Performance air filters

[flashp]

OK, not sure if this has been raised before but here goes...

Regarding intake air tempeature on a turbo charged vehicle - the volume of air is required, but is the temperature really a problem? Watch this and see what you think. http://www.universal-turbos.com/video.htm

For a naturally aspirated engine then I can see that it is important since there is no intercooling.

So, do you really need to spend £400+ on the latest and greatest intake or would a performance filter from a reputable manufacturer be as good and give a substantial saving??

[Janner_Sy]

Put simply, ignore that link.  Its actually the opposite, intakes on NA cars often make no difference or make things worse.

Intakes on the 2.0TFSI have proven gains of upto 18Hp from back to back dyno runs at independant dynos.  Particularly so on tuned cars.  That said there are other intakes which dont provide the gains and actually strangle the power.  Panel filters are also pretty much proven to give negligible gains.

With temp on the 2.0TFSI, its widely regarded that for every 1^oC rise in the Intake Air Temp, you will suffer a 1Hp loss of power.

[flashp]

Put simply, ignore that link.  Its actually the opposite, intakes on NA cars often make no difference or make things worse.

Intakes on the 2.0TFSI have proven gains of upto 18Hp from back to back dyno runs at independant dynos.  Particularly so on tuned cars.  That said there are other intakes which dont provide the gains and actually strangle the power.  Panel filters are also pretty much proven to give negligible gains.

With temp on the 2.0TFSI, its widely regarded that for every 1^oC rise in the Intake Air Temp, you will suffer a 1Hp loss of power.

What made sense to me here was I could accept that there is likely to be a degree of heat exchange as intake air passes through the turbo hence they say leaves the turbo en route to the intercooler at ~200 degrees. Would air, say maybe 20 degrees cooler before it reaches the turbo, make any difference if it becomes heated in this way?

On an NA vehicle my point was that cooler air is more beneficial rather than volume of air since there is no intercooling, hence I agree a free flowing filter is only really beneficial on a forced induction vehicle as they volume of air required is inherently higher.

When you talk about intake air where in the system is that temp measured? I would assume it would be somewhere on the output side of the intercooler.

Just trying to understand the science and analysis here!

[Gaz]

I see where your thinking comes from. Obviously a N/A cars inducted air is going to be used around whatever temperature it is inducted at, since there is no turbo to heat it, or intercooler to cool it. So you would think it would benefit a lot more from a cold air intake.

Where as a turbo/ intercooled car will induct air, then heat it via the turbo before being cooled again through the intercooler. Obviously air at say 60 degrees will still be heated the same amount as air at say 10 degrees, and will only be cooled down the same amount, so you would imagine it will still roughly be the same amount hotter as it was initially inducted?

That would be my thinking anyway. I suppose it depends on intercooler performance etc too.

Ah who knows..