what was your coolant temp doing during the climb? 69 seems high. I also noticed that once your up to speed for a while, your temp never really drops. when I looked at the data I mentioned earlier, I noticed that it would be heat soaked at a stop light, then cool back down once I was moving again. this is also with a 180 deg t-stat.

do you know which t-stat you have?

 

I assume the truck has the factory 180 thermostat in it. I bought the truck in december and know it was a one owner. Everything else appears to be stock on the truck, so I doubt he changed the thermostat. I glanced at the water temperature guage when I stopped at the 4.7 mile mark and it appeared to be around the 180 F mark. I didn't look at it climbing up the mountain. The 4.7 mile mark is a stop sign, then I travel another 0.3 mile (approx) to another stop sign at 30 mph. Then through a small town at 35 - 40 mph at a slight incline to the base of the mountain where it turns and is about a 0.8 mile climb to the top. Mountain might be an exageration, but that is what it is officially called here. Also, when I run up the mountain, I am probably at 1/3 to 1/2 throttle, so I am not pushing the truck extremely hard.

Anyways, at this point I believe the thermostat is fully open, the engine block is starting to heat up and radiate heat into the engine compartment at a quicker rate than the outside air flowing though the compartment can remove the heat. With the tube to the fender removed, I think that a lot of the air that was being pulled into the intake was going past the exhaust manifold.

Notice that the air measure at the intake (middle reading) is much slower to change. One reason is the sending unit itself. It transmits a signal only once every 45 seconds approximately. Also, it is about the size of a golf ball. It has two AA batteries in it. Because of its mass, it takes longer to heat up and cool down. So you do have to take that into account when looking at the temperatures. However, you may be right about the filter getting heat soaked, or at least the hot air is trapped under the filter where the other sensor is located. I have checked the temperatures several times now that the truck has been sitting, and the temperature inside the air filter box is staying warmer than the air temp immediatley outside of the air box. Check out the pictures in my gallery and you can see where I have the sending unit attached to the transmission dipstick.

The sending unit in the filter box can change very quickly. You are right, when I stop, it rises quickly. The temp I record is as soon as I come to a stop, but it does rise quickly while waiting to pull out. When getting back up to highway speeds it is starting to drop again. This is actually the average temp at highway speeds, it climbed while sitting at the stop sign, then came back down and stabilized. It is difficult to write the data down while traveling down the road or to remember what it was when I come to the next stop. Traveling through town, it doesn't cool down as much, reason being less air being pushed through the engine compartment and lower throttle means there is a lower volume of cooler air being pulled into the air filter.

 

the stock t-stat is 195... if you have a 180 in there the guage would be floating around the 2 of the 200/210 on the temp guage on the dash.

another thing you can try (which I know works well) is wrap the intake tube going to the TB. this will prevent added heat soak when at stop lights or going thru stop & go traffic...

Interesting data... thanks!

 

Yes, I got confused. Stock thermostat is 195 F, which is probably what I have. I'll retract what I said earlier. If I remember right, the needle was below the "2" on the 210 mark. The stock guage isn't very precise and I can't verify its accuracy. I'll try to take a look at it again when I reach the 4.7 mile mark and see how it compares to later on in the trip when I know the truck has reached operating temperature.

You're right, after I get done with the tests, I'm going to wrap the tubing and/or air filter box. I've proved to myself how much heat is picked up from the engine. When I first looked into CAI's and saw some people doing this, I thought it was a waste of time and money. I was wrong (just don't tell my wife).

 

Last night I ran some corrugated plastic tubing from my air box to the front of the truck to simulate K&N and other types of CAIs. I just uploaded pictures of the setup in my gallery. I folded the rubber shielding between the radiator and frame down so cold air enters the engine compartment. Mounted the wireless thermometer sending unit in front of the intake. Took a test drive, 15 to 20 miles, just watched the thermometers. Temp at intake remained the same as outside air. Once the engine warmed up, temp in the filter was 10 degrees warmer than outside air while driving. Hit the town near the end of the run, 25 mph, stoplight, the filter temp starts to climb but comes back to to about 10 F above outside air once reaching highway speeds again.

Last night I had the tubing sticking against the air conditioner tube. I thought this might be a little closer to the front of the truck than the K&N setup, so I cut about 6-8 inches off the tube so it is pulling air from slightly behind the radiator. I also moved the wireless sending unit to inside the engine compartment, just to the outside of the tube (see pics).

I drove to work and recorded the data. Again, no different findings than last nights run or from the original set of data using the stock setup. Air temp was 10 F higher with engine warmed up at highway speeds. Outside air was 17 F this morning during the 10 to 14 mile segment at 55 mph and air at filter stabilized at 27 F. Goes up at stop signs and in town, same as stock.

