I’m planning on taking out the stock intake on a car I have and replacing it with an aftermarket one with a conical filter. Not so much for performance (will gain little if any, anyhow), but to make it sound better and after cleaning up under the hood it’ll be a nice touch. My question is this; what is the best place to seat the IAT (Intake Air Temp.) sensor? Closer to the throttle body, yet out of the way of excess heat is what I’ve been told, but since the tube is going to be a little shorter, I was thinking of putting it just before the air resonator box (which leads to throttle body via drilling and sealing with sensor safe silicone or the like, maybe gasket maker. Is that placement suitable? If not, where is the best?
Educated guess is sensor should be located at the point the air is coolest. The cold air thing goes back to the late 1960’s. GM engineers determined that every 10 degree reduction in air inlet temp translated into a 1% increase in power. That said, you will gain a bit more power, but it’s highly doubtful you’ll feel/recognize it unless your on a drag strip. I fabricated a cold air setup on my street/strip '56 Chevy. I made for passes at Carlsbad Raceway, alternating with our without it. The two runs with it resulted in a tenth and a half decrease in elapsed time. That’s pretty significant, especially considering my fabrication cost was less than a hundred bucks. As rewarding as this was that level of HP increase just isn’t felt during Norman street driving.
The Fuel Injected v8s found in corvettes and Bel Aires didn’t like heat very much, so prototype cold air intakes were fabricated for rare track corvettes of the era.
My gut says it’s not going to matter too much. I can’t imagine the temperature changing all that much between the end of the air filter housing and the beginning of the throttle body. It’s not like it’s taking a casual stroll through that duct, it’s moving through it at a pretty good pace.
I’d be more concerned about keeping it on the same side as the MAF/MAP sensor as it is now. IIRC, it should be on the airbox side (at least it is on one of my trucks). As long as you put it before the MAF/MAP sensor, it doesn’t have to make a perfect seal. If air gets around your connection it’ll still be metered and won’t count as a leak so I wouldn’t go nuts trying silicone it in there.
ETA, in the end, I’d attempt to keep it about the same distance away from the throttle body as it is now (and same side as the MAF). That’s what the computer is going to be expecting and it accounts for that. But FTR, I’ve never moved one before so this is just my WAG.
Thanks everyone for replying and thanks for the links!
SanDiegoTim; That’s awesome, I wish I had a classic car. I wasn’t really even trying for performance, only so much you can get anyhow, probably if i do a ‘tune’ you know, change plugs, oil, etc. then I would, but I am going more for the noise.
Joey P; that is the best WAG i’ve ever seen, it seems really logical, I’m thinking I will put it in a pretty much stock position. As for the silicone, its more to assure it would stay in place, rather have silicone fall in somehow than some other options, still would suck though.
jz78817 What I’m looking at are not so much kits built for a specific car, I’ll heat the tubes up and mold them if I have to. Some come without and are meant to be drilled, others come with already bored holes and such, because depending on weather conditions, I guess some people switch the sensor around. I’m not gonna do that, just going to put it in and thats all. Pretty much just doing it for vanity and hobby. Thinking about just putting in a short ram intake with a heat shield (car has very low clearance with the ground and don’t want snow or puddles splashing on it, last thing I need is the engine to lock up trying to compress water lol), but its far enough away from the engine that with a heat shield it may work out decently. I’ll keep what you said in mind, for sure though. Thanks!
Any more input on this subject is wholly welcomed, any personal experience or anything. Thanks!
