Cold Air Intake Heat Shield

The list of elements to be improved or replaced includes: air filter, throttle connection, receiver and intake manifold. Retrofitting the inlet system will also involve the installation of a straight-through exhaust manifold, a “top” camshaft, and changes to the engine management program.

Zero resistance filter significantly reduces resistance to airflow. Standard air filters have a filter element made of very dense material, and the design of such filters is not quite successful in terms of the amount of air flow. In the zero resistance filters, however, microscopic holes in the filter element allow for much larger amounts of air to be dissipated.

Installation of the filter has its own features. In order to prevent hot air from entering the cylinders, it is important to choose a place in the hood that is as far away from any heat sources as possible. A protective heat shield should also be installed. Cold air inlet systems are a part of this upgrade. Typically, they are an aluminum or carbon (depending on the manufacturer) cone, dressed tightly on the filter element and serving as a shield from the warm air coming from the engine. A corrugation is connected to the inlet opening, taking “overboard” cleaner and cooler air.

The special shape of the casing and the filter element itself creates additional turbulence to help fill the engine cylinders. As a result, we have: cold air from the street, reduced resistance due to nouvelle and passive inflation while driving the car.

This system by means of the extended collector takes air into the engine not from under a hot hood space, but practically outside. Such a scheme is based on the fact that for any internal combustion engine the temperature of the intake air is very important. The lower it is, the more gas density can be achieved, the higher the oxygen content needed for complete combustion and therefore the higher the power. For ordinary cars, this technical solution is little justified, but in sports models with large tightly packed turbochargers, the use of “cold intake” gives a small but still tangible increase in dynamics.

Does cold air intake need heat shield?

By place and method of placement the described systems are divided into several types. Filters can be closed and open. The first type is installed on a regular place, at the longest distance from the motor. The place should be as close to the street as possible (instead of the headlight, at the wheel under the wing).

Open filters are installed at the normal place. They can be without a heat shield or equipped with such a device.

In general, cold air intake needs a heat shield, however not many drivers have it installed on their car. Also, even these systems do not help in summertime and underhood heat radiating from the motor can heat the intake system.

Should I wrap my cold air intake?

In fact, cold air intake heat shield wrap will not do much in terms of protection from high temperatures unless you like the look of it. There might be a slight difference if you have extremely high underhood temperatures  and an aluminum CAI. If there is no serious heat soak or have a composite CAI, it is not worth it.

How do you make a heat shield?

When the engine is running, the inlet system heats up to high temperatures. Therefore, in the event of severe mechanical damage or significant corrosion of the thermal screens installed in the system, it is recommended that they be replaced.  In addition to reducing the level of comfort in the passenger compartment, a malfunction of the thermal screens may cause the body floor to become noisy due to high temperatures. It is easy to DIY. 

  • First, you should cut a sample template out of cardboard.
  • Then you can simply transfer it to a 1.5 mm thick metal and cut it out.
    You might want to use a high temperature paint. The collector itself is heated according to reference data about 800 degrees, so temperature-resistant paint is a must.

This heat shield is going to hold the heat like a magnet and stop the radiant heat from getting to the backside.

  • Or you can just make a template from plastic. Also, you can use couple of captive threads. All you need to do is to spin a nut on the back to space it out.
  • Then you transfer your template on a shield and leave an additional five mil on top of this because what we’re going to do is we’re going to put it over the edge of the bench and fold and form the edge down. You can cut this product with scissors or tin snips.
  • Then you should hammer the edge over 90 degrees and flip it over, then fold it 180 on itself so you can do this.
    The aluminum is pretty malleable even on those square edges that were sharp if you just tap them in on themselves. You’ll be able to fold and form and create a nice soft edge so you won’t cut yourself.
  • After that you should take this back to the car and put a fold in it through the top and then line it up with the studs.
  • Then put some holes through and bolt it up.

Does a short ram intake need a heat shield?

Unfortunately, no heat shield can shield the car from the heat of the compartment, since it pulls in hot air. That heat shield is useless for cooling that air, as it is not what it was made for. Its design does not presuppose that task. It is made to isolate one element from heat soaking another.

Editorial Staff

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