Took me 2 years to realize my cold air intake was doing nothing

I had this cheap cone filter on my 2010 Civic since I bought it. Thought I was getting better airflow and maybe a few extra horses. Then my buddy brought over a temp gun after a cruise last Saturday. He pointed it at my intake pipe near the header and it read 170 degrees. That's when it clicked - I was just sucking in hot engine bay air. The whole time my car was probably losing power, not gaining anything. The stock box at least pulls from the fender. I swapped back to the factory setup and my IATs dropped 40 degrees on the next drive. Has anyone else here ditched a short ram for the stock box and saw better results?

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2 Comments

jana_miller315mo ago

Nah, your buddy's temp gun was probably reading the pipe surface temp, not the actual air.

5

bettyh845mo ago

Maybe check the insulation around the pipe too. A draft can mess with the reading way more than you'd think.

2