Benefits of cold air intake
 

OK so i'm new. What are the benefits of having a cold air intake? I have a 97 Blazer LS

how? Better gas mileage? engine tone? Air Flow?

sorry. click the words. they are red because they are a link to a break down of a CAI so you can see pros and cons :icon_doh:

hehe.

Cold air intakes improve throttle response, and draw in cooler air and more air.
It really depends on the vehicle how much of an improvement.
Some can gain 20hp, some a meager 5hp. The Blazer doesn't see much of an improvement(~7hp), but cooler air is better for the engine nonetheless.

When it says increased fuel economy, you won't see any gain because physically you can't gain from it. Sure it might make the engine work a bit less so it saves fuel but also cold air is more dense, so it requires more fuel so that the mixture isn't lean so it the end it evens itself out, you're not gonna gain anything becuase those two attributes cancel each other out.

What is your goal for your blazer? You will not gain much at all from a CAI on one of these vehicles. Yeah yeah, every little bit helps but is it worth the money for MAYBE 5 hp? To me it is not. I ask your goal because I bet you have other plans for it, no? Rims, tires, lift maybe? I know that is my goal with mine so I would rather put that money towards something else that I want. I recently sold a 2000 SS Camaro that had full bolt ons, cam'd, and spray'd. It put down 390 to the wheels n/a. I threw money at that thing so I could buy every possible bolt on performance mod I could. I wanted to make the car as fast as possible with my budget. Was just getting ready to swap the heads for some aftermarket castings but got tired of going through clutches and having transmission problems (damn Fbody's). Also needed a more practical vehicle instead of my Camaro and S10 I had since I now have an 8 month old son.

Anyway, my point is this. Ask yourself what your ultimate goal is for your truck. If you plan to modify the motor (headers, cam, etc.) then sure, get a CAI. If your goal is to maybe lift it and do some nice exterior/interior mods than your money could be spent better on those particular items instead of a CAI. Also, I know CAI's are not THAT expensive but every dollar helps now a days. Good luck with whatever you choose to do though and welcome to the forum.

The PLAN: Spectra CAI, 2" or 3" lift, 31" Tires. I want to be able to have a bit more HP, and be able to go out and have some fun in the mud. I was hoping that i would be getting better gas mileage, but apparently, it wont make that much difference.

If you're going offroad with a CAI make sure you stay away from water.
I blew an engine on a mazda once cause it was pouring rain and I ran through a puddle with a CAI.
I think they might make covers for them though that keep the water out. That would be recommended in your case.

it's called a drycharger and the less water resistant one for dusty/desert-y places is called a precharger

Now, this Drycharger and precharger, are the completely different CAI Kits, or are the "socks" or sleeves to cover them up with?

and does it mean i cant go in the mud? like relatively deep mud (like 8-10")

dry and pre chargers are socks that secure OVER the filter. any cone type filter, but it's made by K&N so use their size to determin the proper sock.

as for the mud, you can go through mud all day long. also, as stated here (i believe) water isn't really and issue unless you submerge the filter. either way one of those socks will help with splashes and quick dunks.

as for the mud, knock yourself out :icon_teeth:

For whatever reason my truck doesn't follow your logic, I dropped a noticeable amount of MPG's when I swapped back to my stock airbox for the winter... I drove more economically with the airbox after as well.

a CAI tends to work best along with an exhaust system (actual mandrel-bent catback is better than just a muffler replacement) and a PCM tune.

I would perform a search on both topics and decide the route you want to go.

how can they draw in cooler air from on top of the engine? while our stock air box pulls it from behind the headlight as cool air is rushing in?

unless done properly, theyre warm air intakes imo. not even close to being worth the $300 they ask for them. I see it being less restrictive as the only upside, which is hardly worth what they ask.

you probably dropped MPG from the cold, winter air, and your fuel system trying to compensate for it. our intakes do have air temperature sensors.

