What's the point of a CAI when we have an intercooler?

 

 

more hp and a sweet whine!

 

Basically for the whine and something to do to the car.

 

The supercharger runs off the intake manifold, so an intake is a great mod.

 

How can there be a HP increase? This is my point...if the intercooler does its job, the intake manifold air temperature should be comparable between CAI-modded and stock SS/SC? This is a hypothesis...anyone out there with a dyno before and after CAI!?

Would you like some cheese with your SC whine?

 

go to www.cobalt-addiction.com, check out the dyno for the xtc cai.

 

It's not the supercharger that makes me question the usefulness of a CAI, it's the placement of the stock intake. The air temp on a CAI is not going to be any different then on the stocker as they are getting their air from the same spot. Any HP gains you see with a aftermarket one are a result of a smoother or higher air volume not the temp. Well that and the sweet ass whine!. I just put a K&N on the stock tube and left the lid off the box same noise.
K&N + no lid = $45
Aftermarket CAI= $200
Pretty much the same results minus the added bragging factor of more shiney stuff under your hood.

 

Bigger and smoother tubing feeds the supercharger better, which in return creates a little more power. It is a great mod. I went form the air-box mod, to an Injen intake and there was a huge difference.

 

the intercoolers job is to keep the supercharger at a certain operating temperature just like the radiator for the engine

 

im sure i reduced a few pounds of weight by going with the injen, the stock intake i took out of the car is alot of plastic...

 

Pardon my correcting you, but misinformation is my enemy: the supercharger "runs off" your belt. The SC sucks air from the intake (NOT the intake manifold). It then routes the air through an INTERcooler (INTER = prefix meaning between). After the intercooler, the air enters the intake MANIFOLD.

However, for the most part, it seems to me that the supercharger could give a flying f|_|ck what temperature the intake air is. Now, I'm not an idiot, I know very well that PV = nRT, hence the maximum MASS air flow (thanks to our supercharger) is dependent on colder temperatures (T). However, the combustion chamber (what matters for HP) sees intercooled air whether there is a CAI involved or not.

Regardless, I live in San Diego, not the desert, so I could care less about ambient temps. And for those of you that see rough winters/short summers, I say save your money.

 

Unless I am GROSSLY misinformed, the intercooler has no effect on supercharger temperature. The SC itself maintains its own temperature by the sheer fact that it is constantly sucking in fresh, cold air (which then heats up in the process of contacting the SC surfaces and being pressurized, necessitating the intercooler afterwards).

Why is it that nobody understands how our car works?

 

An intake does increase HP, it allows the air to enter the engine. ..s/c for our car easier and faster.

ex: header through exhaust increases hp for the same reason except for the fact that its the opposite, the air exits the engine easier and quicker resulting in more HP

 

ACTUALLY....we don't have an INTERcooler....we have an AFTERcooler....it cools the air AFTER it goes into the S/C. Hence AFTERcooler.

 

you will see gains with an intake, its been proven.

 

you will defaintely see and feel gains.

 

and thats why theres an intercooler

 

Modern automobile designs are technically aftercoolers because they appear most often at the very end of the chain, but this name is no longer used.
-From definition of "intercooler" at wikipedia - see this LINK

 

No, the intercooler only sees air fed to it AFTER the supercharger. No intercooling effects are seen by the supercharger itself at all.

 

I didnt bother for the small gains it gives you. Ive seen the dynos but ive seen alot that havent seen impovments.

 

the bottom line is you will see a hp gain from an intake!

 

They are both the same, its been debated before.

 

but wouldn't there be better hp gain if one where to save that 250 dollars most want for some tubing and put that towards either a custom tune (once they are available) on the dyno ?
And why can't there be a cai that isn't in the fender by the wheel? could use the hole thru the fender, with the cone filter enclosed, so no headed air gets to it, and only fresher air gets thru via the stock hole...would eliminate any risk of sucking either water or loosing your filter...(like the Lightning CAI does, for those that know about Lightnings)

 

Well, let's put it this way for you. The colder the air going into the blower will result in colder denser air coming out of the blower. Colder denser air will result in more power. The cooler air will help keep the supercharger cooler allowing maximum boost to be achieved, and less heat soak. Trust me I have had the Injen intake on through the end of winter to the present. The supercharger put out more boost when it was colder like 30-40 degrees outside, and now it that it's 90+ degrees outside the supercharger has to work harder to produce the same results.