Thread: Best Performing and looking cold air intake?

I'm not even going to get involved anymore in intake performance threads.

However, as far as looks alone I like the one from JMB Performance & Powdercoat, LLC.

I'm pretty partial towards the wizair, But I agree with IndeedSS about these threads.

best looking: jmb fwi

best performing: open cone off the tb

you choose what you want.

In all fairness, the site is still relatively new and Im not sure what all would have come up in a search. As well, not everyone titles their threads in such a way that the discussion in the thread is easily discernible.

That all said, it would be nice to have some type of intake shoot out where each one was installed on the same car then drove and tested. A couple years ago I saw some testing like this done on exhaust systems for another model vehicle. It was quite well done and had some surprising results. I would imagine intake set ups would have a few surprises as well.

The problem is getting the manufacturers to donate one for testing knowing one of them is going to come out on top and one is going to come out on bottom. Or if they were purchased, it would be a matter of coming up with the money to buy all the popular ones out there.

It would be a relatively simple test since the IAT and airflow would be the big concerns.

Originally Posted by Reptile

I don't think that the hoods make a big difference...too many bends as it is. I'm sure someone could correct me if I'm wrong.

I think you are right on. Not worth trying to make the hood functional. There will be no "ram" effect so all you could get is cold air and an intake will do that cheaper and easier. If there are any bends, ram air is virtually impossible. If you have a pretty straight shot you would not see any worthwhile gains until 200 mph and our cars probably can't hit that so don't worry about it.

Best looking is subjective. I used to think the JMB was pretty cool, and it is, but it just looks funny to me to not see the filter. You will have to check though since you have a 2005 you are more limited in what intakes will work. There is a version of the Wizair that works. There may be others. The FWI systems tend to let the filter get exposed to more dirt, water, etc. That was one reason why I didn't want one. But I always suggest people try a cheap DIY FWI first since you can reuse the most expensive part (the filter) for a CAI or open cone if you don't like it.

As far as the performance debate between and open cone that inhales hot air and a CAI or FWI they will not be noticeably different. The closer your engine is to stock the less relevant it will be since the amount of air the engine needs is less and easily satisfied by any non stock intake. If you have say a basic 3.4 setup it won't make any difference restriction wise and on the other hand if you are in the sub 3" pulley range a FWI can be restrictive. I believe that Ron Vogel said he gained from going from FWI to open cone.

IMO a CAI like the Wizaired is the best since it combines the low restriction of an open cone while blocking out much of the hot air. Most pictures of open cones I have seen involve a bend of roughly 22 to 45 degrees, and few inches of 4" diameter tube before the filter. Almost exactly the same as the Wizaired only it has an enclosure to keep hot air out. And since the only persuasive argument for the open cone is the low restriction, I don't see anyway it could be better than a good CAI like a Wizaired since it well be equally as restrictive as an open cone but it also keeps out hotter lower density air. There is plenty of research and common sense to support the benefits of cold air. And on non intercooled engines, cold air will be more beneficial. Again going back to my earlier point though, there may not be enough of a difference to notice, so you need to weigh the cost/benefit yourself.

I'm pretty fond of my MSP CAI, i've had it for years and recently converted to 4" tubing. Its slighly taller than the rad support so it catches air from between the support and hood. A few years ago I did some testing and my temps at times were 5-7 degrees cooler than outside temp. Even at idling it would never reach above abundent temps. Thats with the IAT installed in the stock location on the stock F-duct. It has worked real well for me. I have since added even more insolation when I added the bigger tubing I donno how it runs now since I don't have an IAT anymore (I have an happy knob). By touch everything stays cold including the TB and the S/C but i'm intercooled and that helps alot.

Originally Posted by whitcomb

now with it stated above that there was a 30 deg diff, just wondering but did it make any diff in kr by chance?

my ''max'' kr was substaintialy lower 1 to 1 1/2 deg lower with the same ambient air tempeture outside vs. the underhood open cone.that was just what i saw on my hpt scan gauge and is not an accurate source of if it actually reduced/eliminated kr in any certian spots without looking at the histro graph's wich i did not do.


zzp's ss intercooler drops output air temps 83 degrees.so by reducing air inlet temps by at least 30 degrees has to document some kind of gain.


a rough example that i remember was that the ambient air temp outside was aprox 75 and with city driving the iat temps were at least 125....you do the math...the above is only what i remember seeing on my iat temp gauge and did not save the scan so i can not give an actual deg difference because i do not remember the ambient air temp

with the diy fwi i hit ambient iat temps on a regular basis and much much quicker than with the stock air box or underhood cone filter

with the diy fwi in city driving iat temps were within 10 -15 deg of ambient

Here's the deal...I know I know, I said I wouldn't but...

On a daily driver where underhood temps get way out of hand, a cone on the TB will hurt you all the way around. When your radiator fan(s) kick on where do you think the 180* to 220* hot air is going?

I've tested this with my Wizaired, properly installed and sealed versus an open cone, swapping them out within an hour of each other. Not only did the scanner show a big IAT difference, but you could feel the difference. One thing I'm curious about is the claims of higher MAFF readings with an open cone. How much are those readings being skewed or not accurate because the flow isn't being directed as it should be. Won't go any farther into that thought, but those of you that read up on this stuff will know it sounds familiar.

Flow versus hot air is only an issue IF you can't get enough flow with a correctly designed CAI or FWI. The majority of our modders would not require more flow than afforded by a DIY FWI.

To the original poster, I think there are a couple of thread on here discussing which intake. My comment about not wanting to get in to the performance part was only because, it depends on so many things, and people will eventually either just pick an option that their wallet says performs well, or will try different options to see what works best for them...RECOMMENDED

I would love to run a cone off of the TB to free up the space, however, on my daily driver, with the mods I have, cold air is prefered by the engine over additional flow that I can't use anyway...

This was discussed at length at NAIOA. The general consensus is that intercooled drivers would prefer the open cone because of the increase flow, and the air will be cooled by the intercooler anyway. For non-intercooled, the cooler is of much greater benefit.

I did a lot of debating before I bought my intake. I wanted something with looks and function. I was very close to buying the JMB, but didn't feel like putting holes in my car. I ended up going with the WizAired and have been very impressed ever since.

There is a test comparing a number of intakes on the same car, but obviously they did not test every intake system out, and the claim could be made that since its an affiliate of ZZP that they could have skewed the info. Although I do not think that this is the case.