Modification: Warm Air Intake

[Matt Timion]

let's not forget that this will also help warm your engine faster and will cut down on part of the mileage hit we all take during the winter time. I'd do this mod right now if I didn't have to plan for my engine swap.

[MetroMPG]

good points, both. i'll edit that (faster warmup) into the list of benefits.

the honda crowd is particularly sensitive to this mod since warm intake air is crucial for honda motors' ability to go into lean burn mode.

[SVOboy]

^^ huh? I'm prolly not thinking of the newer engines. Is this an insight trait?

[kickflipjr]

this is my current setup.

Yeah, insights (maybee civic vx) go to lean burn with warm air. Some insight owners say they never go to lean burn during the winter months.

[SVOboy]

Civic VX lean burn is based on rpm, oil pressure, and coolant temperature. Not intake air temp, though that makes sense.

[MetroMPG]

did a bit more fiddling and went for a drive today. i was originally planning to do my controlled runs to test the effectiveness of the WAI with the scangauge, but i ended up driving around looking for a host car for EV conversion instead. focus... FOCUS!!!

but while driving, i did note that i've got lots of available heat with my current WAI set-up tweaked with an aluminum foil "shroud" to collect hot air around the inlet:

- ambient temp, 25F
- coolant temp 195F
- hottest intake air temp (IAT) 105F (idling in traffic)
- steady speed driving IAT, 95F
- after reverting back to stock CAI, the IAT slowly (10 mins) dropped no to lower than 39F (the intake tract obviously soaks up some engine bay heat and transmits it to the sensor or to the air passing thru from the CAI inlet inside the fender)

so this tells me i've at least got a wide temp range to experiment with. i'm going to try to get out again when the weather permits and do some controlled runs.

today i also got my first chance to calibrate my scangauge against a fill-up. it was 2% off (below) what the pump said. not bad, and within an acceptble margin of error for a small (10L/5gal) fill up (plus i splashed a tiny bit out).

also, the scangauge records actual volume consumed, whereas the pumps here are volume corrected to 15C, meaning it actually reported a higher volume pumped today than was in fact delivered, since the temperature is well below 15C. (i have read that not all US states use volume correction at the pumps, but it is canada-wide.)

i also returned to the same pump and parked in the same spot i used for my previous fill up to control for pump differences as well as car angle (i've found my tank fills to different levels depending on the slope it's on when fueling. as a result, i usually try to park with the car sloping basically forward and to the right so the filler neck is at the highest corner of the car).

[MetroMPG]

(edit: duplicate post removed)

[SVOboy]

May I poke at you to say some instantaneous gas mileage differences? Even if not totally accurate?

[MetroMPG]

of course i couldn't help keeping my eye out for a non-scientific "preview", but it was really too uncontrolled to be of any use. too soon to tell, sorry!

winds are supposed to be light tomorrow. i may get out for a proper test.

[MetroMPG]

went out for a little drive this afternoon (ev host hunting) and got some more figures on the WAI.

- ambient temp, 45F (alright, it's january thaw time!)
- coolant temp 200F
- hottest intake air temp seen (IAT) 112F
- steady speed driving IAT, 104F
- mpg for the trip 52.9 (US) - mostly hwy driving @ 80 km/h (50 mph) > 80 kms.

i know the mpg is still useless data, because i have no direct comparison yet in the same conditions with and without WAI. the last time i measured my mpg at that speed without WAI it was 10F colder out, and i recorded 48.6 mpg (us). so really it's not safe directly compare those or draw any conclusions.

but the temps are interesting (to me anyway). i heard the radiator fan come on at least once - 45f ambient is too warm for my full grille block. normally the temp averages 195.

i'm done a bunch of work i had to do on deadline for this week, so i will sneak out when possible for a proper test if the right (calm) conditions present themselves.