an experiment to find air temperatures in engine bay

[Doel]

I was looking at wireless thermometers for smoking today and I had a thought. There's always a lot of back and forth discussion about how hot certain areas of the engine bay are, especially when it comes to intake filter location. I would think it would be pretty easy to zip tie a temp probe to various areas around the front of the engine bay to see just how much hotter or colder some areas are when at speed. Are ram air style intakes really taking in air that much hotter than true cold air intakes when moving? Only one way to find out...

 

[James christiansen]

I think that is great idea! Interested in seeing the results!

 

[OliverNuther]

That’s one of those ideas that’s so crazy it’s actually brilliant. A lot of those setups will also connect to your phone via Bluetooth and create logs of your “cook’ so you’ll be able to drive around and graph the results. Great idea, let us know how it goes. I think it’ll be too hot in there for brisket though....

 

[POS VETT]

Make sure that convection and radiant heat don't get to it.

 

[OliverNuther]

Make sure that convection and radiant heat don't get to it.

It’s the radiant heat he’s trying to measure, isn’t it? As in, what effect radiant heat has on ambient temperature. Oh, I get you, make sure you’re measuring ambient temp and not, say, the temp of the engine block itself.

I think 1 probe over the stock intake area and others placed where the various after market cone filters sit would do the trick.

 

[drumma022]

Thought about doing that, but then I received my BMS in the mail and installed it right away.

 

[DaJackson]

I was looking at wireless thermometers for smoking today and I had a thought. There's always a lot of back and forth discussion about how hot certain areas of the engine bay are, especially when it comes to intake filter location. I would think it would be pretty easy to zip tie a temp probe to various areas around the front of the engine bay to see just how much hotter or colder some areas are when at speed. Are ram air style intakes really taking in air that much hotter than true cold air intakes when moving? Only one way to find out...

I did this when installing the Velossa Tech intakes. I posted it about it in my review thread.


Short answer, the K&N heat shields block a lot of heat. There was about a 30 degree difference between the engine side of shield and the filter side. And the Velossa intakes drop temps at the filter quicker once moving than stock.

 

[Doel]

I did this when installing the Velossa Tech intakes. I posted it about it in my review thread.


Short answer, the K&N heat shields block a lot of heat. There was about a 30 degree difference between the engine side of shield and the filter side. And the Velossa intakes drop temps at the filter quicker once moving than stock.

awesome!! I never saw that review. So it looks like the air temp at the duct was only a couple degrees cooler on average than the air hitting the filter of the SRI. Looking at a true cold air intake like the SSR that places the filter at about the same location as the duct, we can infer that an SRI, or at least the Typhoon, is only taking in air a couple degrees warmer than a true CAI. Considering the piping of the CAI is 2-3x as long, which not only increases drag of the air passing through it, but will heat the air more than a SRI because of increased surface area. I'm willing to bet the Typhoon will provide performance essentially equal to, or better than the SSR (assuming filters have equal properties). That's really a testament to the design by Kia of the front aero and duct work.

Now I'm wondering, how much difference does the Velossa make in air temps at the SRI filter location? If it drops it to the duct temps, the SRI will be taking in air at the same temp as a CAI, with shorter piping, and will be almost guaranteed to provide better performance.

If you ever have some free time and want to do some testing, care to ever measure the temp difference at the filter vs Velossa intake?

Here is Dajackson's temperature graph for anyone interested, the duct temp is the air temp at the factory air duct for the intake.

 

[DaJackson]

If you ever have some free time and want to do some testing, care to ever measure the temp difference at the filter vs Velossa intake?

Velossa intake meaning inside the big mouth?

The duct temp above is sitting at the very end of the Velossa intake.

 

[Doel]

Velossa intake meaning inside the big mouth?

The duct temp above is sitting at the very end of the Velossa intake.

Right, I'm just wondering how much the Velossa is cooling the air that's hitting the filter, it looks like the stock duct is bring in close to ambient air as it is.

 

[DaJackson]

Right, I'm just wondering how much the Velossa is cooling the air that's hitting the filter, it looks like the stock duct is bring in close to ambient air as it is.

Maybe we’re talking about different things.

The chart above is after the velossa was installed. Duct is the air coming from the velossa, filter is the air at the filter.

The velossa cant cool air, it can only help to get ambient air to the filter without it heating up.

 

[Doel]

Maybe we’re talking about different things.

