Im shopping for a CAI and I noticed many designs are the open design.... well a thought came to mind... when i take it offroad or the tropical weather we get down here in lower SC, do i run the risk of sucking water in it? wondering if anyone has had problems with this

 

I have the K&N FIPK on my truck, and although I don't wheel it (that's what my RC is for), I haven't had any trouble in torrential (sp?) downpours. With any air intake, including the stock one, if you're wheeling in that deep of water where it really becomes a concern it's time to upgrade to a snorkle (don't forget to upgrade the rest of your truck too, such as front/rear/tranny breather lines)

 

I agree! Myself and a lot of other grand prix guys run FWIs with large cones on our cars, and nobody has ever had a problem with water getting in the intake. I run mine with a large hole cut in the fenderwell, and I've driven through several deep puddles (for testing purposes) with no adverse effects (other than a wet filter).

If you're going to be doing a lot of mudding/wheeling with it, you may want to put on a filter pre-charger. It will help some of the heavy from clogging the filter. Here in WI we run them in the winter to keep some of the salt from getting directly on the filter. That filter can get pretty filthy by spring without one. [:'(]

 

PRE-CHARGER? whats that? not sure what your talking about... got any pics of one and how does it work? and is it something i can fab myself if i chooose to do my home made CAI? oh and get this right... my buddy that works on another base.... re-routed one of his tubes that runs air into the cockpit... spliced into to and ran a smaller tube into his CAI... and runs his A/C and fullblast all the time.... so hypthetically....its a TRUE COLD air intake.... now is this healthy for a motor? like some serious cold air going into this thing... he's got a 01 RAM EC 4x4 .... you guys think that this would be an idea?

 

The precharger is nothing more than a "mesh-type sock" that fits over the filter. It is removable and washable. I can't imagine theyre very expensive, and no fabbing needs to be done because, like a sock, it slips right over the filter and has an elastic end. K&N sells one specifically for use with their cone filters that comes with their FIPK. As for the tube cutting/splicing/freon sucking/gas killing idea, i cant see how it would hurt the engine at all running colder air, but it doenst sound like the project is worth all that trouble. The engine benefits more from higher volumes of air rather than drastically colder air, because once inside an internal combustion engine the air is warmed so quickly the 20 degree difference has little time to make an effect. As said before, it probbably does more to burn out his a/c unit, as well as freon and gas, rather than give great performance boosts.
hope this helps...