99 Ram Air Intake Temp Study

[ASH]

Another run with stock intake tube insulated and filter box insulated. Time/Dist……Outside(F)…...Intake(F)……..Filter Box(F)………….…Notes Start…………………33……………..….. 32…………..…….32 2 min………………. 33………………....32...……………..33.. ..Idling, warmup 0.5 mile…………….32………………....32…. .……….....33 2.4 mile…………….32....……………..32…†¦â€¦â€¦.......33 4.7 mile…………….34...……………….32…⠀¦â€¦â€¦.......34 6.4 mile…………….33…………..…....33…†¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦...35……..Top of mountain …………………………......…………†¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.........40………Highest temp after mountain, coasting down other side 8.5 mile.............32................32.......... ....40 10 mile..............33................33......... .....39 .......................34................34.. ............42.........Highest temp @ 55mph 14 mi................34................37........ .....48..........In town, 20 mph After this point, stopped in parking lot and let truck idle 30 sec..............35................37........ ......52 1 min................35................37........ ......58 1.5 min.............35................38.......... ....61 2 min................35................41........ ......65 2.5 min.............35.................42.......... ...68 Shut truck off and checked data later. 50 min...............36................56........... ...109 Slight improvement over yesterday's test while moving, even better when stopped and idling. I will be posting a picture of the setup in my gallery. Since the uninsulated stock and K&N style setup had similiar results, I'm not going to run an insulated K&N style setup. One more test, then I want to provide a summary of all the tests showing the difference in temperature.

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[ASH]

Final run with only the stock intake tube insulated. I removed the insulation from the filter box.

Time/Dist……Outside(F)…...Intake(F)……..Filter Box(F)………….…Notes
Start…………………32……………..….. 37…………..…….37....Right side of truck exposed to sun
2 min………………. 33………………....37...……………..37.. ..Idling, warmup
0.5 mile…………….32………………....37…. .……….....35
2.4 mile…………….33....……………..35…†¦â€¦â€¦.......34
4.7 mile…………….33...……………….35…⠀¦â€¦â€¦.......36
6.4 mile…………….33…………..…....35…†¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦...39……..Top of mountain
…………………………......…………†¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.........43………Highest temp after mountain, coasting down other side
8.5 mile.............33................35.......... ....41
10 mile..............33................35......... .....41
.......................35................34.. ............42.........Highest temp @ 55mph
14 mi................35................37........ .....49..........In town, 20 mph
After this point, stopped in parking lot and let truck idle
30 sec..............36................37........ ......56
1 min................37................37........ ......60
1.5 min.............37................37.......... ....64
2 min................37................37........ ......68
2.5 min.............38.................37.......... ...71
Shut truck off and checked data later.
40 min...............40................60........... ...126

Results are very close to the run with the tube and intake insulated. Even when stopped the temperature was only a few degrees higher. I was surprised by this, I thought wrapping the air filter box would give better results.

Note though, the material I used to wrap the intake tube probably had a much higher insulating value than the material I used to wrap the filter box and the corrugated tubing. The temperatures for the test on 3/15/06 may have been a little lower if I had used the better insulating material. But don't forget to look at the temperature measured at the inlet of the pipe. The air being pulled in from the engine compartment starts out warmer.

So a quick summary, insulate your intake tubes, especially where the tube crosses the exhaust manifold. It is better to pull air from outside of the engine compartment, either from stock location or from the front. Again, I was only looking at temperatures. I did this test so I can get started on building my own CAI. It's been interesting and I hope informative. If I can figure out how to get a spreadsheet inserted into the post, I will give a summary of all the tests in a neat table format.

[Chopper1]

Excellent job!!! I'm sure everyone was interested in the comparisons. By the way, "you have entirely to much time on your hands"

[ASH]

Thanks for the reply. I saw the post was getting a fair amount of views, just not a lot of comments. Yeah, one night my six year old daughter made up a song about me working on my vehicles. It was funny, but kind of sad because I realized I wasn't spending much time with my girls and my wife, which is important to me.