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Question:

Benifits of cold air intake?

What is the average HP gain after adding a cold air intake? Is there a MPG increase or decrease? My car is an 89 thunderbird, non-supercharged.

Answer:

Turbos are related to exhaust.that's an annoying comment. hp gain.that's a more annoying comment. I'm in no mood to explain turbochargers or exhaust front to back so I'm giving generals all around target pipe diameters. 20-25psi boost 3 15-20 psi boost 2.75 Under 15 psi boost 2.5 25-30 psi boost--don't worry about the exhaust.if the engine wasn't built your going to brick it anyway. X pipe keeps exhaust from different manifolds separated; each manifold has it's own exhaust tract that meets in the middle (generally to go through a cat) and then goes to it's outlet. Y pipe basically goes to a single outlet after the cat. Straight pipe basically doesn't have any cat (usually) and typically no resonators but usually mufflers. Do I need a cat for a turbocharged car? No. You need a high flow cat. You can run without one if you don't have visual inspection and crack your pcm/ecm/ecu. Without a cat it will sound horrible. Will it perform better without a cat? Yes. Turbocharged vehicles have boost lag, boost kicks in over 4k (typically) and gains from removing the cat are typically up top; so there would be a benefit to removing the cat in a turbo vehicle. But you are trading low rpm driveability for high rpm power (basically).and it will attract attention from cops. Assuming this is a manual vehicle. I'm bored that's all I'm saying.
Mainly it just gives the intake a cool throaty sound. HP might be just 2 or 3 at the rear wheels. unless you have a combination of mods. Depends on the car for MPG I've seen it go both ways.
Yes there is a definite HP gain. The HP gain is around 8-12 HP on most cars with a cold air intake. Also, It does help MPG because you are letting your engine breath better.
I wish I could say you'll see a major jump in both but unless you boost your system you will maybe see 2-3% increase in both. you see cold air is denser then hot air so it expands farther and faster. but unless you are pushing more air in the engine will only draw in so much on each stroke of the piston.

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