:confused: What is Cai?

 

Cold Air Intake.

 

don't feel bad. even though this is gonna be my first jeep, it took me a while to figure it out as well ;o

 

A while ago, there was a discussion and someone mentioned a "bowtie" in reference to an engine. I had to ask what a bowtie was, and as it turns out it's simply a term for a Chevy. I had never, ever heard a Chevy referred to as a Bowtie. Just because you are not familiar with something does not make you an idiot. If that was the case, I have you beat hands down.

Cold air intakes have a longer tube for the air filter that moves it to the side of the engine compartment and uses shielding to help reduce the amount of hot air that is taken into the engine. The cooler the intake air, the more efficient for burning fuel. You can generally expect better mileage and more horsepower when you install a "cold air intake".

I'm sure there is someone who can give us the proper explanation but I hope that gives you an idea.


Beel

 

Don't feel like an idiot, we've all been there. Heres some of the abbreviations i've stumbled over in the process of building up my jeeps over the years.

TB... Throttle Body
FIPK... Fuel Injection Performance Kit
IFS... Idependant Front Suspension
IRS... Idependant Rear Suspension
PCM... Powertrain Control Module
ECU... Engine Contol Unit
IMHO... In My Humble Opinion (for years i thought it was In My Honest Opinion)
BB... Budget Boost (coil spring spacers)
BL... Body Lift
T/C... Transfer Case
CA... Control Arms
R&P... Ring and Pinion
D/L... Drag Link
T/R... Tie Rod
S/C... Super Charger (oh how i wish i had one)
MIL... Malfunction Indicator Lights
OBDII... On Board diagnostics Two (all cars 96 and up have this connector for reading MIL codes and reprogramming the PCM/ECU)


These are just some of the things that come to mind that i've read over the years and asked my self What the hell does that mean?... I'm sure you've come across many of these if not all... but if not, it'll help sort things out for you, and if nothing else, it will show you that we've all been there (or at least i have. lol)

 

ROTFLOL... Rolling on the floor laughing out loud

 

awwww dammit.

And here I thought it was a reference to being a bit on the loose side.

This explains why i was always getting turned away in chat rooms. :sad:

 

Beel, cold air is more desirable for making horsepower because it is more dense. You can only get a certain volume of air into the combustion chamber without a pressurized intake (supercharger/turbocharger). The more dense the air is, the more oxygen molecules you will have in the same volume. Because your Jeep's O2 sensor makes fuel adjustments based on O2 readings in the exhaust, you will also get more fuel into the combustion chamber as well. More fuel and O2 = more power. THe CAI kits also aid in increasing the airflow into the combustion chamber by reducing the restriction and turbulence caused by the poorly designed stock air intake systems. That being said...I'm actually not a big fan of them in Jeeps due to the increased potential for water being sucked into the system. Jeep actually does a pretty good job of reducing this possibility on the stock Wrangler airbox.

 

intakes in general tend to provide more horse power in the lower rpms, hardly ever do they provide a lot of horse power up top as in what is showed on a dyno sheet. Be careful and don't believe everything you read about CAIs. Since air is generally sucked into an engine and not pushed (which creates a vacum) in a vacum air expands so there is question whether the engine actually sees the denser air or whether the CAI just allows the engine to suck air more efficiently. There are a lot of people that will tell you a CAI will give 15-20hp... this is BS, expect 5 at the most from an intake.

There are many dynos out there to support both sides of the theory, dynos as a rule are inaccurate. Weather, temperature, air pressure, temp of the actual dyno and vehicle all will change the numbers. I have seen the same truck dyno 5 times in half an hour and the variations from dyno to dyno were as much as 30hp all due to them loosening and tightening the straps that hold the vehicle down.

Spending a lot of money on a CAI is a risk and some of them are very loud at low rpms.

In my opinion they are not worth the money but thats just me and im sure others will disagree.

 

Thanks everyone for the input and explanations.

I'm not disagreeing with you or trying to start a debate. These are the results one member provided after doing a swap with exhaust and intake on his JK.

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/jk-write-ups-39/results-848/

Only for consideration for anyone who is interested.

Beel