Dickmeyer Automotive's Mazda B3 Performance Valve Train Kit

[drumnerd33]

Yeah im also not hating on cold air intakes i just hate to see people spend the money thinking that its gonna give them like 10hp its just not true. in the long run yes a cold air intake is a good investment especially if you plan on doing other upgrades.

[Aaronbrook37]

Yeah im also not hating on cold air intakes i just hate to see people spend the money thinking that its gonna give them like 10hp its just not true. in the long run yes a cold air intake is a good investment especially if you plan on doing other upgrades.

Definitely. Good place to start. Especially when you can build your own using Home Depot and Ebay parts for under $50 with ease.

[rmoltis]

So cold air intakes may not be deigned well. But the concept of cold air used increasing power is fact. Cold air is denser than hot air this is fact. And on the coldest days around my house I get a %3-%5 increase in my volumetric efficiency as reported by my scanguage II. With my stock airbox with drop in k&n, header and exhaust.

So I guess it depends on what you perceive a cold air intake to be. If you think a kit that is sold as a whole that is mass produced as a cold air intake kit chances are the people who developed it didn't produce it to fit everyone's engine. They change the pipe length and width In Their designs that alter how the cars induction works.

But if you were to say keep your stock airbox and shroud it completely inside of a heat shield with cold air tube supplying air to the sectioned off portion of the engine this would in fact be a cold air intake and I gurantee you would see a difference. in fact this is one of my future plans. You see as the denser air charge enters the engine and is ignited the heat causes it to expand to more than its original size giving you that much more force percentage wise . than if the hot less dense air were to enter and then expand after ignition. It's kind of like more complete cylinder filling.

The idea of stock intakes are breathing in the warm engine bay air to help the car warm up to temperature. As well as on cold days to help them maintain their temperature for most efficient operating temperature. But say you are driving on a hot summer day the engine bay temperatures can hit 100 degrees or more depending on the weather and with the engine up to temperature and all the metal of the block and pistons etc all having expannded due to being warmed up. This gives you more capacity so if you can also fill those cylinders with a cooler charge than what is in the engine bay you have the potential for a few more percentage points of power/cylinder filling.

The main reason cold air intake kits cause power losses is mainly because they are usually designed for best flow. Which as a side effect they lose their air velocity. With a stock setup it may be a little restrictive but that is meant to delay the intake wave so that the air keeps moving when the valve is closing and as the air piles up by the valve the air velocity at the beginning of the intake is still moving forward which forces air to build up pressure in the cylinder before the valve fully closes.

And on a side note my last aspire had a cone filter with a heat shield. And a hood scoop directly above it for a true cold air intake. Stock exhaust, stock engine, iridium plugs and premium wires. Now with the stock airbox my car would top out at 85mph on flat road in fifth gear at sea level. But with the cold air setup I was now able to achieve 107 and max out my speedometer would this not indicate an increase in power??

Hood scoop


Cone filter


Heat shield


Is it false because that test proves that "cold air intakes" don't work??

it is true that heads can only flow a ceratain amount of air. That's the point of cold air intake is because that same cfm of air at a colder air temperature is denser which means it contains more air per same measured volume.

That is also the reason your car makes more power at sea level because there is more air pressure so the air is denser than up in a mountain.

[rmoltis]

The science involved in this whole discussion doesn't lie. You can get a test to produce certain results if you don't understand the variables involved. Your referring specifically to an aftermarket upgrade but a cold air intake can also use a stock airbox which makes this whole argument a moot point.

The concept of a cold air intake is more of a process than an item you buy.

I tested my stock airbox on my current aspire with a stock filter with my scanguage and I would achieve %75 volumetric efficiency.
Then I tested my stock airbox with my drop in k&n filter and I get up to %82 volumetric efficiency.
And on days where the temp outside is below 20 degrees I get %85 volumetric efficiency.
Now when I finally shroud my stock intake and supply air from outside my engine bay I can expect all those figures to rise. Just based on past statistics gathered from normal operation with intake drawing under the hood warmed air.

[drumnerd33]

Re: Dickmeyer Automotive's Mazda B3 Performance Valve Train Kit

Yes you are correct that colder air is denser and in fact does increase power. Most cold air intakes still pull air from inside the engine bay which is hotter air, yes if you pull air directly from outside the engine bay you will see better results then with a bought cold air intake... Like I said I'm not hating on them its just all these after market cold air intakes are just a tube with a cone filter and have no difference in where the stock air box gets its air from... So there claims of up to 20hp gain are false. Just don't want people thinking you can bolt on a cold air and now instead of 60 hp to my wheels I have 80 hp, that's all not trying to start a war or anything just keeping facts straight... The companies who sell cold air intakes want you to buy there products so they will say whatever it takes to get you to buy it. Now k&N has some of the best ones in my own opinion, if you look at there's they have a sealed off place for the filter to help pull in only cooler air and have plastic tube vs metal tube. The metal tube is only going to transfer the heat from the engine to the air your moving through it because the metal tube is sitting in the engine bay and gets hot. I think the plastic would actually be a better insulator then metal. Metal transfers cold and head very well plastic does not

Sent from my LG-LS970 using Tapatalk 2

[RhodeStiva]

i like that^ great idea now bring some cold wether down to florida.

