Cold Air Kit
When installing a cold air kit, I understand that it's best to mount the air filter outside of the engine compartment, but with the air duct still being in the engine compartment wouldn't it be a good idea to insulate this as it's exposed to the heat of the engine compartment? Seems to me that even though the filter would be picking up cooler air that it would be almost as hot as if the filter was still under the hood.
Dan, 67Dart273 has a point. You need to be a good bit more clear in your thinking and questions and a whole lot more focused and descriptive. It would help if you had a car that your working on so it becomes a clear point of just that car.
To somewhat answer your question…..
Routing cold air into the carb is the goal for keeping the engines power constant and steady. But there are no kits available for older cars. But! As pictured earlier by a couple of members, home made is best made.
Routing a tube to the cowl or in front of the radiator is best.
On the tube, heat soak is a minor or less than issue. Once the car is moving and the air really gets moving as idle is a low draw, the incoming air has little time to pick up heat from the tube. Material of the tube matters a little bit, for sure.
There is plastic tube, thicker the better and the best to have.
There is metal tube. I don’t think this is the best but probably the most durable.
Then there is a fabric type of possible connection which is the worst. The type of thing I’m describing is what the factory used to connect the air cleaner snorkel to a fresher air sourced from the battery area seen on mid 70’s cars.
Plastic is the best against heat. Wrapping the tube no matter what it is constructed from is a help but not a huge item. I would not bother with it unless I was endurance racing.
The K&N cold air kits I have on my ‘18 Ram 1500 & the wife’s ‘15 Durango HEMI R/T are listed as 15/17 hp respectively and approximately the same in reverse, 17/15 for torque as claimed by K&N on there dyno but on earlier, lower powered HEMI engines. So, IMO, there more than probably making more power since the newer engines are more powerful.
This is why members here don’t think you’ll see such an improvement on the lower powered LA.
A lot of the power gain is not only how powerful the engine is but how restrictive the air coming in is as well as how much hot air the engine is ingesting.
I personally love the two pictured examples prior. My fav is the attachment to the cowl. (Nice work brother!)
The twin snorkel running the tubes up front is excellent as well. Where ever you can get cooler air is where the tubes should go. While it doesn’t bother me personally sei g these types of things on older cars, take the time to think before you use. I tend to think of such systems not as power adders but power retainers as in the system keeping the engine happiest and allowing it to consistently make all the power it was intended to make. Efficiently and constantly operating as intended.
Again, I’d use a thick plastic tube and not worry about the heat.
