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All About Intakes


MBK89

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This article aims to answer all questions about air intake systems, and gives a comparison between the two main types, "Short Ram" and "Cold Air".

Let me explain the basic principal behind performance air intakes first. Imagine you are told to jog around a race track, but you have your nose plugged up, and you're only allowed to breathe through a small straw. The only air entering your lungs comes through this straw.

No matter how hard you suck, only a small amount of air will come in and you will loose breath quickly, because a restricted amount of air is entering your lungs.

But then you replace the straw with a cardboard toilet roll:

Suddenly your air flow is no longer restricted. You can breathe as much air as you like into your lungs, and therefore jog around the track with ease (although you will look a little silly with a toilet roll sticking out of your mouth).

Now obviously this is an extreme example, and with cars a performance air intake will only slightly increase the air flow, but that's the idea. More air is allowed into the engine, meaning more air can mix with the petrol, which means everything happens faster and better.

Now I will take you through the two main air induction systems, "Short Ram" and "Cold Air".

Short Ram intake systems

injenshortcv9600.jpg

A short ram intake basically replaces the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) air intake (often called an "airbox") with a short (usually metal) pipe and air filter inside the engine bay. This slightly boosts performance levels in a car by increasing air volume intake.

As you can see in the photo above, short ram intakes are quite, well... short. Because of this, they are relatively close to the engine, which everyone knows can get very hot. So the air that goes into the intake has been warmed up slightly by the engine. I don't want to get into physics, but cold air is denser than hot air, that's why hot air rises. You want the densest air (coldest) possible going in to your air intake, and this is a slight disadvantage of short ram intakes.

When it comes to driving in wet weather or through puddles, a short ram intake is better. They are higher up and closer to the engine than cold air intakes, and so usually keep well away from any water.

Cold Air intake systems

Honda%20Integra%20Engine%20and%20CAI.jpg

aemv22.jpg

A cold air intake is a system used to bring down the temperature of the air going into a car for the purpose of increasing the power of the engine, and it also allows for higher air flow as explained above.

Cold air intakes are very similar to short ram intakes, but you can see in the photo above that they are much longer. This is because the point of a cold air intake is to catch the coldest air possible, which is not right next to the engine. Cold air intakes usually have their filters positioned at the far front of the engine bay, near or under the grill, where all the air comes into the engine bay before it has been heated up by the engine. This means the air going into the filter of a cold air intake is colder (and denser) then air going into a short ram intake, which is a good thing.

However, when it comes to wet weather or puddles, cold air intakes don't do as well. The filter is often quite low, some so low that if you go through a ford or large puddle, the whole filter can be submerged. This is very bad. If you suck water in instead of air, you have serious problems, and your engine will be flooded. This is known as hydrolock!

Conclusion

In conclusion, short ram intakes are cheaper, easier to install, more common and won't get flooded. However the air going into the filter may be hotter than you would like.

Cold air intakes are more expensive, often difficult to install (on most Civics the front bumper has to be removed), and there is a high chance of getting water in your engine if you drive in wet weather.

CAI is usually better for performance but short ram are the best all rounders!

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  • 2 months later...

ive been tuning hondas for many years now and have used many of the intakes you will find on the market imo go with a modified ITR airbox for all the B series engines as ive tested stock airbox against long ram v short ram v closed box nd found the ITR airbox was the best fro torque and HP gains

but not for noise! lol

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i know its not a honda but my other half has a colt czt and the rtg panel filter is the best for them 10 bhp gain . piper cross lost 15 bhp to a standard air and filter. so filters do make a massive differance depending which one you buy.

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  • 2 weeks later...

been looking at different intakes for a while and really am not sure what to go for, my engine is pretty standard at mo, only mods are decat and mongoose cat back system and also currently have a huge ITG filter that my mate gave me (came of his integra) when i put that on made the car alot louder but i wouldnt say it made it any faster or slower, im sure its not that great for the car thou as it must be sucking in alot of air and most of it probably hot. I have heard several people recommend putting the standard airbox back on, improving the ducting and putting a better panel filter inside. Is this probably my best option?

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although that said i fancy one of those BMC kits im sure they would do a good job and unlike the long arm ones the filter is not right down in the bumper. I would have thought the BMC would be a good compromise between short ram and long arm

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