[drumnerd33]

Re: Dickmeyer Automotive's Mazda B3 Performance Valve Train Kit

Like I said I'm not trying to argue... Just point out that a 200 cold air intake is not going to give you 20hp. That's all just hate seeing people bolt on parts and think they have all this hp when they dont

Sent from my LG-LS970 using Tapatalk 2

[drumnerd33]

Re: Dickmeyer Automotive's Mazda B3 Performance Valve Train Kit

It's like my buddy with his Honduhhhh, he has all these bolt on parts like cold air and stainless exhaust with fart can and has larger fuel injectors.... What are larger fuel injectors gonna do on completely stock motor with stock computer and some bolt ons? Absolutely nothing.... The computer is going to read the o2 sensor and adjust the air to fuel accordingly for optimal burn... So somebody thought that putting larger fuel injectors would give him more power... He was sold buy some company. And he still thinks that all those bolt on parts will beat my built b3.....I told him we will just have to prove it I guess:p

Sent from my LG-LS970 using Tapatalk 2

[rmoltis]

So I agree that if you want to make better power. Just buying a mass produced part isn't the way to go.
Best route is to understand your engine and what you want. Learn the science involved and design a setup specifically tailored to your setup, and you will gain more and spend less. Most stuff on forums is just a matter of semantics. Just choose your words carefully in how you describe your thoughts because a lot of discussions are a result of people's perceptions of what you are explaining. I tend be a literal person because the English language is defined and leaves no room for "thoughts" or "opinion" just definitions of the words involved.

[TominMO]

Let's bear in mind that the CAI cannot flow more air than can get past the MAF or VAF, or the piping between it and the intake manifold. A stock air filter wil flow more air than can get past the MAF, if it is not in a restrictive factory airbox. Do the math; compare the stock filter's area with the area of the MAF/VAF intake. This is even more true when you consider that the filter material is not flat, but folded, to increase the filter's area.

Just lose the lower airbox half, or drill a bunch of holes in it. That will get you all the air your otherwise-stock motor can suck in.

[mattdickmeyer]

This will either help or piss everyone off.....

I see conversations like this ALL the time here on the Forum about a particular topic. What starts out as what works well on a Festiva will end up with what works well on a WWII P51 Mustang. In all this conversation don't forget that you are dealing with a 79CI 4 cylinder & that in it's stock form only draws in so much air. So if a stock inlet tube offers no resistants in air flow then the theory of installing a large diameter intake tube with a cone filter to reduce intake restriction will create more HP is incorrect. When I first started all of this, I built a cold air intake & dynoed the car with a fan blowing across the engine to simulate air moving thru the engine compartment. I picked up .4HP at 5,000 RPM. The fact is, is that these mods ( CAI, Header, ect...) really don't start to have an effect until the cylinder head has the ability to process air to a point that exceeds stock components. As I have said before, starting with the cylinder head is the best place to begin as I have shown it to more then double the HP. And no it's not cheap, but there is NO hobby that is. I think that some people install some of these components & want to believe so badly that it increased performance that they convince themselves that their car feels faster. I'm not giving anyone a hard time by no means, but the comment of picking up 22 MPH means that your CAI netted you around 40 HP. We have built SEVERAL cars for Bonneville & El Mirage, in fact, we are doing 2 right now. When you have the ability to dyno parts & different modifications, as I have, you come to find what works & what doesn't & there is ALOT of products out there that advertise HP increases that are just plain lies.

[bhazard]

Re: Dickmeyer Automotive's Mazda B3 Performance Valve Train Kit

What he said.

An intake will make more noise. Just like an exhaust. You're just unmuffling the car.

[drumnerd33]

Re: Dickmeyer Automotive's Mazda B3 Performance Valve Train Kit

I was hoping Matt would chime in... I am no expert by any means... Matt is, But I wasn't trying to argue or piss anybody off just trying to help people not spend wasted money that's all

Sent from my LG-LS970 using Tapatalk 2

[sketchman]

I wouldn't spend much on it, but I like the look and the sound it gives me to have a DIY intake. I did splurge on a $170 setup from K&N once for my Focus, and even that was worth it from a tidiness and sound POV and given that it's a perfect drop in piece, if you have $170 to throw away on it.

If I spend less than $50 on one, I'm happy with what it does, even if it's not $50 worth of HP. It's kinda nice to never have to buy another air filter too.

[Aaronbrook37]

Alright, alright... if we're on a $500 budget and we're not going to do an intake, what is it you recommend then, Matt?