Cold Air Vs. Short Ram

[Kahij]

Proud new owner of a 3.8 Genesis Coupe, and am looking at installing a new air intake system. But am trying to decide if I should go with a cold air intake or a short ram intake? Any suggestions? Also will an aftermarket intake void my warranty?

 

[Soledad]

Personally I like a true cold air intake (i.e. outside ambient air temp intake). A short ram intake in an engine bay that has very little air movement under the hood will suck in a lot of hot air. Cold air makes more power so an SRI could make less HP then a true CAI. However, if there is a lot of air movement under the hood then an SRI could make almost as much HP as a CAI.

For our 3.8's I'm waiting for someone (cp-e hopefully) to create a CAI that will utilize the fresh air duct at the front of the car as well as use a cone filter and pull in air from just in front of the headlight.

 

[Kahij]

My main concern with a cai is having to cut the body? Do all Cai's require to cut into the wheel well?

 

[Soledad]

No I don't believe so. Check out Injen's CAI. It goes into the wheel well but I don't believe there is any cutting involved. They just make use of the hole that is already there. But, I hear it is kind of hard to install and because of the location and shape of our OEM washer bottle it has to be replaced, however Injen does include it in their CAI kit.

 

[ECG Tuning]

Soledad is correct about Injen's cold air intake. That is the cold air intake that we recommend here at ECG Tuning, because it is a very straight forward installation and their cold air intake is shown to produce the best horsepower and torque gains compared to other manufacturers.

A cold air intake will give you more horsepower, because it allows your engine to take in colder air, which the idea is that colder air equals more horsepower. However the downfall to this is that the air has a longer route to travel and sometimes can reduce your throttle response. That is where the short ram intake comes into play. Short ram intakes allow your engine to quickly take in air right when it needs it, and this sometimes is able to improve throttle response.

Since your car is naturally aspirated I would suggest a cold air intake, because you do not have a turbo that will be needing air quickly. With the large 3.8L V6 you wont see a throttle response lag at all with the cold air intake. Plus you will be able to generate more horsepower for your 3.8L with the cold air intake.

 

[mike.brown]

Cold Air Intake(CAI) is the best option as it draws air from outside and gives you a little better performance as compared to short intake. But you will have to maintain a CAI in case you are driving in areas where there is lot of dust or if your drive in water more that 2 feet deep regularly. I think you would drive rarely through 2 feet deep water so CAI should be fine for you.

 

[maxmar04]

does anyone know who makes a CAI for the v6 sedan?

 

[CodyK]

Cold air is always better performance wise. Call the company that makes the intake or the dealership and they should be able to tell you if it will void the warranty..... worse case you just put the stock intake back on the car if something happened.

 

[JTRFLASH]

Cold is the way to go.

For every 11 degree F drop in temperature you gain 1% in HP. No air should be picked up under the hood where it can injest hot air. Ambient is the best you can do. I have tested it, within 30 seconds of forward motion ambient temperature is reached at the scoop inlet.

In fact where the air scoop is placed it has the potential of a RAM air affect, but for that to happen you have to be +100 MPH.