If someone requests, I will post the data. I will also make a shielded inlet similar to the K&N FIPK if someone asks, but I don't think it is necessary for my test. I am not saying the shielding doesn't help, I think it does during town driving, but not on the highway. One interesting fact, after shutting the truck off, I went out and checked the thermometers after it sat for about 20 - 30 minutes this morning.

Outside air---21 F, Air at Intake---48 F, Air at filter--116 F.

Compare this to the original test at 25 min.
Outside air---31 F, Air at Intake---46, Air at filter---112

I realize that I didn't check the temperatures at the exact same time, but the air temp at the intake with the K&N setup seems to be rising quicker. That makes sense, it is closer to the radiator and engine which are giving off heat. That's why I say I think the shielding is good for town driving, when there is low air flow through the engine compartment.

One other interesting note. The air filter temp today at the top of the mountain was 22.5 F. Yesterday's run it was 69 F. I did notice I was able to climb the mountain with a little more speed. The truck seemed to bog yesterday, I dropped down to 40 mph and it felt like it was ready to kick down to 2nd, but this morning I was up to 50 mph and holding speed until I had to slow down for the sedan in front of me. Again, just a note, there's too many other variables to draw conclusions.

Possibly tomorrow I will cut the intake tube shorter so it is drawing air from the right rear of the engine, similiar to the other styles of intakes. If anyone has any comments or would like me to try something else before I cut the tube, let me know.

steve00ram360 - I checked the water temp guage this morning at the 4.7 mile mark. It was a little below the normal operating temperature at that point, slightly below the "2". Heading up the mountain, it did reach normal.
__________________

 

Ok, I dug up the #'s from my car chip runs...

doing 65~70 mpg the intake temp measures 135~140 deg F. coming to a stop... it took 2 minutes to climb 10 deg

from a stop, it took approx 1 minute to cool down to the 138 deg F mark.
Idling for about a minute the intake temp was peaking at about 158 deg F.

hope this helps... all this is coming from the AIT sensor...

 

I assume that this data is from your truck and you didn't relocate your IAT sensor. Also, what temp thermostat are your running?

I wondered what temperatures the IAT sensor would be recording. It is a little higher than I thought it would be. Also, I wonder if the outside air temperature was cooler, if the temperature inside the manifold would be lower? Maybe the intake will always heat the air to the same approximate temperature. If that is the case, maybe the perfomance gains from CAI's is related to airflow efficiency through the tubing rather than air temperature. Sometime, I would like to run these tests with a scan tool and check the IAT temperature if that is possible. Thanks for posting the data, it gives me something to think about.

I would like to see some pictures of your engine compartment. I am interested in what your K&N setup looks like with the round filter.

 

this is the only pic of my engine compartment that I currently have...

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...104_7_full.jpg

the filter is the same as the stock cone filter, it's just bigger and looks like this

http://www.knfilters.com/search/prod...x?Prod=RD-1460

I'd have to go back and look at the date of the log but I think it had a 195 t-stat in there at the time. Also it was in the summer and the hottest days of the year > 95 deg F. if there is a time stamp on it, I can tell you pretty much what the outside temps were since summer temps are pretty consistant and I was logging under the worst conditions. I'll have a look tonight when I get home.

The IAT is in it's stock location.

 

Finally got around to running the test with the intake pulling air in from the right side of the engine compartment (picture in gallery soon). I thought I would post the data since it is an interesting comparison against the stock intake. Outside air temps similiar to the run with the stock.

Time/Dist……Outside(F)…...Intake(F)……..Filter Box(F)………….…Notes
Start…………………31.8……………..… 30…………..…….32
2 min………………. 31………………....30.3……………..31.5. ...Idling, warmup
0.5 mile…………….31.2……………….30.5… ……….....30
2.4 mile…………….27.8……………….29.1… ………....28
4.7 mile…………….31.4……………….30.7… ………....34.2
6.4 mile…………….31………….....….32.3… ……………37……..Top of mountain
…………………………………………†¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.........45………Highest temp after mountain, coasting down other side
8.5 mile.............29.2...............31.5.......... ...39.4
10 mile..............31.4...............32.7......... .....40.5
............................................35.1.. ............42.5.........Highest temp @ 55mph
14 mi.................31.4...............39.7........ ......50.2..........In town, 20 mph
After this point, stopped in parking lot and let truck idle
30 sec...................................43.1........ ......65.3
1 min................32.8...............43.1........ ......73.6
1.5 min.............32.2...............47.5........... ....80
2 min................32.6...............51.9........ ......83.8
2.5 min.............32.6................58.3.......... ....87.4
Shut truck off and checked data later.
40 min...............35.................80........... .....131

