Cold air intake- why wouldn't this work?
 

Why couldn't you rerout one of your a/c ducts into the air filter for a true CAI? In a race situation, I know you would ideally have your AC off, but for everyday use, wouldn't this help out? If you have your A/C running anyhow.......you know what I mean?

Re: Cold air intake- why wouldn't this work?
 

Interesting thought, but I wonder how much benefit there would really be since (like where you are) I find the A/C unit marginal at best in temps around here. I would not want to deprive myself of a vent and also wonder in relative terms how much volume of air would really come out of a vent compared to the voume of air normally sucked in the intake.

hmmm....

Re: Re: Cold air intake- why wouldn't this work?
 

I'm thinking about using the passenger side middle vent......

This has been discussed several times before. From what i gathered the benefits are marginal at best.

For one thing, it takes HP to get that compressor going. In the event that you do get to cool down the air in the intake tract it will most probably be just by a degree or two. In short, you're probably just equalizing the effect.

However, *maybe* in terms of daily traffic where you're caught up mostly at a stop. The re-routed cooler air might be good enough to prevent a lot of heat soak in the intake tract.

It's not likely to work - remember that you will be losing HP to the actual cooling of the air, and to inefficiencies (friction in bearings, heat leaking through A/C lines, etc). It's not likely that you would gain enough power from the dense air to overcome the loss of power from the compressor and inefficiencies.

Maybe you'd be better off running your intake through a box with a bag of ice cubes? :D

But I'm in Arizona. I have the AC on high at all times, so the compressor is always running regardless. If I have it on, I might as well just rerout a vent to the filter.....

I know the heat in Arizona can be a lot worse than in the Northeast. However, when I want maximum acceleration on a hot day with A/C on, I set the fan to recirculate and then turn off the compressor. It takes a few minutes for the air in the car to heat up, and only a few seconds to accelerate in the max. I turn the compressor back on when I get to cruising speed. Most of the time I don't bother though, 190 HP does pretty well.

Actually though, it wouldn't work for another reason. Just when you want the cold air most, it won't be there. B/c when you floor the pedal, it shuts the compressor off and just spits out hot air. I guess it would help prevent heat soak if you drive constantly with the AC on, but I don't know if it would be worth it for the amoutn of work involved...