You probably paid a lot of money for nothing other than bling and noise.. The vehicle already had a more-than-adequate CAI straight from the factory. Several other threads over the years on this hype.

 

So when my Lyriq finally arrives, I shouldn't get a CAI installed?

 

Hmmm I hope you are not right

Anyone else buy this thing?

 

A few years ago Jay Leno had one of the lead Mustang engineers on his show and asked him whether cold air intakes were worthwhile. The engineer said no, these days the computer is tuned for optimal efficiency and the only way to improve performance is with a new tune. If the computer senses a different air flow it will try to offset it.

If you are installing a supercharger then yes it is worth it but that will also come with a new tune. I have been tempted to put a Magnuson into my truck but have not pulled the trigger. Trying to figure out how to spend $8k on my truck and keep the wife happy even though I just gave her some diamonds worth about that much for her 50th. lol

 

A high-priced filter dos not flow any better than a clean stock OEM filter

While on Earth, we do not have a problem running out of airmass for an N/A engine
GM calls an intake manifold an "Air Reserve"

Even if we look at a 427 CI engine like on a C6 Z06 and look at the PCM calibration, we find
that even hitting the Rev limiter at 7,200 RPMs
A cylinder volume is ONLY 1.32 grams (0.04656163 of 1 ounce) and that is the total of air and gas combined

It is not about air volume and why the other bogus BS "porting" a MAF or TB does nothing other than could reduce performance

What is important is the airmass quality and that is what a true Cold Air Intake is about
as a cold charge of cylinder creates the best firing of if

If taking x amount of volume, and the airmass is colder than if it has more molecules per volume and that is what a good volume is

Take the same volume of air but get it hotter and the mass expands and when it does, there are fewer molecules in the cylinder and is a crappy charge so produces less engine output

Problem is every schmuck selling CAIs places it high in engine bay, and we all know which direction heat goes
So they got some big bucks BS that is sucking in the hottest air in engine bay
If looking at a real CAI as used with the Corvette
There are outside air scoops on both rear quarter panels
The filer box is isolated from the engine and has 2 flows of airmass to filter area and then goes directly into the throttlebody

Almost all 3rd party filters and so-called CAI at best change the sound of the airflow and to the waxers,
they claim that sound is horsepower gains

Really do what some of us do and build your OWN CAI and assure coolest outside air is being taken in

So let's hear from those that claims an air filter change gains 30 HP and another 30 by scratching up the front side of a throttlebody !

If that was true, GM would that and get major gains from an air cleaner

 

As Baretta used to say at the end of the police detective show:

"....... and that's the name of that tune !!!"

Correct tuning and some performance gains can be done but it takes time, experience, and testing. It's very easy to make some "upgrade" and later discover that you have actually done a downgrade. The ONLY ways to prove performance gains is with before and after dyno pulls and before and after timeslips from the track at the Friday Evening Test & Tune runs. Not easy or cheap - more power costs money, make no mistake.

PCM calibration adjustments over time ? For a dynamic PCM it's entirely possible that it will alter itself in some negative fashion in response to fuel/air mixture changes caused by untested airflow alterations. A/F testing and dyno runs are the only way to verify positive progress. Advertising hype won't do it.

 

For a vehicle with no fresh air engine intake you need an aftermarket flux capacitor.

 

It depends which one you get. As ZR pointed out, a true cai does not pull air from anywhere near the engine bay but truly outside. I talked to a guy who does alot of GM truck tuning and he suggested a kit from a place called Cold Air Inductions... I did notice their airbox is a fully sealed design too.... I might try it out and let you guys know

The K&N made it very loud if you floor it. Sounds very nice lol but otherwise I can't tell a difference. Makes me wonder about some of these videos on YouTube where they are like "omg I can feel the power now!" Like this guy smh...

 

If adding one makes you happy then do it!

As far as YouTube, it's all about getting views...

 

As is common in many Amazon and other sellers' "product reviews" there are folks who are well paid to write or produce good reviews of various products.

 

If someone wants to buy some high dollar aircleaner and CAI, to know if it really works and be able to judge keeping it or returning it as BS mod

Use an OBD scanner and record the Intake Air Temps (IAT)
In Older N/A engines, the IAT sensor is mounted between the aircleaner and the TB
Newer N/A engines IAT is built into the MAF
Engines that have boost from the nameplate have a second ITA sensor in the intake manifold as boost heats air up
and PCM also uses that IAT information

To make it simple, here I tested a vehicle, I pre-made a CAI so that I could do back to back tests within less than 1 hour, so the weather temp's about the same

First test is with some high-priced CAI & filter, weather was in low 70 F degrees
Yet recording scanner data over different engine conditions (using the "Fuel Trim Cells)
We see even with that CAI temps running 100-120 F degs, far higher than the weather temp
as the CAI is crap design and sucking in hotter engine bay temps
Engine cannot make even stock HP with that cylinder charge

Now I changed to my CAI, about 30 minutes after above test
Quickly see the IATs are now close to what the weather is, even at idle and WOT

Looking how the engine performed and min/max IAT, we see the temps are close to the weather and engine performance was good with the colder cylinder charge
We see engine got to 101 KPA of MAP, MAF output close to 11,000 Hz

IF the CAI you install does not show much better temps than the stock IAT numbers, then it is not a real CAI.

