short ram intake vs cold air intake?

[tipota]

the only difference i know of between the two is that the short ram intake has a shorter pipe. my friend told me this just makes it louder, but does it do anything performance wise?

[curtis73]

Anything upstream of the throttle body usually has minimal affect on power provided it supplies enough air to the party. A short 3" diameter pipe and a long 3" pipe probably both supply enough mass of air, so length would have very little to do with power.

[beef_bourito]

a cold air intake takes air from outside the engine compartment where it is significantly colder, colder air contains more molecules in a given volume therefore you can burn more fuel with the same volume of air. a short ram intake is just used to remove some of the restricitions in the intake, it won't give you any hp gains unless the intake tubing/filter prove to be the most restrictive area of the intake.

[Ridenour]

Tipota, here's a thread me and some other guys had on the Grand Am forum a while back - we discussed the hell out of intakes - it's a pretty good read.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=334145

[-Jayson-]

both are the same, when your moving cold air is passing over the engine, the same cold air that would be in the wheel well. CAI is just a myth. Like ramair

[sunfire_starter]

Originally Posted by -Jayson-

both are the same, when your moving cold air is passing over the engine, the same cold air that would be in the wheel well. CAI is just a myth. Like ramair

Yes cold air is moving past the engine but it get heated up by the engine because of it being so hot. Your getting less dense air from there compared to in the wheel well. The only really hot object there is the tire but that doesn't create enough heat to put out alot higher tempeture readings. But the tempeture readings in the engine bay compared to the wheel well is not more than a few degrees part so the effect is minimal hence why you only get maybe 10 HP if your lucky out of it. If they were smart they would put a fan in the middle of the pipe and have drops of N2 into the fan so it cools the air coming in but doesn't hurt the combustion or something along those lines so you could get atleast like 30 HP out of it from $150 piece of piping. Hell 20 HP would do fine.

As for Short Ram vs. CAI it all depends on what you want out of the car. Short Ram adds more HP across the lower end RPM range, CAI does just the opposite. It adds maybe 10 HP out of it.

[TheQuietThings]

Originally Posted by sunfire_starter

Yes cold air is moving past the engine but it get heated up by the engine because of it being so hot. Your getting less dense air from there compared to in the wheel well. The only really hot object there is the tire but that doesn't create enough heat to put out alot higher tempeture readings. But the tempeture readings in the engine bay compared to the wheel well is not more than a few degrees part so the effect is minimal hence why you only get maybe 10 HP if your lucky out of it. If they were smart they would put a fan in the middle of the pipe and have drops of N2 into the fan so it cools the air coming in but doesn't hurt the combustion or something along those lines so you could get atleast like 30 HP out of it from $150 piece of piping. Hell 20 HP would do fine.

As for Short Ram vs. CAI it all depends on what you want out of the car. Short Ram adds more HP across the lower end RPM range, CAI does just the opposite. It adds maybe 10 HP out of it.

hes 100% correct, he left out one thing though
While CAI can add sometimes up to 10HP,a ram air will only add 5HP at MAX

[Igovert500]

I'm gonna go with Jayson on this. They are all the same. You have cool air running under your hood as you are driving. Yes it maybe somewhat hotter, but you are talking a few hp at the most. Being that an intake will wont add noticeable hp gains anyway, it doesn't matter. All in all, no matter what you choose you are talking a matter of 3-5hp...they are all the same. If you want to believe the numbers and 'technology' that manufactures feed you, go ahead. But all in all, an open element filter is an open element filter, a pipe doesn't make one hell of a difference.