3.3TT Are short ram (open air) intakes necessary?

[StingerMG]

I'm looking at adding either the JB4 or Racechip GTS to my car down the line, and of course, HKS spark plugs. I have the JA air scoops and K&N panel filters on my car. Now I feel that this setup is more of a true cold air intake but I see that some people swear by open air intakes.

Is my air intake setup sufficient for any tuning? I plan on keeping things conservative since this is my daily driver, from what I gathered the JB4 map 2 and the Racechip GTS map 5 (sport) are pretty similar in terms of power gains.

 

[Devin]

I'm not aware of the stock air system running out of breath when tuning. There are improvements available but nothing stopping a tune. Since yours is opened up a bit it sounds breathe even easier.

 

[Aarvix]

More boost requires more air. I definitely notice the difference when I have stock airboxes on vs my DIY intakes. But only at WOT above 4500rpm or so.

If all you care about is performance, not looks, just go with DIY intakes and save yourself hundreds of $$$.

 

[StingerMG]

More boost requires more air. I definitely notice the difference when I have stock airboxes on vs my DIY intakes. But only at WOT above 4500rpm or so.

If all you care about is performance, not looks, just go with DIY intakes and save yourself hundreds of $$$.

I'm a stickler for aesthetics, so I'll be willing to pay for looks

I've been researching optimal intake setups for turbocharged engine. I'm wondering now if cold air intakes really matter on turbocharged engines because the turbo will just heat the air up anyway before heading to the intercooler. If that's true, then it's in volume of air that matters more, correct?

 

[Blksmk]

Just my opinion. But open air is a noticeable difference from the factory on 90% of factory turbocharged vehicles. More volume more air more power, especially with open exhaust... all my vehicles with forced induction had open filters

 

[stoopid]

With the scoops and K&N panels you're getting very good flow. You might get some nominal improvement with a CAI/RAM maybe due to the diameter of the intake itself, but I'm not convinced it would be noticeable. There were some air pressure tests posted a while back that demonstrated the stock intake setup can provide good flow and isn't usually the bottleneck stock or tuned. I'd think the scoops pulling air directly from the front before it can get hot outweighs any actual benefits of slightly more volume of warmer air being pulled from the CAI/RAM installed in the engine bay.

For the most part, with the Stinger, people install the aftermarket intakes to hear the turbo spooling and/or for an aesthetic they're chasing. Maybe those on the bleediest of edges with their tunes and performance intakes can justify the performance price/argument. I happen to like the look of the engine stock, so that's not once crossed my mind to justify the cost, time, or possible hurtles if I ever needed warranty repair (or time to swap the stock air boxes back on, on the side of the road). People can be weird about the things they own, especially cars, and do things that fly in the face of reason. They plant the seed for the next person to do the same unreasonable thing, but it doesn't suddenly make it reasonable just because a seemingly large percent of car owners are doing it. Part vendors perpetuate this further with vaporous claims. /rant

Your reservations and reason for starting the thread is the evidence you're asking for. Getting CAI/RAM intakes is not a slam dunk "definitely".

 

[Devin]

Air flow in an engine's intake (naturally aspirated) is a complicated thing. But it is necessary to understand that the engine is acting like a very powerful pump. It will pull whatever air it needs, and enlarging the piping or the filtering surface area will let the engine expend less energy to pull in a certain volume of air. You have to bear in mind the entire intake system, from inlet, box volume filter surface area, intake piping volume and throttle body circumference.

I'm not terribly knowledgeable about forced induction, but I believe once boost pressure is over 0 the engine is no longer a pump, but the turbos are. So then your intake is then charged with making sure the turbos aren't working to hard to pull air into the system, and also things get even more complicated with the turbo to intercooler to engine system.

In my opinion, you are doing it right if you are removing restrictions while keeping incoming air charge as cool as possible (ie: avoid engine compartment air).

It's interesting coming from the SHO community where everyone is so focused on the that gigantic, dual runner intake: if laminar flow is helpful for making power, increasing the bore sizes on the butterflies and throttle body, extruding the snakes, honing and gasket matching the bores. And here it's basically, change the box and put in a cone filter. Done!

 

[StingerMG]

Air flow in an engine's intake (naturally aspirated) is a complicated thing. But it is necessary to understand that the engine is acting like a very powerful pump. It will pull whatever air it needs, and enlarging the piping or the filtering surface area will let the engine expend less energy to pull in a certain volume of air. You have to bear in mind the entire intake system, from inlet, box volume filter surface area, intake piping volume and throttle body circumference.

I'm not terribly knowledgeable about forced induction, but I believe once boost pressure is over 0 the engine is no longer a pump, but the turbos are. So then your intake is then charged with making sure the turbos aren't working to hard to pull air into the system, and also things get even more complicated with the turbo to intercooler to engine system.

In my opinion, you are doing it right if you are removing restrictions while keeping incoming air charge as cool as possible (ie: avoid engine compartment air).

It's interesting coming from the SHO community where everyone is so focused on the that gigantic, dual runner intake: if laminar flow is helpful for making power, increasing the bore sizes on the butterflies and throttle body, extruding the snakes, honing and gasket matching the bores. And here it's basically, change the box and put in a cone filter. Done!

You're right, intakes are super simple to change here.

Not that I didn't know how cars worked, but ever since I got the Stinger, I've been researching how things function even more. I came from a 2010 corolla to this, so it's a pretty big leap.