My new HAI and headers!!!

[Daox]

Optimal intake temperature differs from engine to engine. Only testing will tell you what the best temp will be. If I had to guess, most engines seem to like ~105-140F.

Since the O2 sensor mainly controls fueling, I highly doubt you'd get any leaning effect from messing with the IAT sensor (except in open loop mode which is not often at all).

[Jakins]

So far I have a 2 mpg increase on my best tank avarage. And this is in really cold weather compared when I got that. In comparison to the past couple months I have been getting like 40-44 and now I'm getting 49-54. This is definetly a great cold weather mod and te headers have helped out a whole lot too. I'm not sure which mod is more useful but if I had to choose between the hai and headers I'd pick the headers.

[mechman600]

Originally Posted by Jakins

Well dang thanks for letting me know. So what is the temp if any that it will be harmfull to FE? I know people like to fool their IAT sensors to lean the car out. That why I was doing it

Fooling the IAT to "lean the car out" only works momentarily. As soon as the 02 sensor catches on it will adjust the mixture back to stoichiometric. The 02 sensor is king of the [sensor] castle.

Timing is a different story. Like Daox said, a hot IAT reading will retard timing, if anything. That's backwards to what you want. That being said, I have messed around with fooling the IAT on many vehicles without any tangible success. The only engines that seem to respond well are diesels.

Actual hot intake temp is the key for some engines. But there again, many engines do not respond to HAI.

[RedDevil]

On my Insight the effect of warm air actually reduces FE when above say 110F.
To be precise; the hotter the engine gets, the cooler the intake air should be.
Sounds logical, no?

I ran it with LGB and no snorkel (which sucks cold air from the top grille to the intake behind the rad; so without it it takes radiator-heated air) and it went up as high as 125F even in very moderate driving. Sure FE dropped.

But the Insight II has EGR; up to 15% of the air it takes can be exhaust gas to improve clean burn and raise intake pressure on partial load, increasing efficiency. It also raises actual intake temp considerably.
Cars with no EGR can do well on higher intake temp. But even then the engine temp will play a part in the equasion.

I am planning a regulated WAI for my Insight. I'd love to be able to operate it while driving and find out what temp is best in what condition, and program it to reproduce those settings whenever needed.
Or even better: find out that someone has done that already and pick the fruit without having to plant the seed. I'm vigorously lazy, if needed.

[nbleak21]

I have experimented quite a bit with cold, cool, and warm air intakes on my Acura, and have found the optimal temps to be in the 125-140F range, with no ill effect on timing (stays between 29-45 degrees advance during cruising speeds.) Though to be fair, I am also running a VAFC, tuned accordingly.

As far as O2 being king of the **** castle, yes, this is true to an extent, but it does have it's limits, I can lean out my VAFC to the point where the ECU throws Bank 1 Lean codes, even though 02 correction parameters are unaffected by the VAFC.

[Jakins]

Man, I know this is allways such a touchy subject. My Hx does have an egr so I don't know if it will fall into the catagory that red devil is talking about. But without an obd2 scanner type thing I can't exactly tune it to perfection. But as of now it seems to be working great. I'd say warm up times are 25- 50 percent shorter which has helped alot. And in the cold weather it just works alot better then it used too.

Nbleak21
So did you find any solid information about cold air? Is constant warm air the best way to go? Because basically I have the resources to build any kind of intake I want. I can make it hotter or I can put the filter in the front bumper sucking up super could air or even do a variable temperature intake if that's te way to go

[nbleak21]

Sorry, no solid info in CAI... I'd imagine that it would be more be beneficial in P&G applications. Along with that, It's probably best to isolate the IM from the block with a spacer, as one of the performance oriented guys on here has done.., keeping the "cool air" from expanding as much, since the increase in pressure directly relates to more fuel via ECU.

There has been quite a bit of debate on the MAP vs MAF in warm air applications, and from my findings (miata = MAF) wai was not beneficial to MPG, though the cold ram air was, but only after I adjusted the clock spring in the AFM. Adjusting the AFM with wai netted detonation leaning it out, and a less than drivable lack of HP when enriching it.

As far as a scan tool, if you've got an android phone or tablet, spend the $25 on the torque app and compatible elm327 reader. It's worth every penny! If no android support, get a scan/ultra gauge! Without the ability to monitor your systems, you run a much higher risk in damaging them!

[brucepick]

Sorry, I also have no tested documented data.

However -
My WAI plus grill block plus 180 degree thermostat do a nice job keeping things warm. Even around 30-40 degrees, engine temp is around 190-195 F and intake is around 80-90 F. So I figure its like a spring or summer day as my engine and computer see it.

My WAI is several holes cut in the OEM air box below the filter, plus duct tape covering most of the oem intake snorkel port. The small open part reduces the intake moaning sound a good bit. The cuts pull warmed air from the radiator. Once warmrd up IAT is quite stable.

Stock HX thermostat is 172 deg and gives 182 temp because it reads water from the radiator. 180 deg tstat gives about 190-195 if u have a nicely managed grill block.