ram air or CAI for winter?

[Origin]

aight winter is coming close and im tworn at whether to get a ram air or a CAI. Wouldnt rain and snow and eventually salt get on a CAI and pull it through the filter? I know the cold air is better for a CAI but the weather worries me and i still have my splash guards. I know a ram air i wouldnt have to work about but hp gains are amoung with the CAI whats ya'll's opinion?

[LoudNLow]

well i had mine cai filter running low to the ground and once i took a look at it to clean it,i seen that it had dents small holes and other things on/in it so i decided to run it short ram,to me a cai isnt worth a damn if the engine gets hydrolocked

[colorchanginGT]

Most people take the CAI off for winter. Just put the filter on the VAF.

[iwantaPGTbad]

thats what i just got done doing

[pgt95]

1. Cone on VAF wil eb fine although i run my CAIyear round without problems

2. Ram air is a myth

[LoudNLow]

yeah i got my cone running straight to the vaf

[WhiteDart]

2. Ram air is a myth

And why do you think that? Dozens of fuel injected bikes actually change their fuel mapping to compensate for this. Its there, just not evident below 70. :shrug:

[pgt95]

Bikes also have a smaller profile thus less cushon in front deflecting air... I should however restate: Ram air at near legal speeds (under 85) is a myth unless your car was designed for a race only application and you have wind tunnle dyno sheets to prove it. :shrug:

http://www.snowgoercanada.com/tech_ram_air.shtml
Snow mobile i know but still, at 150 MPH the gain is only 2.7% change in pressure, less than 1% at 75

http://www.vetteguru.com/ramair/
Adressing the often brought up WS6 ram air package

And another for good measure:
http://www.amcgltd.com/archives/002618.html

Rai air may provide cooler air, and make your car faster from a less restirctive intake, just don't beleive your "ramming" more air in.... at speeds below 100 the incoming air isnt traveling fast enough to feed your motor anyways.... for an logistically possible intake that dosent butcher your car that is

[WhiteDart]

lol, that sounds a bit better. I always thought about trying it but to be effective I would probably need large diameter piping sticking out the front (ugly) and it would only work over like 75-80. Extra air means theres gonna have to be some extra fuel too to keep from running lean if enough boost could be created. Plus it wouldnt be the greatest thing when its raining or theres a bunch of snow at the same level as the piping.
Personally I dissconnect my CAI and throw spare filter I have on my VAF when the going gets wet or snowy.

Good links by the way. :tup:

[knb13]

i keep my CAI in all the time- if the snow is high enough to contact the filter, then i shouldn't be out there driving in the first place.

[Level 9]

some peoples filters go lower than others as well tho. but all in all i would take the cai off for the winter. just my .02

[LoudNLow]

i keep my CAI in all the time- if the snow is high enough to contact the filter, then i shouldn't be out there driving in the first place.
Well what if your like me the pgt is your only ride and u gota get to work in that snow?what do you do just call them and say "O im sorry i cant make it cause my Hot Shot is to low?not being a dick but sometimes u cant just "Not go out"

[Frozen Air]

I can feel my cai pull alot harder in the winter. It makes a huge difference. Get a prm and u won't hafta worry about hydrolocking as much. The prm sits a good way above the splashgaurd, and the difference in power is noticeable during the winter ( not so much in the summer).

And why is every1 always fighting abotu ram air? Why doesn't somebody make a ram air, use a boost gauge, and see if the ram air actually pressurizes the intake? that would be the only way i could see if it is helping or not...

[Origin]

prm whats their website

[Frozen Air]

check out corksport's website. They sell it. And theres info here in probetalk if u search about em. You'll see the biggest benefit from starting from the exhaust back. If you use a catback/testpipe/headers ur intake works even better. http://www.corksport.com/main.php3?primNavIndex=0&mainURL=%2Fstore%2Findex.php3%3Fcat%3D227117 thats the site for the intake.

http://www.jeffjeske.com/ click on sugguested upgrade path, gives u a good idea of what order to do things. Or go to the archives and click on the official what to do next post. Great overview of what to do to make ur car faster.

[Origin]

weres the filter on thee PRM version? can u take a pic on urs?

[Frozen Air]

the filter sits at the top ( in the plastic thing that says prm) thats why its much less likely to suck up water. In addition, it doesn't sit as low, yet it still works well. Here's an old picture, about a year ago ( my motor looks alot nicer now =) )

http://public.fotki.com/mikemateja/car_stuff/ i just uploaded 2 pics of my motor back then to show u.

[Origin]

the filter sits at the top ( in the plastic thing that says prm) thats why its much less likely to suck up water. In addition, it doesn't sit as low, yet it still works well. Here's an old picture, about a year ago ( my motor looks alot nicer now =) )

http://public.fotki.com/mikemateja/car_stuff/ i just uploaded 2 pics of my motor back then to show u.

thanx man i appireate it

[pgt95]

If the cone is sealed in the CAI piping you are just as likely to ingest water, if it is not then it isnt a CAI cause that means it is exposedi n some manner and thus sucking air through the engine compartment...

[knb13]

Well what if your like me the pgt is your only ride and u gota get to work in that snow?what do you do just call them and say "O im sorry i cant make it cause my Hot Shot is to low?not being a dick but sometimes u cant just "Not go out"

yeah i totally understand that....but if i must go out, i do pop it off then but put it back on when the roads are clear. I love the gains from the CAI in the winter too much to take it off for the whole time.

