Ok so I have been debating whether to use a CAI or SRI. People say that CAI's draw in "cooler" air from the outside which means more HP. Other people say that while the car is in motion air will go into the engine bay and the SRI will still get cool air. I have never seen a test showing that this is true. So I thought I would do this test myself. I am going to be measuring the air temps while the car is in motion with one of my alarm clocks. Yes my alarm clock. The alarm clock runs on batteries and came with a remote temperature sensor. (pictured below)
The remote has a 6ft wire and at the end of the wire is a sensor that measures the temp. The remote then sends the temp to my alarm clock. To check the accuracy I placed the remote on a shelf and placed the sensor next to our thermostat for an hour. In the pictures below you can see that the remote is pretty accurate, The thermostat read 70 deg and the remote read 69.8 deg. I then went back to my room and checked the clock and it showed 69.8 deg.
I'm going to do the test in the afternoon on Friday when I go to my brothers house in Indio. I will only do the test on the freeway since there will always be constant air. According to mapquest the freeway mileage is 77.2 miles. So for 38.6 miles I will measure the temp of where the CAI filter will be and for the other 38.6 miles I will move the sensor and measure the air temp where the SRI would be. I will take 4 measurements for each area. 1 every 9.65 miles, then get the avg temp. To keep the sensor from moving I will wrap the wire around a piece of wire hanger and then secure the wire hanger to my SRI and place the sensor in the area to be measured. Of course there are better and more accurate ways to test the temps but I can't test those ways. This is just to give an idea if there are differences of the temps of were the filters are while the car is in motion. Now I just have to decide where to place the sensor to measure the temp for the area of the SRI filter so please vote above. I will place the sensor in the area with the most votes.
If you have any suggestions please post them and I will see what I can do.
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Lance
98 Base 5spd custom pearl white
Tucker (Red vs Blue )"Women are like Voltron. The more you could hookup the better it gets."
Last edited by BigPolloLM : 02-02-2006 at 02:01 AM.
All of the intake piping that is currently in front of the stock filter is directing all of the airflow from in front of the fender. I think to test virtual temps with a short ram would mean you might want to somehow put the sensor infront of the filter inside the airbox. I don't think much air gets to a short ram through the front fascia because the filter is hidden behind the battery.
A better test might be to actually gut all of the intake piping that is connected before the filter. You can leave the intake box with the filter and the piping to the intake manifold. Then mount the sensor around the intake box's opening. Then to test for the CAI temp, mount it inside the hole where the filter would go.
I am also interested in the results. I do not think there will be very much of a difference between the two temperatures becuase the stock intake is already placed a good distance from the engine heat.
The stock intake tubing is already out and I used the SRI of off my 4th gen that I used to have. I did this so I can move the sensor around more freely and not have the bulky stock tubing get in the way. When I test the the temps for the CAI. The temp sensor is going to be placed between the bumper and the plastic fender liner. Which is where the CAI filter would be.
__________________
Lance
98 Base 5spd custom pearl white
Tucker (Red vs Blue )"Women are like Voltron. The more you could hookup the better it gets."
I dont know about you guys but due to the cramping and crowding under the hood (im assuming), not much air gets to flow through even when in motion. It runs hotter than hell fire under the hood of h series preludes. I say CAI... Theyre all dyno proven to get better results anyway
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base models are lighter, faster, better -"vtecmobiles anonymous"
I dont know about you guys but due to the cramping and crowding under the hood (im assuming), not much air gets to flow through even when in motion. It runs hotter than hell fire under the hood of h series preludes. I say CAI... Theyre all dyno proven to get better results anyway
Dyno airflow =/ real life airflow. Hence the interest in this test.
Personally, I'm not all that interested in air temps at various filter locations. All I (and your engine) care about is the temp once it reaches the manifold . . . If you look around here, you should find some comparisons of various intake setups and how they impact IAT sensor readings.
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Once you don't have something you've never needed before, it turns out you don't not need it.
