well, the one i listed above actually draws air in from the original hole where the plastic tube popped in, and it also has a small little cut-out in the bottom corner for air to get into (plan on modifying it to make it a CA/RAM intake) other than that, the heatshield takes care of the heat issue. with the seals that go around the top, its not really drawing in any hot air from the engine. plus the metal tube is also a lot more heat reflective than plastic(stock) so you dont get hot air thats heated by the headers going into the engine.

plus what helms said. lol (he posted before i was done typing.)

 

dontcha hate that, lol

 

HMMMM...wrong !!! metal is not heat reflective , metal will absorb heat alot more then plastic , thats why alot of OEM air boxes use plastic and any Good CAI use plastic with a metal sheild , why a metal sheild cause it absorbs heat...
I had K&N , airaid , round filter on my dodge ram and really could not tell the difference.

 

OR ... you could buy my used K&N system with 2 filters for $165.

 

PA beat me to it. +1. The heat shield does very little to nothing. You need a completely enclosed kit for any kind of protection, and even then, its only going to work so well. Take this advice from an ex-K&N fanboy... don't buy into the hype that the companies feed you. Trust guys here like PA, we've gone through all this already. Don't make the same mistakes we did.

 

ok, well if metal absorbs heat...then thats that. it absorbs it. i would imagine plastic would TRANSFER more heat energy than metal would. plus if a "good" CAI kit comes with a metal heat shield like you say, then why would they make it metal? why not plastic? i may be wrong again lol. idk, but i put my kit in cuz it was cheap and it looks cool. plus i plan on modifying my hood eventually when i get the chance and making my own hood scoop. i'll post pics and stuff eventually.
and to answer the guy who asked how big the pipe was on my intake, it's 4"OD

 

my k&n is ok nothing to brag about, get the 14x3 like evreyone else , never tried it but heard good K&n is good but 300$$$ for a cai is retarted. i like it other than the money on it

 

Wow... do you understand anything about physics?

The heat "transfer" you are talking about... if by "transfer", you mean to allow heat to reach the air inside the kit, the only way for this "transfer" to take place is for the material the kit is made of to absorb the heat first. Once it gets hot enough by absorption, the heat reaches the air inside it. So if a certain metal absorbs heat better than a certain plastic, that same plastic cannot "transfer" more heat than the metal. This of course assumes we are talking about fully enclosed kits. The K&N type heat shield allows air above and below it, it does not seal tightly at all with much of anything around it, and so really isn't that great of a heat shield, regardless of the material its made of.

 

people... thinking about it... $300 for a K&N.... or $15 for a 14x3... both will give you the same results!!

 

thats what im saying lucky for me that 300 k&n system was on there when i bought her. so i dont think i will be getting a 13x4 i would love to just becasue of the way you guys talk about the sound it makes lol but all well .