poorcollegeboy

ok... i know that cold air will make the engine pull harder in the low end. and i know that the pop charger lacks low end power b/c it's pulling warm air in from the engine bay. here's the question...

does the cold air intake make the car pull harder ALSO b/c of the long tubes it runs through creating a some kind of effect (ram maybe)or is it merely b/c it is taking in colder/denser air? b/c if it's only b/c of the colder air, could pop charger give the same performance results if cold air was supplied to it? (i've got something up my sleeves .... it's not hooking up my a/c to it or anything like that)

i read that a cai intake lacks the high end b/c there is too much tubing that creates and builds up turbulence at the higher end when more air is needed. something to think about. i'm wondering if a venturi effect will be useless if there are bends in it. (where's that dude that did the fluid dynamics study for the frankencar??? we need him!)

i want the low and high end power (i'm sure all of us do)!!!

DA-MAX

iTrader: (10)

they say that the popcharger is good for high-end and the CAI is good for low and midreange....this has been talked about before but you could make a "hybrid" setup....run a "y-pipe" from the TB, on one end of the Y you have the standard pop charger amd on the other end the piping continues down through the fender(like a standard CAI) then you would need an RPM window switch and some type of electrically activated "valves"...place the valves inline on the Y-pipe on each air-flow path, wire 'em up and BLAMO...CAI is open for low-end and closes when the higher RPM activates the popcharger valve! instant "hybrid" intake...is it easy I don't think so!

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

i believe it's simply the temp. when the weather is warm the stillen intake chokes..but the CAI doesn't choke as much. but when it's freezing cold out both intake will perform the same.

poorcollegeboy

i'm planning on making something like this. i spent most of my day at work looking through catalogs and found parts that i can use for these. no electrical components. purely mechanical and variable (meaning the pop charger valve can range from 0%-100% open... of course at WOT it will be fully open). pics as soon as i'm finished. i'm guessing a week or two. i'm also planning on making something that will bring colder outside air to the intake while car is at stand still or at low velocity.

quick question. what exactly is high end? above a certain rpm/speed/throttle postition? when does the pop charger start to out perform the cai?

Bman

Actually, it's a little of both.

Temperature: The biggest deal that people talk about. Cold air makes more power than hot air, CAI gets it all the time, POP gets it sometimes..... yadda yadda, you know this one.

Fluid Dynamics: A longer intake tract will be better for low-end power (torque), while a shorter intake tract will be better for top-end power (horsepower, but torque/horsepower are mathematically related). The CAI has the effect of increasing the intake tract to a very very long length, which is why (along with the cold air) the CAI is superior for low-mid range power, and some people (4th Gen owners) have complained about high-end power loss. The POP has by comparison a ridiculously short intake tract, which is great for top-end pull, but not optimal for low-end power, especially if it happens to gulp in lots of warm air. Another minor factor between them is high RPM air resistance flowing through all the tubing of a CAI vs. the short and free-flowing POP.

I forget the exact reasons for why this is true, but the Maxima uses this principle too. In VE 5-speed and VG models only (sorry VE auto guys) there is a "power valve" that opens or closes a chamber in the intake manifold to effectively increase the intake runner length for better low-end power. It also shortens it for less flow resistance for high-end power. This is the same principle as above. "Hybrid" intakes such as the Frankencar Intake try to compromise these two as much as possible by adding some tubing length to a POPcharger (between filter and MAF).

All this seems to explain two common opinions floating around about this topic:
1)All the fastest (1/4 mile) cars run popchargers.
2)5-speed cars are more forgiving to running a popcharger.

Whew!

btw, "high-end" refers to high RPM power, "low-end" is low RPM power. Exactly what RPM is high or low is your own opinion. I classify low as idle-2500, mid as 2500-4000, and high as 4000-redline.

poorcollegeboy

nice reply bman. so basically you're saying that if "one" were to supply the pop charger with colder outside air at lower rpms, it will work like a cai?

crazy4maxima

iTrader: (5)

USE ME, aslong as i reap the rewards. I am tired of 4th gen and 5th gen dissing my vg 160 horses... I want some power under my hood, i wanna scream next to them. I can dream, can I....

well how about having a "scoop" type device, pipe that scoops or rams air from out side and directly aimmed to the pop charger.. would it make a difference since it colder air vs pop getting air from warm engine area...we can do this.. let get some ideals and some formula's together..

what are some ways to get all power throught the power band..?

btw how much will it cost to make a custom pop charger from home depot.

what do i need, material...

pipes= what type, how much.. and not from wsp or stillen... home made
filter=k&n what type and how much..
what else do i need

rcrdps

Hey guys,.... do a quick search on ram air. Someone just did it. Had the JWT pop charger with a ram intake. Also for the cheap stuff, do a search for something like DIY intake.

Gene

Bman

Not too sure, it probably depends how you do it. I've seen setups where they put a tube up to the popcharger end so that they can ram in cold air. I've also seen setups with those fully sealed Ractive cone filters with a tube on the end to do the same thing. I think the first way would behave a lot like a regular pop, but the sealed up 2nd one would probably behave like a CAI.

Later this spring/summer I might try something like Str8ridin's "ram" setup with a heatshield to seal off that side of the engine bay a bit better. Not too sure how well I can do this yet though. I've got a JWT pop still sitting around but haven't had time to put it in yet!

Bman

Some 4th Gen guy drilled holes in a 4" electrical box cover with a 3" center hole to make a MAF adapter. His name's Kevlo911. Search for "ace hardware" in the 4th Gen forum.