quote:Originally posted by PanteraDoug: I have to go with what the data Panterror posted on this subject.....All this work and re-engineering for probably only a 1% gain?
Keep in mind, what I actually said was most people that had attempted to improve charge air density had achieved 1-6% improvements in practice. This was a generalization about street cars based upon what I have learned from friends and acquaintances that have actually performed the work and measured the result. On my street cars I've always done what was practical and sensible and not worried about measuring the actual performance uplift. In practice, ram improvements are difficult to verify unless you have a fully instrumented car; usually in a racing environment. In general for street cars, ram air is probably not going to get you much but if the average charge air temp is 80F over ambient, that is certainly a nontrivial condition and in theory could represent over ~12% potential improvement due to charge air density alone and potentially more if due to other factors it allows for a higher state of tune to be safely achieved. The point being there is likely more power enhancement to be realized street cars by cooler charge air than ram air if you have excessive rise in charge air temp to begin with. One only needs to put a thermocouple in the inlet of the air filter and go for ride to find out. In competition, wringing every last ounce of performance is the name of the game. On the street, it’s only piece of mind and the value for money proposition can be different.
Best,
Kelly