There are two main types of intake systems available for a car or truck. There is the short ram intake and the cold air intake. We always get the question of which is better, which makes more power, which is easier to install, and which sounds the best. Of course, this varies for every car and every different setup, but we’ll tackle this question below and hopefully this article can help you better understand the differences between each setup, and the pros and cons to each as well.
Cold Air Intake
A cold air intake is designed to drawn in as much cold air as possible, giving it the name cold air intake. Some people also call it a cool air intake, because it’s design is such that it places the air filter as far away from the heat of the engine as possible. A cold air intake usually is placed in the fender of a car, under one of the sides of the engine, or somewhere behind the engine depending on the engine design and fitment possibilities. Due to the intake having more piping, the cold air is usually more expensive, and more difficult to install. Part of the cost is also the research and development that goes into each intake to make sure that the intake performs properly. Since this intake has more piping length and bends, the manufacture needs to be sure that the air/fuel ratio remains in safe levels, which takes a lot of testing and development.
Another key take away is that since the air filter is farther away from the heat of the engine, your car is less likely to be affected when your radiator fan flips on. On some setups, the intake is near the radiator fan, so when the fan turns on and blows heat away from the radiator, it might blow the air right into your intake, causing poor performance.
Short Ram Intake
A short ram intake is the most popular type of intake on the market. This intake is designed to simply replace your factory intake with a new smooth pipe and an open element air filter. Due to this, the cost is less than a cold air, and also is much easier to install. Since the intake is in the same location as your factory intake system, it’s design allows for engine heat to have an easier path into your intake system, creating less horsepower and torque than an equivalent cold air intake.
In the picture on the right, you see a short ram intake setup on a BMW M5. This car is a dual intake setup, so this particular intake kit comes with two pipes and two air filters. Some people also like the short ram intake better due to the looks of the kit since the air filters are in the engine bay.
Why doesn’t my car have the option for a cold air intake?
When a manufacture builds an intake for a car, they typically test all available options. In their testing, sometimes the cold air intake either doesn’t add more power over a short ram, or doesn’t add enough to justify a price difference. In rare cases, a cold air might decrease power due to the maf sensor or another intake design that doesn’t work well with your particular vehicle. In these cases, the manufacture will only have a short ram intake available.
Some intakes come with a heat shield. Is this worth it?
Absolutely. If a heat shield is available for your aftermarket intake system, we recommend to get it. Usually this allows a short ram intake to make more power, since it blocks off some engine heat from reaching your open element air filter.
I have seen intake scoops, do these help? How about ram air?
These help as long as the design is executed well. You’ll see some race cars have intake scoops that scoop air from the bottom of the car, or the front of the bumper routing into the air filter. This allows more cool air to reach your air filter which creates more power. A ram air works about the same way. A true ram air forces air direct into your air filter, which gives your car more power since it essentially turns your intake into a cold air intake.
In the picture on the right, you can see how the air filters are surrounded by a shroud. When the hood closes, it seals this shroud, creating a blocked off ram intake.
Are short ram intakes with an air box worth it?
Some manufactures have intakes that include an aftermarket performance air box. This typically has much higher flow than the stock air box and allows your air filter to get more air. These are good for engine bays that don’t allow for a heat shield, and have a problem of the radiator fan circulating hot air around the engine compartment.
What is heat soak?
Heat soak is when your intake piping becomes so hot, the piping heats up the air going into your engine, decreasing engine performance. A good intake system is built from material such as aluminum that doesn’t allow the piping to get hot enough to hurt performance.
Why are some intakes so much cheaper than others? Is there really a difference?
Many people think that an intake is an intake, and you should get one that is cheap since they all perform the same. This is far from the truth. Over the years, we have seen many people use cheap short ram intakes or cheap cold air intakes that actually hurt horsepower. Their design is simply a pipe with a cheap filter, and since it has no testing, the design doesn’t ensure that your air/fuel mixture remains in the proper range to allow your car to take advantage of the extra air flow, and instead this sends your computer into defense mode and it pulls back timing which hurts your performance.
A quality intake is more expensive because the manufacture invests lots of time and money to ensure that when you put the intake on your car, the design, size of the piping, length of the piping, thickness of the metal, and the quality of the air filter is good enough to put their name on it.
The air filter is a key component. It requires a good design because it’s supposed to allow more air flow, but capture as much or more dirt from entering your engine. It’s actually difficult to allow more air flow, but catch dust and dirt particles. Cheap intakes allow many more particles through that overtime can damage your engine, clog your sensors, and cause many other problems.
Why are some intakes smog legal but others are not?
Some manufactures make it an effort to have their intake tested by CARB (California Air Resources Board) to have it certified as smog legal. This is an expensive test, so not everyone does it. Smog legal intakes come with a sticker so that law enforcement knows your intake is smog legal, and you do not have a problem during smog time.
What is hydro-lock? Do I need an air-bypass valve?
Hydro lock is usually not an issue, but it can happen in some rare cases. Hydro-lock occurs when your cold air intake gets submerged in water, and your engine intakes water, causing engine damage. This can and has happened in the past, but it’s usually an extreme case. An air bypass valve installs in the middle of your cold air intake, so if this happens to you, the higher pressure of the air coming into the air bypass valve wouldn’t allow water to enter your engine. Some cold air intakes also convert into a short ram intake, so if you are worried about hydro-lock, we recommend to switch to a short ram intake during raining season or other conditions that may cause your air filter to be submerged in water, or water splashed up on your air filter.
I want a supercharger, turbo or nitrous. Which intake should I get now?
