sinking into the asphalt. I wasn't ever worried about my crappy old stock intake making the engine run hot.

the temperature of the air going through the filter isn't going to make your manifold cool to the touch, that's just idiotic - it's going to get hot simply because it's in contact with your engine block, which runs at over 200 degrees. 10 degrees in your intake isn't going to make dick-all of a difference to the temperature of your manifold, and the stock airbox is going to reach the same ambient temperature as your magical "cold air" intake anyway.

Also, if you're worried about a performance difference when you're stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, well, I don't know what to tell you - but on a track, it's going to do nothing for your engine's performance while making you look like a retard.

if you want to do it for sound - fine. I can understand that. but it's completely misguided to think it's somehow going to boost performance. Especially on an M42, an engine that's already pretty much maxed out from the factory.

Well congratulations Dr Dingbat. You win. Obviously you know much more about the subject than the rest of us put together even though you've never tried it. You've completely ignored all evidence contrary to your dogmatic view while providing none of your own. I have no idea what you mean about the M42 is "pretty much maxed out". Obviously thats a technical term which I'm not familiar with. But I'm pretty sure you're going to set me straight on that one too.
cheers

[CrazyGhost]

And CrazyGhost, I am intrigued because I've been looking at the CDA boxes for once I go with the M30 AFM.

Ran My M50 intake like this. (Ignore the wire just a temp gauge i hooked up to see the difference between BMC n Pod) Go to your local auto shop and get some silicon tubing that goes from 2 inch to 3 inch. 2 inch on the end of the BMC and the 3 inch opens up through the back of the black plastic headlight rear cover! Snug as a bug!

[Edev]

by maxed out..he means that you're not going to see significant increases of power by doing the headlight removal/ram air intake thing, especially since its a 4 cyl. unless you turbo it :D

i think when done right, the headlight removal looks good. depending on the car though.

[nando]

Well congratulations Dr Dingbat. You win. Obviously you know much more about the subject than the rest of us put together even though you've never tried it. You've completely ignored all evidence contrary to your dogmatic view while providing none of your own. I have no idea what you mean about the M42 is "pretty much maxed out". Obviously thats a technical term which I'm not familiar with. But I'm pretty sure you're going to set me straight on that one too.
cheers

I'm reading your paragraph for your rebuttle, but I don't see anything in there but a cop-out. wow, you sure showed me.

I have 2gb of "evidence". What do you have?

[cferb]

What happened to the evidence that with a heat shield you gain 1-2 hp

I like mine, I know it's worthless, I don't care.

[thornado327i]

Fuck that - I'm doing it. In terms of biology, I'd rather breathe through a larger opening ;)

[z31maniac]

or maybe some of us are just smart enough to realize that a "cold air intake" is really just an "ambient air intake" with a jazzed up name and lots of marketing behind it.

You love to be condescending don't you? :(

Semantics aside, I've had luck with "ambient air intakes." And anything has to be better than the PO's brilliant idea of putting a cone filter on out in the open right next to the radiator.

[gearheadE30]

At least on the M42, I agree with tjts. I used a different tube becuase the black flexible tube probably absorbs enough heat from the engine bay to negate itself.

I HAVE NOT done any testing, so Nando really wins there, but my car ran a lot better with the new tube, especially after heatsoaking. I did not remove the high beam. Logically, this makes sense becase the ~2" ID of the factory rubber hose from the airbox to the headlight shield is the smallest diameter in the entire intake. Some of my throttle response gains probably came from the airbox sucking in air through a cracked intake, though.

[nando]

What happened to the evidence that with a heat shield you gain 1-2 hp

I like mine, I know it's worthless, I don't care.

1-2hp isn't enough to be statistically relevant. Extra tire pressure from warmer tires could easily cause that alone, not to mention other variables (like a warmer engine). Ever seen a dyno graph without smoothing enabled? it's not smooth..

You love to be condescending don't you? :(

Semantics aside, I've had luck with "ambient air intakes." And anything has to be better than the PO's brilliant idea of putting a cone filter on out in the open right next to the radiator.

yes, it's my favorite past-time :p

and yeah, a cone with a shield is definitely better than sucking air right off the radiator. but come on guys - these aren't hondas, you honestly aren't going to gain any power by putting in a magic air filter.

[thornado327i]

come on guys - these aren't hondas, you honestly aren't going to gain any power by putting in a magic air filter.

I always thought real power gains in hondas come from "turbo" "typeR" or "tuning" stickers... 10hp each or so...

[devonjordan]

Nando, I cant believe you actually took the time to document something like that. Its ASTONISHING.

[kamotors]

As a guy who makes heat shields, we all know there is not a true cold air intake, there is only outside air intake. I've done a bunch of tests, and with a heatshield you do get cooler air temps. This is because it blocks of the radiator and gets all the air from the grill passing through(if you remove the plastic cover behind the headlights). without the shield the cone filter heats up really quickly. Ive done about 100 0-60 runs and when its really hot outside your times suffer. You can't expect to be getting cold air in your engine if its 100 degrees outside, You can just get cooler air than what in the engine bay which is a good thing. I dont see removing the headlight getting more air into the filter it would just go past the filter and anywhere else it decided to go. there are plenty of gaps around the headlights to get air from the outside into your filter area. I'm currently trying to make basically a large air box with an open front that get airs directly from the grill and houses a cone filter or normal air filter. The more air cold air the better.

oh and about rain K&N makes filter sock things for the filters, some are flame proof or water proof.

[SamE30e]

Stock airbox K&N drop in filter ftw.

[gearheadE30]

^^ I've got the K&N drop in as well, but I don't think it filters quite as well as the paper ones. If I lived in arizona or something, I would probably switch back.

[z31maniac]

yes, it's my favorite past-time :p

and yeah, a cone with a shield is definitely better than sucking air right off the radiator. but come on guys - these aren't hondas, you honestly aren't going to gain any power by putting in a magic air filter.

I'm an e30 newb, not a car/motorcycle performance newb.;)

I do trust your opinion because I know you've done the testing vs just thinking it will work.