Cold Air Intake

Do you know if it's worth getting a cold air intake system for a ford Mustang v6?

I know it would give me 8 to 12 HP more. But does that means that it will use more gas? what would my gas Milage be like?

Reply to
jay
Loading thread data ...

No. No performance gains on a stock car. No more horsepower no more torque. Period. AND it will probably run worse with a stock type MAF.

LJH

95GT

Reply to
Larry Hepinstall

Reply to
Topher

Not quite getting it here I guess.

Here's the issue. The CAI and things of that nature will really only help you out if there's a reason to be drawing more air into the engine. If these things are the restriction, then you will gain some horsepower from them. The couple odd horsepower that you *might* gain from putting a CAI kit on your car could probably come from the filter flowing slightly better... but all in all, the couple horses you're going to get on a stock car won't even be noticable.

An engine is an air pump, basically. The more air (and fuel) you can get into it, the more power you can get out of it. However, more often than not, the air intake path isn't what's holding air back from entering your engine. The intake manifold itself can play a role, but bigger head ports will help much more. That's the reason a big intake on stock heads won't do much... your restriction is in your heads. A 75mm throttle body on a 57mm intake isn't going to do anything either, as you only have space for air through a 57mm opening. You'll probably do worse, citing unwanted air swirl in the throttle body as the air hits a metal wall. Chain's only as strong as its weakest link.

The MAF meter probably isn't much of a restriction either. I don't know how much really have to gain by putting one on.

JS

Reply to
JS

Thank You JS.. I see what you're saying.. it's like opening my pocket to fill with a jar of candy... if I get a bigger jar, it won't help because my pocket (sorry for the weird explanation) is still only so big.. so bigger heads will help? Any suggestions?

Much Thanks

Reply to
Topher

I don't think that the performance area has grown that much in the 3.8L flavor to have aftermarket heads yet, but I may be wrong.

There are a few websites devoted to getting the most from your 3.8L Mustang though. Do a websearch and see what you can come up with.

The only exception to your candy rule is if you have something to manually compress and force the candy into your pocket. A supercharger puts more air into the same hole than would normally occur using just the force of the engine. This will increase power significantly.

I seem to recall something like

formatting link
being one of the popular sites for performance modding the late model 3.8L cars. They will give you a better read on what really works on these cars. I've just laid down the basics. Perhaps the MAF meter or the air intake plastic tubing really is a restriction (as it is on my '97 Cobra).... but I doubt it. They'll know better.

JS

Reply to
JS

A new MAF will help IF you get a cold air kit.. specifically the Pro-M Univer MAF that samples air from 360 degrees instead of just one point. The extreme 90 degree bend in cold air kits screws up the airflow through the MAF and can cause loss of performance and poor driveability. The Univer MAF solves this problem.

I should note that I have a cold air kit on my engine. However, it was added to feed a built engine that makes over 400 hp. I also use the Pro-M Univer MAF and it does its job beautifully.

LJH

95GT

Reply to
Larry Hepinstall

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.