Test with stock intake reprinted
Time/Dist……Outside(F)…...Intake(F)……..Filter Box(F)………….…Notes
Start…………………25……………..…25 …………..…….27.1
1 min………………. 25………………...25………………..26.4
4.7 mile…………….30………………..27.5…⠀¦â€¦â€¦....31
6.4 mile…………….28…………………28…†¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦..33.6……..Top of mountain
…………………………………………†¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.........39………Highest temp after mountain, coasting down other side
8.5 mile.............29................29............. ...37.6
10 mile..............29................28............ ....38.7
.................................................. ...........42.........Highest temp @ 55mph
14 mi.................31...............31............ ....47..........In town, 20 mph
After this point, stopped in parking lot and let truck idle
30 sec............................................... ......59.5
1 min............................................... ........62.6
1.5 min............................................... .....66.6
2 min...............31.2..............35.5.......... ....70.2
2.5 min............31.2..............37.8............. .74.8
Shut truck off and checked data later.
25 min...................................46.......... ......112
?................................................. .............115............Max temp recorded

Test without intake tube installed reprinted:
Time/Dist……Outside(F)…...Intake(F)……..Filter Box(F)………….…Notes
Start…………………17……………..…13 …………..…….15.8.......2 min. warmup, no change
0.5 mile…………...18.2…………...15.5……†¦â€¦â€¦â€¦..19.2
2.4 mile…………….15.8………………15.1…⠀¦â€¦â€¦....17.8
4.7 mile…………….17.8……………….17.7… ………....22.1
6.4 mile…………….17.8…………………25… ……………..69……..Top of mountain
8.5 mile.............16................33.3........... ...57.2
10 mile..............17................38............ ....60
.................................................. ............65.........Highest temp @ 45mph
14 mi.................18...............44............ ....77..........In town, 20 mph
30 Min.……………...19………………..76…⠀¦â€¦â€¦.....117.......30 Minutes after shutdown

I was a little surprised with this data. I thought the intake temperatures would be a little higher with this last test run. While moving, they are comparable to the stock and K&N style, maybe a few degrees higher but not bad. However, when stopped and in slow moving traffic they rise much quicker. I was using this setup on saturday when I was doing some running and the results were similiar. After warmup, in town they spike but soon cool down when moving at +40 mph. So if you are running this type of setup, I would recommend a heat shield between the filter and the engine. I should have printed this data with another column showing temp difference between outside air and intake temp. Sorry, don't have the time right now. Next test I want to go back to stock setup and insulate the air fiter box and tube. Not sure when I'll get to that, but I'll post the data when I do.

 

I ran a test with the intake pulling air in from the right side of the engine compartment plus with the air filter box and the tube insulated. The insulation I used may not have been the best. It is bubble wrap layered with aluminum foil that you use to wrap water pipes that I picked up last night at the hardware store. It only has an R-4 insulation rating, but I thought the foil surface would help reflect the heat. Where I could, I double wrapped the bottom of the filter box. No pictures because it is butt ugly.

Time/Dist……Outside(F)…...Intake(F)……..Filter Box(F)………….…Notes
Start…………………33……………..….. 31…………..…….31
2 min………………. 34………………....31...……………..33.. ..Idling, warmup
0.5 mile…………….35………………....32…. .……….....35
2.4 mile…………….35.1……………….34.4… ………....35.6
4.7 mile…………….36.7……………….36…†¦â€¦â€¦.......38.7
6.4 mile…………….36.3…………..….41.6…⠀¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦43.5……..Top of mountain
…………………………......…………†¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.........48.5………Highest temp after mountain, coasting down other side
8.5 mile.............37.5..............41.8.......... ..46.9
10 mile..............36.7..............43......... .....45.1
.......................37.3..............45.6.. ..........48.........Highest temp @ 55mph
14 mi................37.3..............45.6........ .....51..........In town, 20 mph
After this point, stopped in parking lot and let truck idle
30 sec..............38.7...............47........ ......59.9
1 min................38.1...............52.4........ ....69.1
1.5 min.............38.1...............52.4........... ..74.7
2 min................38.5...............59.8........ .....77.5
2.5 min.............38.9................63.2.......... ...82.2
Shut truck off and checked data later.
40 min...............40.................59........... .....96

The insulation helped only slightly when moving, but kept the air about ten degrees cooler when stopped. I did notice the temperature did not rise as quickly at the stop signs. Notice the temp at 40 minutes, it is 40 degrees cooler in the filter box. Not sure why the temp inside the engine comparment is cooler, other than the tube may be acting like a chimney and is funneling air out through the filter box and tube towards the wireless receiver.

A member from another site sent me a fiberous type of insulation that he says is used for catalytic converters. I wrapped this around the stock intake and will put it on tomorrow and run the test with the stock intake and the filter box wrapped. I will run a final test with only the tube wrapped. I am curious if the temps will be lower when pulling the air from the fender. Also, a better type of insulation on the air filter box might help, but being the cheap$kate that I am.........