Cold Air Intake with Housing or Without?
Discussion
Just curious about this.
My cold air intake (aftermarket) from VW Racing has a housing that covers the air filter and the air comes in from
an inlet hood at the front of the car.
Today I decided to just take off the housing and let the air filter be exposed to air all around it from within the engine bay
and from the air vent at the front of my bumper grill.
Does it make any difference if you cover the air filter with the housing or if you just let it sit in the open?
I would imagine that letting it sit in the open without a housing case covering it would expose it to more air than just
the air coming in directed by the inlet part of the housing at the front. Of course, the engine bay would be hot air.
It probably makes no difference.
My cold air intake (aftermarket) from VW Racing has a housing that covers the air filter and the air comes in from
an inlet hood at the front of the car.
Today I decided to just take off the housing and let the air filter be exposed to air all around it from within the engine bay
and from the air vent at the front of my bumper grill.
Does it make any difference if you cover the air filter with the housing or if you just let it sit in the open?
I would imagine that letting it sit in the open without a housing case covering it would expose it to more air than just
the air coming in directed by the inlet part of the housing at the front. Of course, the engine bay would be hot air.
It probably makes no difference.
If you remove the shroud and allow it to draw from the engine bay it ceases to be a cold air intake. In the winter, and when the vehicle is moving at a decent speed, it probably won't make any difference. In the summer it would make more difference. For example, if you heat the intake air by 30 C, that's roughly 10% loss of density and hence power.
Agreed.
I noticed the head of my air filter captures all the dust dirt bugs etc because that's where the housing inlet is directing it. The rest of the filter looks pretty clean but the head really takes a beating.....in the past, I found the head of the air filter was actually completely disintegrated and left a wide open hole straight into my intake tube but the rest of the air filter around was perfect and fine.
Most air filter housing set ups I have seen have a plastic hard top on the filter and the filter material only goes around. It seems that the air doesn't directly hit the air filter but it goes into the housing unit and would then be sucked in by the pressure. My particular air filter setup appears to be taking the air flow smack dab on it's head and that's where it takes the brunt of everything that is coming in.
Also, I wonder why most aftermarket filters are just open without a housing....you pop the hood and you see the giant air filter cone, no housing.
The one I have is from VW Racing and one of the tuning guys at the shop said it sucks and I should get Neuspeed (which doesn't have a housing, just sits open like most).
Hmm.....I'll leave it for now open and see how it does for me....probably won't notice much or any difference because I don't drive it hard, race, or anything like that. I think I just like the idea of it being more free to breathe instead....but if anything, the engine bay might get a bit dirtier cuz it won't get trapped in the housing enclosure anymore (not that I noticed that much debris anyways after 1.5 years).
I noticed the head of my air filter captures all the dust dirt bugs etc because that's where the housing inlet is directing it. The rest of the filter looks pretty clean but the head really takes a beating.....in the past, I found the head of the air filter was actually completely disintegrated and left a wide open hole straight into my intake tube but the rest of the air filter around was perfect and fine.
Most air filter housing set ups I have seen have a plastic hard top on the filter and the filter material only goes around. It seems that the air doesn't directly hit the air filter but it goes into the housing unit and would then be sucked in by the pressure. My particular air filter setup appears to be taking the air flow smack dab on it's head and that's where it takes the brunt of everything that is coming in.
Also, I wonder why most aftermarket filters are just open without a housing....you pop the hood and you see the giant air filter cone, no housing.
The one I have is from VW Racing and one of the tuning guys at the shop said it sucks and I should get Neuspeed (which doesn't have a housing, just sits open like most).
Hmm.....I'll leave it for now open and see how it does for me....probably won't notice much or any difference because I don't drive it hard, race, or anything like that. I think I just like the idea of it being more free to breathe instead....but if anything, the engine bay might get a bit dirtier cuz it won't get trapped in the housing enclosure anymore (not that I noticed that much debris anyways after 1.5 years).
OE intake systems are designed by people far smarter than you or i, with access to multi million's worth of comuter aided design, analysis and test equipment.
Aftermarket systems are designed (mostly) by someone in their shed.
Unless you have hugely increased the power of your engine, leave the OE intake in place!
Aftermarket systems are designed (mostly) by someone in their shed.
Unless you have hugely increased the power of your engine, leave the OE intake in place!
^ that.
These days those cheap obd2 dongles can prove it for pennies (certainly cheaper than some KrappyKoNe add-on) with live data.
Whenever I've plugged mine in, it'll readily show that if the car is moving at all*, the intake air temp is always within just a couple of degrees C of ambient - it's not going to get any better than that!
These days those cheap obd2 dongles can prove it for pennies (certainly cheaper than some KrappyKoNe add-on) with live data.
Whenever I've plugged mine in, it'll readily show that if the car is moving at all*, the intake air temp is always within just a couple of degrees C of ambient - it's not going to get any better than that!
- if sat in traffic might creeps up to 20degC higher, but you hardly need that last 1% performance in 'traffic'. And drops to ambient very, very quickly once moving at all i.e.within 5-10seconds sort of window.
Max_Torque said:
OE intake systems are designed by people far smarter than you or i, with access to multi million's worth of comuter aided design, analysis and test equipment.
Aftermarket systems are designed (mostly) by someone in their shed.
Unless you have hugely increased the power of your engine, leave the OE intake in place!
This comuter that aids you in your design? Do you just drag him/her off a bus, or do they need a minimum level of qualification?Aftermarket systems are designed (mostly) by someone in their shed.
Unless you have hugely increased the power of your engine, leave the OE intake in place!
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