IF a CAI cannot be done as to engine bay to outside than install a Water/Methanol kit
which can lower aircharge to cylinders 30–40 F degrees lower and make a good cold charge to cylinders for performance gains

 

Another way is to monitor IAT in real time using one of the OBD plug-in "gauges" - like either ScanGauge-II or UltraGauge. You can monitor any 4 of over a dozen "gauges" where supported by the car's OBD bus.

In the STS and the Explorer I constantly monitor - at the same time - IAT (intake air temp), MAP (manifold absolute pressure), ECT (engine coolant temp) and IGN (ignition advance).

Be advised that due to unavoidable heat soak in slow conditions IAT will rise in town and it will take quite a while to get it down once on the open road. Practically NO air enters the engine at idle and the throttle is open only 7% to 10% at highway cruise speeds so it takes a while to pull that duct temp down to within 10 degrees or so of ambient.

scangauge-ii display images - Google Search

www.google.com

 

Ok so I do have HPTuners for my vette so maybe I should do a datalog mainly logging the IAT with the oem, k&n and cold air inductions kit eh?? Hmmm...

 

Sure, you could add some PIDs that also show what the MAF reports with stock and big bucks 3rd party aircleaner

Can tell after I tuned this Z06 had boost by the MAP values

TPS	CELL	TIMING	IAT	MAF	MAP	ECT	DELTQ	MAFRQ	MAFgrms	grmcyc	MapKpa	CFM
100	15	11	133	48	35	214	778	9708	365.73	1.249	118	393
100	15	11	133	48	35	214	778	9708	365.73	1.249	118	393
100	15	11	138	55	35	214	778	9708	414.19	1.415	118	393
100	15	10	138	55	35	214	778	9708	414.19	1.305	118	426
100	15	10	138	55	35	214	778	9708	414.19	1.305	118	426
100	15	10	138	55	35	214	778	9708	414.19	1.305	118	426
100	15	10	138	55	35	214	778	9708	414.19	1.305	118	426
100	15	10	138	55	35	214	778	9708	414.19	1.305	118	426
100	15	10	138	55	35	214	778	9708	414.19	1.305	118	426
36	10	23	142	15	14	214	777	9411	111.6	0.388	48	385
100	10	23	142	15	14	214	777	9411	111.6	0.388	48	385
100	10	23	142	50	14	214	777	9411	381	1.326	48	385
100	15	10	142	50	35	214	777	9411	381	1.240	118	412
100	15	10	142	50	35	214	777	9411	381	1.240	118	412
100	15	10	142	50	35	214	777	9411	381	1.240	118	412
100	15	10	142	50	35	214	777	9411	381	1.240	118	412
100	15	10	142	50	35	214	777	9411	381	1.240	118	412
100	15	10	142	50	35	214	777	9411	381	1.240	118	412
100	15	10	142	50	35	214	777	9411	381	1.240	118	412
33	10	26	131	11	12	214	761	9411	86.41	0.313	40	370
100	10	26	131	11	12	214	761	9411	86.41	0.313	40	370
100	10	26	133	48	12	214	761	9411	365.73	1.325	40	370
100	15	11	133	48	35	214	761	9411	365.73	1.249	118	393
100	15	11	133	48	35	214	761	9411	365.73	1.249	118	393
100	15	11	133	48	35	214	761	9411	365.73	1.249	118	393
100	15	11	133	48	35	214	761	9411	365.73	1.249	118	393
100	15	11	133	48	35	214	761	9411	365.73	1.249	118	393
100	15	11	133	48	35	214	761	9411	365.73	1.249	118	393
100	15	11	133	48	35	214	761	9411	365.73	1.249	118	393
35	10	25	127	13	14	216	758	9302	99.32	0.364	46	366
100	10	25	127	13	14	216	758	9302	99.32	0.364	46	366
100	10	25	131	47	14	216	758	9302	353.88	1.298	46	366
100	15	10	131	47	35	216	758	9302	353.88	1.214	118	391
100	15	10	131	47	35	216	758	9302	353.88	1.214	118	391
100	15	10	131	47	35	216	758	9302	353.88	1.214	118	391
100	15	10	131	47	35	216	758	9302	353.88	1.214	118	391
100	15	10	131	47	35	216	758	9302	353.88	1.214	118	391

 

Did K&N provide a dyno sheet or advertised HP increase for this kit? That's something that used to be done, at least, but I'm not sure if they still do it.