Calling them cold air intakes is a misnomer. I've never understood why people started doing that. The term makes me stabby :icon_no:

Swapped them out in the fall, it was 10 Celcius that week. Filled up just before and was running averaging 16.2L/100km, the next tank was around 18L/100km, temperatures remaining around the same average during those 2 weeks. I don't want to talk about my MPG's in these freezing temps right now...:icon_couchhide:

I also ran the stock airbox during the summer for a couple of weeks... same result. The back story here is: I purchased my truck used from the dealer with the K&N intake installed, it was understood that I'd be given a stock airbox with the truck. After fighting like an SOB to get that intake I decided it would be best to make sure if actually fit. Naturally I installed it and got lazy and just left it in. My MPG's dropped in this case as well, nor was I imagining it, I drove the same way with and without. There was a difference in MPG's and in power/sound, power wise was only at the top of the RPM range, which is typical of an aftermarket intake, especially the LS based engines that only start making power upwards of 3000RPM.

dont our computers eventually "learn" themselves and adjust fuel trim as needed? so maybe you didnt give it enough time to adjust itself back?

not that i dont believe you, just for argueative purposes lol

IMO it should have corrected itself somewhere within the 3 tanks of gas I burned in those 2-3 weeks lol.

you answer your own question. you have to use a CAI correctly. you have to isolate your filter (which sits in almost the same spot behind the headlight anyway) from the engine. this can be done as easily as installing your own piece of sheet metal.

as per the link i gave early on, what is being called a CAI more often than not now is nothing more than an exposed cone filter. unless you add the heat sheild which acts as a directional air box, you are sucking hot air. also in the link given is the explaination of how a CAI works in theory:

Increasing the diameter of the air intake, reducing airflow velocity and pumping losses.
Smoothing the interior of the intake to reduce air resistance.
Providing a more direct route to the air intake by eliminating muffling devices.
Shortening the length of the intake.
Using a less restrictive air filter, usually trading filtering quality for increased airflow capacity.

at the end of the day if you are looking at a $300 cai you might be aiming a bit too high. unless you are hung up on a name, a whole kit can be had for like $50, then get a replacement filter (k&n, spectre, etc) by preference for like $30 more. take the time to build your heat shield and AT MOST you are out $100 even after buying a pair of K&N stickers to slap on it...

photographic evidence of what i'm talking about
demensions found in: "DIY build a heat shield" on the forum

Nice job on that heat shield, man!

thanks :D i can't take much credit. it was originally posted HERE by TrippleBlackBlazer. I used Ugly_Monkey's reworking of the numbers, then customized to my liking.

[/thread] IMO :icon_angel:

^^^ what ?

well, as we all know hot air rises so im still not sold. a cold air intake would be taking air from outside the engine compartment imo. either ram air (stock) or else below under the engine like the tuners do.

and still, are you going to notice the claimed 5hp and 1mpg? for the 1-300 bucks?

you can get a running 5.7 for around that :p

then dont get one :icon_shrug:

:icon_teeth:

You can get someone to custom Fab. a eprom chip for your ECU and adjust the air/ fuel ratios adding either horse or mpg and adjust the fuel/air ratios for various temperatures as well. Plus a conversion completion will cost 8 times that amount of a cold air intake.

Huh? There is no "chip" for his Blazer's PCM. You can send the PCM off to PCMforless and get it tuned for $175. Cheaper and yields more gains than a CAI.

Nice thread bump BTW. :icon_wink:

None-The engine compartment is hotter than the normal intake. For less restricted air flow get a K&N replacement filter.

Lol not my intent to bump, without getting way off topic... I was going to rip my ECU,pcm, apart out of one of my Blazers and see but from what i have read and understand about the engine computers is they contain a eprom chip :icon_google: that stores values for all the information available and based on the information the sensors are giving and produces a pacific result. Its static information and can not be altered. The only way to change it is to flash it (which you risk destroying the ecu,pcm) or to take the ECU,pcm apart replacing the chip(eprom) inside the ecu,pcm. The information stored on there is in Hex and if you buy a programmer and emulator you can change the values indefinitely without a set limit. The hardest part is knowing Hexadecimal language and figuring out the values in the table. Would like to know the different systems between 95 and 01. but not relevant to this thread. anyone tried a forced air intake?

If you are working with an OBD2 PCM, you will destroy it if you attempt to take it apart. It can be reprogrammed with the proper software (HP Tuners, EFI Live, etc) which is what tuner shops use which does not require any disassembly of the PCM.

The older ECUs used in the TBI motors had a removable EPROM chip, but that went away with the advent of flashable (rewritable) chips.

Why called a CAI
 

Does using a CAI lower the IAT cause Im using a Spectre CAI and the IAT sensor was reading bout 10 degrees higher than OAT while driving on freeway @ 70mph. Is this normal when using a CAI or is OEM airbox create warmer than 10 degrees in this case. Feel like IAT should be close to OAT

Do cold air intakes really work by cooler air charge?

I've got a question for ya, the PO of my blazer put a cone specter filter on the end of the stock intake tube. what do you think I should do? Buy an aftermarket tube or go to a junkyard and get a stock airbox.

How is a CAI beneficiary? What does it really do?