Air intakes for 4-bbl style throttle bodies...

[defiance]

I've got one of the traditional circle-style air cleaners on my car right now, but I was goofing around and stumbled on this:

http://www.auto-nomics.com/cgi-bin/show ... part=11000
plus
http://www.auto-nomics.com/cgi-bin/show ... =10247-003
plus
http://www.auto-nomics.com/cgi-bin/show ... 0221-000-A

Which would allow me to run my intake down to the underside of the front of my car, getting much cooler air... Cold air intake, basically... But I wanted to get some opinions...

1) does it really make much difference? I mean, the air above my engine is honestly VERY hot; 140 or so probably. 440s generate some HEAT! So taking in air 40-50 degrees cooler sounds like it would be a no brainer. But then the system routes the air through the engine compartment for quite a way anyway, so I know it's gotta pick up a good bit of heat there. Is there enough of a difference in temps to bother with?

2) If so, great, I'll go for it! But can I improve upon it? For example, would insulating the intake hose help quite a bit, and if so, can it be done in a way that doesn't actually looks like crap-on-a-stick?

3) Finally, I wanted to look around a bit and see what other options there were for the same thing, but I couldn't find ANYTHING else. I like auto-nomics, so I'd probably end up getting the stuff there anyway... but I'd like to see what else there is. Does anybody else sell a setup like that to bolt onto 4-bbl carbs?

Thanks!

[Matt Cramer]

How about a factory-style dual snorkel air cleaner? Old school cold air intake!

ABS plastic pipe might be a bit better insulator. It'll also flow better than segmented hose. If you must find heavily insulated hose, you could order it from McMaster-Carr, but I doubt it's worth it.

[Jack]

I'm building my FA intake out of 2.5 inch exhaust pipe and rubber elbows. The is for a 3.5 liter V8. In time, I'll insulate the pipe with a layer of Carbon Fiber (so it'll look faster) or just paint, inside and out. This will help a great deal. Remember that most of those commercial cold air induction systems use uninsulated metal pipes from the filter to the engine too.

The air is flowing through at a decent pace, so you will still have a lower temperature into your engine.

Stay away from segmented flex hose if you can, or just use it for now and work up a better system later on.

Jack

[defiance]

Hm... Ok, I think I'm going to go with PVC, then. Should insulate a good bit naturally, I'll paint inside and wrap in some insulating tape I found recently, then paint the outside of that. I'm sure there's something I could wrap around the outside of the insulation to make it look better.

Of course, since my oil pump just died, this suddenly finds itself low priority... but since the oil pump is special order, I may end up working on this stuff while I wait.

[Matt Cramer]

PVC, from what I've heard, does not have quite enough heat tollerance for prolonged use under the hood. I'd recommend ABS plastic instead.

[defiance]

Since I just finished doing it with PVC, I hope you're wrong

My oil pump is special order so I had time to work on the plumbing today

Basically it's just PVC wrapped in insulation, then wrapped again with duct tape. Still trying to think of a good way to make it look better, but function first, then appearance

I just ordered the actual intake piece, I'll give thoughts later... But I expect this should give me a good 40*+ air temp drop. Plus, my air temp sensor is no longer mounted in metal, and is entirely insulated from engine heat, so it should also be a LOT more accurate (less heat soak)

I dunno, though, since it's just an intake tube, and it's already being insulated, I can't see it taking more than 150* or so... Surely it would be OK with that? I mean, don't attics in Phoenix get that hot in August??

[defiance]

Oh, forgot: better pic of the air temp sensor