[ouch1011]

Just in general, to be safe, if it snows, you should take off the CAI. Not necessarily because it will suck up water or anything, but the snow may pull the filter off the intake (speaking from personal experience) You are not going to harm your engine at all with a filter under the hood, and you shouldn't be driving the car hard enough in the winter weather to need the extra power from the CAI anyway :)

[deyan]

Ram air gives you better throttle response... one of the BIGGEST reasons why F1 cars use it, and of course actually for the ram air effect (but thats because they reach over 200mph). Also at higher speeds there is a lot of air turbulance, especially under the car, so having a ram air scoop allows you to actually have availible air all the time, instead of the filter having to fight with air turbulance under the car for air (CAI).

But yeah, for the winter just stick the filter on the VAF.... its freezing cold anyway.

[SerialShagster]

I had the same CAI on my car for nearly two years and nothing ever went wrong except for human error(my own) when leaving the track I didn't tighten the filter enough...As for the winter, the only downfall I had was that it would take like 25 minutes for my engine to heat up! LOL...never take it off...be smart...don't go driving crazy though puddles and snow drifts and you will have no problem! You are going to be using more gas due to the heater and the CAI gives you excellent gas mileage as well as HP gains...So keep it on!!!! Thas my suggestion but what do I know?...

[knb13]

you shouldn't be driving the car hard enough in the winter weather to need the extra power from the CAI anyway :)

why not? Give the engine enough time to warm up and your good to go....or were you just talking about snow/ice conditions?

[pgtfreak]

It isn't any more dangerous using a CAI in the winter, than it is any other time of the year. But the filter does stay a WHOLE LOT cleaner if you just run it on the VAF for the winter.


Now the the totally off topic part of this thread

As for ram air being beneficial, if it's a scoop or something at the bottom of a CAI, no, that's not any big deal, as it's not a true pressurized induction system. However in a true system, yes, there are positive psi gains to be had.
I raced a guy at the track a couple years ago, running a true (sealed/pressurized) ram air system on his mid-'90s Impala SS (RWD/V8), at 40mph, he logged a 2psi increase through the map sensor. At 80 a 3.5psi increase. At 100mph I forget the actual increase, but it was over 4psi.
And with just that intake, a chip, and mufflers his 4000lb boat was smoking my 14.2 @ 98's with low 13s @ 106+

[pgt95]

It isn't any more dangerous using a CAI in the winter, than it is any other time of the year. But the filter does stay a WHOLE LOT cleaner if you just run it on the VAF for the winter.


Now the the totally off topic part of this thread

As for ram air being beneficial, if it's a scoop or something at the bottom of a CAI, no, that's not any big deal, as it's not a true pressurized induction system. However in a true system, yes, there are positive psi gains to be had.
I raced a guy at the track a couple years ago, running a true (sealed/pressurized) ram air system on his mid-'90s Impala SS (RWD/V8), at 40mph, he logged a 2psi increase through the map sensor. At 80 a 3.5psi increase. At 100mph I forget the actual increase, but it was over 4psi.
And with just that intake, a chip, and mufflers his 4000lb boat was smoking my 14.2 @ 98's with low 13s @ 106+
2 psi increase from what though, the ram air or less restrictive intake? and 2 psi gain from what previous PSI, a 2 psi gain from a vaccume could just be a better intake stream not ram air.

2psi positive pressure might be impressive however, I would really want specifics on the inlet diameter and RPM's the motor was running when it saw a 4psi above ambient gain.
Taken from my links above:
For example, at 150 mph, the pressure gain when air is efficiently brought to rest is 2.75 percent. Because this is a dynamic effect, it is proportional to the square of the air velocity. At a more realizable snowmobile speed of 75 mph, the effect (again with 100 percent efficient conversion of velocity into pressure) will be only one-quarter as great — that is, just under seven-tenths of one percent.
and that 2.7% is a change in pressure not HP, so from 14.7 ambient add 2.7% and you get a whopping 15.1 psi absolute pressure or .4 psi realized gain.
At 350 mph the gain from ram air is almost 15 percent. so if it is a linear relations ship (which it isnt) we could deduce that you might gain 4.2% at 100 MPH, but it is not a linera relatioship so in reality since it will be a squared relation ship that number drops drematically.

The impalla prolly did benifit from the intake i have little doubt, but air box ressonance, a less restrictive air way, and changei n filter material, placement, and style all contirbuted to the gains... thus the ACTUAL ram air effect is still minimal...
Language often plays tricks on us — especially when language is used by product advertisers. "Ram air" sounds much more appealing than "resonant airbox." Nevertheless, it is airbox resonance that actually generates a significant power gain. At snowmobile speeds, (slower then most car speeds) ram air is just words. :shrug:

[ouch1011]

why not? Give the engine enough time to warm up and your good to go....or were you just talking about snow/ice conditions?

I was talking about the fact that you shouldn't be giving it alot of gas in the rain/snow/ice :)

[LoudNLow]

yeah i totally understand that....but if i must go out, i do pop it off then but put it back on when the roads are clear. I love the gains from the CAI in the winter too much to take it off for the whole time.
Yeah i hear ya,Sorry to be a dick just to many people have 4 cars to choose from every morning :lol: