Ambient temperature's influence on horsepower
 

With crazy Texas temperature shifts lately, I have noticed time and time again that my car runs substantially better and faster on cold days. Maybe the effect is more exaggerated because I have a short ram intake that also sucks in engine-bay air... It's really disheartening; One day I feel like I have a fast car, then it feels slow the next, all because of the ambient temperature. Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing this that has a stock intake or a CAI.

Also, why isn't there some way to cool the intake like with a small refrigerator or something? My guess is that nothing can keep up with the amount of air the engine is sucking in.

(Braces for impact :scared0016:)

Don't know about the refrigerator bit, but you could get a nitrous kit. Same principle in theory.

Get a ScangaugeII and it will tell you what your intake temperature is. I have the Perrin intake and I run around 3 degrees hotter in my intake than the outside air.

Not sure I noticed that yet...maybe in the summer? I wont get a short ram like injen tho, sticking with drop in. I had a K&N short ram on my celica and it always would get heat soaked in the summer heat...It was awful. :(

I have FA20club's CAI and it keeps my intake temps within 2-4 degrees of the outside air temps when I'm on the go. :thumbsup: Summer's coming up so we'll see how it handles hotter temps..

Simple solution would be a new or stock intake, short ram/hot air intakes are notorious for heat soak.

The power loss from running a compressor to have an evaporator cool your intake charge would not even begin to offset the small gain from cooler air. In fact the moisture you lose from the air condensating on your evaporator might result in a less dense air charge... Or was it the more moisture the less oxygen is in a given amount if air....

Go back to stock airbox and see how it works out IMO

Never heard of that. I figure that mine must run at least 10 degrees hotter than ambient after sitting at idle. I'll pick it up if it's cheap, but I will probably just re-install my stock intake and buy a drop-in.

Better yet, instead of a ~$160, wired accessory, you can get a $20 wireless bluetooth OBDII adapter and the Torque app for any Android phone (I think iPhone has some kind of app too). Same thing (and more, actually) for 1/8 the cost.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...l.torque&hl=en

http://steeleson.com/Jetta/torque.JPG

I didn't think about the moisture; that's probably the primary reason that it cannot work. I would just assume running an air vent from the existing ac unit into the airbox? hehe... :bellyroll:

But regardless, isn't that exactly what an intercooler does in a turbo setup? Why can't we put intercoolers in our NA cars? I know someone is about to tell me to just use the search... haha

Okay, just did a search to answer my own question, basically.

An intercooler is conventionally just a heat-sink that will do nothing more than help the hot air from the turbo come closer to ambient temperature. It is not a refrigerator.

As for the air vent from the ac compressor, I'm still a bit confused, but I think it may be a bit too moist.

Can Torque show IAT and Oil Temp? I see outside air temp and coolant temp in your pic.

Awesome. I see many of those for cheap on Amazon. I do have an iPhone, so hopefully they make some equivalent app for it. (Otherwise I may be switching to droid... That looks interesting!)

I use Torque with this adapter ([ame="http://www.amazon.com/BAFX-Products-Bluetooth-diagnostics-compatible/dp/B005NLQAHS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1364580829&sr=8-3&keywords=OBDII"]BAFX Products (TM) - ELM 327 Bluetooth OBD2 scan tool - For check engine light and other diagnostics - Android compatible : Amazon.com : Automotive[/ame]) and it works great. Quick read and response times, well priced, gets the job done. Your OBDII sensor plug is under the steering wheel, just above your gas pedal.

Some of the long term averages like MPG and other calculations aren't as accurate because they only factor when the app is running. But any of the instantaneous readouts are straight from your ECU (or calculated using values straight from the ECU). Really sweet little app.

So this will show intake temperature? I do not see it in the picture, just an ambient.