Posted: Aug 08 2006 at 6:13pm | IP Logged

seeing as how i've been unimpressed with some articles i've read on filtration capability, or lack thereof of stock replacement filters from K&N and oiled filters in general, i've been considering a few diff things...first to promote a higher flow of air, i've read of some guys who have modified their intake box by cutting a hole into the bottom to suck more air in, thus by force you will flush more air through the filter as well, granted it won't be as cold because you will be sucking air from the engine compartment, but CAI's for the most part aren't truly "cold" because they are taking it from the engine compartment anyway..and i think we could all agree that the heatshields on a lot of the CAI's are pretty lame anyway...the only way i could see to help keep cooler air coming into the CAI would be to leave the tubes that suck air from wheel well there and thus allow it to funnel air to the CAI. i have wondered about the volant intake because it uses a conical filter element inside a box which protects it from the heat in the engine compartment, but i wonder if it takes the air from the wheel well just like stock air box does....

and one last final wild hair i wondered about was thinking about measuring the airbox in my brother's titan and seeing if there was some way i could purchase one...and finding a way to rig it to stuff into my frontier because it is a lot bigger than the boxes in the fronty....i know it sounds a little ambitious but it might be an interesting way to increase air flow bu talso keep taking it from teh wheel well where the temperature is cooler....one question i had about the TB heater that you were discussing earlier is..after the engine is up to normal operating temp, does it shut off? if you look at www.jegs.com you can also find equipment there such as a CAI tube insulator to help keep the tube cooler, and also a active cooler that cools the tube down to provide a cooler aircharge into your engine...but that seems pretty drastic for non-racing applications to me

that being said due to that article and a research results report from AEM, who had an independent research company test their Dryflow filters, it appears that they flow just as well as any  filters out there and also have higher filtration ratings, this was shown with air pressure drops differences taken before and after the filter in their testing setup....the reason this is interesting to me is that the synthetic filter element is dry and doesn't use oil, and is still completely washable and resuable, i also just discovered that fram builds a CAI, which i didn't know that uses a dry reusable filter as well....which makes me ask who makes the filter, and if they are similar to each other. if anyone is interested in taking a look at either you can go to

www.framboost.com

http://trucks.aempower.com, you can find the PDF file to the research results from SwRI, a renowned research institute on their website, and also links to it in another thread i posted it in under the adding horsepower in modifications section

Posted: Aug 08 2006 at 9:05pm | IP Logged

A TRUE CAI will actually have the filter outside the engine bay.  Otherwise, it's just a HAI.

BUT, your HAI will actually become a CAI when driving down the road.  As the temp under the hood, is the same as ambient temp.  Though you need to maintain a speed of at least 50 mph.