OneJArpus;1839841 said:
Cold air intake? Spend the extra thought on a way to cool the air AFTER it goes through the intercooler. No matter how cold it is before it gets to the turbo its going to heat up and FAST.... finding a good way to lower the temps after is more important. Good intercooler with a good core / water/meth injection.
Ok guys, let me explain it this way.
Ambient air + heating from compression - cooling from intercooler = final intake charge
No intercooler is going to cool all the way back down to ambient. Period. It only has the ability to drop a certain amount, so if you're sucking crazy hot air from the engine bay, it's going to be far hotter coming out of the IC than if it was cold ambient air. Not to mention heat soak or anything like that.
Also, a colder intake charge is more dense getting more into the turbo.
Seeing as how some of us *cough*IJ*cough* have actually datalogged before and after the IC with and without a CAI, this isn't up for debate.
Cooling the intake charge with water or meth isn't really going to matter if the charge is hot and less dense. Remember, air + fuel + spark = power...