The chart above is after the velossa was installed. Duct is the air coming from the velossa, filter is the air at the filter.

The velossa cant cool air, it can only help to get ambient air to the filter without it heating up.

oh, you didn't measure the air coming from the stock duct before the Velossa, got it.

The Velossa is supposed to cool the air the intake is taking in, obviously not the ambient air. You would need to take temps at the filter before and after the Velossa to see if it's really doing anything.

 

[StungBlueGT2]

Great idea and think if this data was matched with the actual IAT from a JB4 it would confirm the differences between the stock box, open air filters(Injen), intakes with shielding(K&N, DIY, Stillen, Etc) and a true CAI like SSRs.

So far I’ve only seen a few degrees difference between stock airbox IAT and intakes with shielding but more data would always help.

Awesome job and keep this thread going.

 

[DaJackson]

oh, you didn't measure the air coming from the stock duct before the Velossa, got it.

The Velossa is supposed to cool the air the intake is taking in, obviously not the ambient air. You would need to take temps at the filter before and after the Velossa to see if it's really doing anything.

I did measure it before. The weather just changed drastically overnight between my stock run and after the velossa. So the graphs aren’t comparable.

Stock the filter temp would get down close to ambient but with the velossa it happened almost instantaneously when the car was doing 20mph+

 

[AusStinger]

Has anyone seen an increase to engine temperature as a result of installing the Velossa ducts?

 

[Rakker]

Has anyone seen an increase to engine temperature as a result of installing the Velossa ducts?

Engine temperature? Are you referring to the coolant temperature or air intake temps? I make the JA AirScoops and they lower the intake temps on average 10-15 degrees. That said, air intake temps are measured way down the line so there are a lot of factors that play into it like intercooler, turbo, etc. For example, if you're pushing your car real hard and your turbo is super hot you still see higher intake temps even if you're pulling in cooler air. I like the idea of getting ambient air temps in the engine bay. Anyone have a link to Dajackson's post, I'd like to see how he set it up.

 

[AusStinger]

Hi Rakker. I was referring to engine coolant / oil temps.

I've noticed that my Stinger has a number of factory fitted coolers and my concerns were that under hard driving / track conditions the ram ducts might impede the air flow required to keep engine temps stable. I ended up getting a pair of ducts and installing them ( with the shroud cut ) in such a way that it's reversible ( for the most part ) if they do cause issues.

Firstly, I did see the ducts that you make and well done ! They look great.
Unfortunately, I saw them AFTER I placed my order ( and they were dispatched ) for a pair of Velossa ducts.

I actually like your V2 ducts the best and I'm gutted that I didn't get these instead of the Velossa ones.

 

[Rakker]

Hi Rakker. I was referring to engine coolant / oil temps.

I've noticed that my Stinger has a number of factory fitted coolers and my concerns were that under hard driving / track conditions the ram ducts might impede the air flow required to keep engine temps stable. I ended up getting a pair of ducts and installing them ( with the shroud cut ) in such a way that it's reversible ( for the most part ) if they do cause issues.

Firstly, I did see the ducts that you make and well done ! They look great.
Unfortunately, I saw them AFTER I placed my order ( and they were dispatched ) for a pair of Velossa ducts.

I actually like your V2 ducts the best and I'm gutted that I didn't get these instead of the Velossa ones.

View attachment 57572

If the ducts did rob the radiator of some air you probably wouldn't see it in the temps but your fan might run a bit more.

I've made many improvements since that v2. Here's my latest creation...

 

[AusStinger]

If the ducts did rob the radiator of some air you probably wouldn't see it in the temps but your fan might run a bit more.

I've made many improvements since that v2. Here's my latest creation...

Was just searching for real life results but I guess I'll find out myself

Don't take this the wrong way but I really prefer the V2's over ANYTHING I've seen so far.

As for this latest offering, cool feature but over here in Aus we'd probably get defected for impersonating a cop / ambo / firey.
Cops over here are pretty touchy about colored lights in / on cars.

Would come in handy though for those Camry and Prius drivers tho

 

[Devin]

oh, you didn't measure the air coming from the stock duct before the Velossa, got it.

The Velossa is supposed to cool the air the intake is taking in, obviously not the ambient air. You would need to take temps at the filter before and after the Velossa to see if it's really doing anything.

From what I understand the Velossa is a ram air intake, which if I remember my physics correctly will actually involve air being compressed and the air charge heating.