Heatsoak - Old wives tale, or genuine loss of power??

[Mr Burns]

This isn't a Clio specific question, but I thought the best answer would come from this forum...

My question is this... Does the way you run your air-feed genuinely affect performance? I've made my own air-feed and it sits right above the rocker cover and I'd imagine it probably sucks in hot air from the engine. It looks and sounds really good but I'm often told I'm losing power. Thing is though, am I??? Are we talking 1-2bhp that I wouldn't notice?? Anyone care to shed more light on the subject??

 

[OiNK]

I wouldn't claim to be an expert or anything, but yes you will lose a certain amount of power if your engine is sucking up nice hot air as apposed to a nice cold air feed, it makes sense if you think about it does it not? With regards to how much power is lost, yes probably minimal but again it depends on how hot the air is your engine is sucking compared to how cold it could be...

Something I have noticed with a few cars I have owned, integra type r, civic type r, fiesta st and the 182, they all seemed much happier on a nice cool evening than on a hot summers day, people will say it is all in your head etc, but there is a difference in how the cars I have owned perform on a hot day to a nice cool evening.

Some scientific/RR figures would be nice of course

 

[rampantreaper]

cool air is denser which means with more fuel more power. hence why altitude causes loss of power becuse its thinner and less dense(i think)lol

 

[Cro]

100% fact that heatsoak affects your power, and position for things like turbulence. By how much im not sure but i'd hazard a guess somewhere between 2-8+ hp dependant on how tuned the engine is

 

[Gouldy]

cold dense air is crucial to complete combustion and volumetric efficiency. the colder the air the better.

heat soak is bad, very bad

 

[tom172cup]

I had an inclosed carbon cone thing next to the battery with CAF. and Ktec took the piss and started banging on about heat soak and losing power. but then after their work had been done i had an open cone filter placed infront of the block and behind the rad/oil cooler. so i would take it all with a pinch of salt really Imo

 

[Bluebeard]

Cold air feeds are 110% pointless unless they are attatched to an enclosed filter box.

 

[mark123]

In a moving car I can't see it making much difference unless the air passes over the exhaust manifold or to a lesser extent the radiator before it hits the intake.

On the 1*2 with the exhaust manifold behind the intake in the bay and the air ducting that brings air into the bay behind the passenger headlight without it going through the radiator I would have thought it is minimal.