If you are going to go forced induction later, we recommend to wait on the intake. Just about every supercharger or turbo setup requires a different intake due to differences in the location of your throttle body, or other changes. A turbo setup is completely different, and you would need a special intake that comes with your turbo kit since it changes all of your intake plumbing and requires your intake to connect directly to the turbo. For a nitrous setup, it doesn’t really matter, since usually the nitrous is plumbed right at the throttle body.
You can see from the picture on the right how the intake attaches directly to the turbo on a turbo setup.
So which one do you recommend? Which is better?
As you can see from this article, it’s really up to what you are looking for out of your intake. A cold air typically makes more power, but costs more and is harder to install. A short ram is less expensive, easier to install, and sometimes creates less power. Some people prefer the looks of the short ram intake. Some people also like that the short ram intake is typically louder when you’re heavy on the throttle. Whatever you choose, keep in mind to get a quality intake that sets the foundation for your other aftermarket modifications that will benefit from a good flowing intake system.
Hi I have a 09 silverado 1500 5.3 with a ram air hood I would like to get a dual ram air intake where can I find one to fit my truck or how do I make one
thanks so much for this i think ill be getting a SRI now only because i dont really need more power i want it to look beast
In all honesty I don’t see how a cold air intake can be considered better, simply because the air is being pulled in the same way but the difference is the mediums it has to travel through. Which is why even though I am buying a supposedly cold air intake, im only going to use the pipe( its hard to find the right size pipe for my engine apparently) and throw out that pos air filter cuz the whole thing was like $50 haha. I’m keeping my stock air box with my flat spectre air filter in it ;D. Allows for a straight smooth passage to my air intake inlet and looks better than that air resonator. ANYHOW point being just go for the superchargers and turbo’s, i mean look at them. They are beautiful and really give your engine that gush of air 😀 anyone wanna buy me one for christmas??? ^.^ I think I’ve been a good boy this year!
the reason why cold air intake is generally considered better is because your engine doesn’t like to run on hot air, and when it does you lose power. but when using a cold air intake the air entering your car is much cooler than if it was sucking air from the engine compartment with a short air intake, thus the engine will generate more power.
Well why read the article when you summed it up for the writer. Get a life.
You get what you pay for. Spectre is bottom shelf AutoZone garbage. Try finding an aftermarket intake that has actually been designed for your car or an OEM upgrade. Don’t ever buy universal fit mods for your car because more often than not, it won’t do a thing for your vehicle. There are a million products out there that companies count on you to buy because they are affordable that promise positive results. But you are just buying a placebo effect. People who buy cheap parts generally won’t throw hundreds of dollars towards dyno testing their vehicle to actually find out how much (if any) power they have gained. All you can really do when you are on a budget and want to mod your car is to do a lot of research from creditable sources to get the most bang for your buck.
You know Spectre and K&N are sister companies right??? Good grief do some research before spouting garbage!!!!
Gay
ok so i see the difference between the 2 but you only mention “short” ram air intakes, what if I’m looking at a ram air intake that would be the same length and distance from the motor that any cold air intake would be? whats the difference then? cuz to me it seems like it would do the same exact thing for cheaper…
Cold air is better for the engine and causes more hp.
Well if it was just as long, and bring in air from outside…. It is a cold air intake. Read the article and stop asking redundant questions.
i have a 03 lancer oz rally.. its automatic.. how limited am i when it comes to custom parts?
Awesome
At the end of all this info …I didn’t see which one is best …so dumb..
From what I have read, the cold air seem to be better because it away from the engine hot air. But wat if we use the short ram with a shade that block the hot air from the engine, from going into the ram air filter n also use an air directer to drive the air right into the filter from the bottom of the car or what not, In this case will the cold air still be better or give more horsepower than the ram?
I understand the concepts, now no have a 2003 infiniti G35 DE motor version, and I’d like to get at least 3 or more top choices of what supercharger kits I should look into for that model type and one that won’t blow my engine or put it under a lot of stress, and what prices should I be expecting for them.
I also have heard many people say 400 horsepower is the limit you can push these engines to without blowing it, others have gotten away with 450 horsepower but others weren’t as fortunate so I dont want to make more than 400hp/torque. Please fill me in eit h details and prices of products and their availability/ quality.
You can get something called a heat shield for the air intake. Sometimes they come with them. It helps, but cold air intakes still do a better job of bringing cold air because they are located far from the engine and the pipes are heat resistant.
Rams are still right next to the engine and also in the vicinity of the radiator that is going to blow heat to it.
It’s not going to matter if you get a short ram or a cold air intake if the piping gets too hot, while a cold air intake in theory can net more horsepower based on it not sucking in all the engine heat, the short ram doesn’t go through so much curve piping but it naturally sucks in hotter air. In the end the cold air intake will naturally run more efficiently then the short ram because the short ram is closer to the engine which is more prone to heat soak. You also have to consider that regardless of choice, both pipes are directly connected onto the intake manifold which is connected to the engine which gets so hot that they heat up the intake pipe either way. There are way too many variables to determine if you gain power. If you go short ram I would recommend a heat shield. That way it should almost guarantee to be better then a stock restrictive airbox which most people don’t realize these also get super hot under the hood even if the airbox grabs cooler air, all those twist and turns will just make hot air anyway. If you are very serious and want maximum cold air efficiency then you will have to make your filter stick out taking the spot of your headlight (which will look stupid.) You’re only guaranteed to get maximum cold air efficiency if you limit the bends in it and private sticking straight out to where air is going to be plowing right on the filter. You can even make your own intake however you want with PVC pipe, while this is not recommended but I have seen it done correctly and gave pretty good results.
These options are personal preference.