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When it comes to modifying cars to squeeze more power from the engine, people tend to look at upgrading their air filter or air intake system as a starting point. This is understandable because the way an internal combustion engine works is that it sucks in air, mixes fuel to it and ignites the mixture to produce expansion within the combustion chambers. This will cause the engine to ‘rotate’ which in turn drive the wheels. Therefore the stronger the rotation or the more powerful your engine is the faster the wheels will spin and the car becomes faster. Of course there are other factors that govern the speed of the car such as traction and aerodynamics but for the purpose of this article we will only be studying the air intake process.
Many believe that as stock, most intake systems are restricted and prefer to use aftermarket systems that optimises the air intake of the engine. The purpose of the air filter is to prevent dust particles and other larger objects from entering the engine’s combustion chambers as they can be harmful to the engine and reduce it’s lifetime. One type of performance air intake is the replacement filter. Brands such as Pipercross, K & N and others produce either ‘drop in’ filters or replacement cone type filters. As stock, the air intake system is constructed as a casing that houses the filter itself and a pipe that connects to the intake manifold and throttle body. The drop in filters are designed to simply replace the factory filter whilst using the original casing. Most of the time factory filters use cheaper materials and can sometimes be too restrictive. Therefore, using a less restrictive filter material can allow the engine to ‘breath’ better as air can pass through the filter more effectively. The replacement cone filters however, gets rid of the casing system all together and the filter just simply sits at the end of the intake pipe. Many believe that this type of filter is the most effective and produces most power gains. This is dependent on the engine itself and the design of the original intake system as a whole.
When air is sucked into the engine and ignited with fuel, it is actually the oxygen with the air that burns. Colder air has higher density of oxygen and therefore will burn better and ignitions will be more powerful. By bolting on an aftermarket cone filter directly to end of the intake pipe, the engine ends up taking in hot air from within the engine bay. This can obviously have a negative effect on the power output. With forced induction (turbo powered engines) however, the cone filters will work well. This is because forced induction is all about volume – the more the better. The replacement drop in filters can be a better choice for less heavily modified engines because the original filter case is kept in place and air is taken from outside of the engine bay. Another factor to consider is the heat conductivity of the air intake casing and piping within the engine bay. If the material used absorbs the heat from the engine then other modifications will need to be used to rectify this.