Would a K and N cold air intake help a vehicle in any way?
It makes the engine louder, a good thing in the view of the playing card in the bicycle spoke crowd. There can also be a marginal (not enough to feel) increase in power at full throttle and very high rpm. but if you are driving like that more than a few seconds a year something is wrong with your driving. Our new guy at work had a KN intake on his Scion. A couple months ago he drove through some water that was deeper than he thought and it sucked water in the intake, destroying his engine. On the other hand he got to see what a thrown rod looked like.
Well they can increase horsepower and performance slightly since cold air is more dense than warm or hot air and can hold more gas vapors for combustionthereby increasing power. However, in winter time and extremely cold temps, it can also lead to icing problems in the intake system which is why most cars are engineered to draw warm or hot air into the intake/air filter from the engine compartment or off the radiator or exhaust manifolds. I notice that my car seems more powerful on cold winter or autumn mornings when the engine is not fully warmed up and that is because it is drawing in colder air for a while. Years ago, I had a 70 Chevelle SS 454 with the cowl induction hood that drew in cold air from the back of the hood/base of the windshield and I could feel the difference with that system too. I also modified a 69 Impala SS 427 years ago and ran the air cleaner intake to the windshield wiper motor opening in the cowl for cold air inductionan old racing trick to draw colder air under pressure at driving speeds from the cowl area rather than from under the hood/engine compartment. Another racing trick is to run the air intake hose to a highbeam headlight opening or both years ago when cars had 4 round headlights. With modern car designs, there are fewer areas in the grille section to run air intake hoses to so you have to get creative. As one other guy stated, do not over-oil the K and N air filter as that can lead to problems with fouling the mass air flow sensor on newer cars. You can also fabricate your own system if you want to take the time to do so or modify the existing air intake to draw air from outside the engine compartment and switch back in winter time if needed.
Yes, when installed correctly. Over oiling can cause a problem and so can not using enough. I am not sold on the KN cold air intakes, because most modern cars have that built into the car from the factory.