Dyno airflow =/ real life airflow. Hence the interest in this test.
Personally, I'm not all that interested in air temps at various filter locations. All I (and your engine) care about is the temp once it reaches the manifold . . . If you look around here, you should find some comparisons of various intake setups and how they impact IAT sensor readings.
I know that the only thing that matters is the temp of the air that the motor actually gets. The temp of the air probably changes inside the intake tube beacause of the engine heat. If I could test it that way then I would, but I need a CAI extension for my SRI to measure both. Right now I'm only interested in finding out if the area where the CAI draws in air is actually cooler than where the SRI draws in air. All while the car is in motion. I doesn't look like the SRI would get much airflow but I may be wrong, and it doesn't look like the CAI would get much airflow either. I mean in front of the filter is the bumper. Behind and below the filter is the fender liner. To the left, right, and above are the frame, bumper, and fender. Yeah it sits farther away and is blocked off from the engine but if you think about it so is the SRI. Later on I may buy the extension and place the sensor inside the intake tubing, closer to the throtlebody, and measure the temps for the SRI and CAI.
__________________
Lance
98 Base 5spd custom pearl white
Tucker (Red vs Blue )"Women are like Voltron. The more you could hookup the better it gets."
Last edited by BigPolloLM : 02-03-2006 at 11:45 AM.
Just use an OBD2 scan-tool & log the IAT sensor readings.
Ah ok. You can find this out using engine management programs. I've never looked into those since I've never thought been interested in them. Also I don't spend much time here so I miss alot threads. I just did a quick search for IAT and alot of things came up. When I have more time I'll look through them. Thank you for showing me something new
I'm still going to take the test since its already set up. I have to get ready to leave.
__________________
Lance
98 Base 5spd custom pearl white
Tucker (Red vs Blue )"Women are like Voltron. The more you could hookup the better it gets."
Ok I got to my brothers house yesterday but I had to retest the sensor again just to make sure that it was still working right. I think the last CAI area temp reading on the sensor may have been wrong but I'm not sure. To make sure that the sensor was reading right before I left to my brothers house. I drove to the bank and got the temp reading from their sign. It read that the temp was 88 deg outside and my sensor was reading the same. While driving around the streets in very light traffic the semp would keep reading 87.X and 88.X. When I was caught at the stoplight for a good while the sensor read 95.X.
I got on the freeway and got stuck in traffic twice and was only driving at 45mph. But when I took the readings I was driving at 70-75mph. The readings of the temps of the CAI area were 87.6, 82.2, 75.5, and 70. When I took the last reading for the CAI the temps were still fluctuating between 70.x and 71.x. When I pulled off of the freeway the temp stayed stuck at 70. I'm saying that the last reading was accurate because the temps were still fluctuating while driving. So the avg temp reading for the CAI area was 78.825.
I moved the sensor to the engine bay and placed it between the filter and the battery. I then took out the batteries from my remote sensor to reset it. Right away the underhood temp read 111.x-115.x. I got on the freeway and to my surprise the temps dropped to around 90.x in less then a minute. As with the CAI area readings, all were done while driving 70-75mph. The readings for the underhood temps were 80.6, 82.6, 84.8, and 83.5. So the avg temp reading for underhood was 82.875. When i got off of the freeway and hit a stop sign the temps would jump up to 110.x to 115.x. Then I would drive a block and the temps would be in the high 80's and low 90's. I know these temps were accuarate because when I got to my brothers house I placed my sensor by the thermostat and the readings were the same.
After doing this test and reading Daemione's psot on this thread think I'm gonna stay with my SRI. I think the airflow is alot better under the hood than people think. According to my readings the temps were lower in the CAI area but it took longer for it to get that low. The underhood temps didn't get as low as the CAI temps but they got lower alot quicker. But remember all that matters si the temp of the air that gets in the motor as was posted earlier.
Last edited by BigPolloLM : 02-04-2006 at 03:03 PM.
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