How much extra power from colder intake temps?
How much extra power can you get from lowering intake temps with heat shields? Is it worth the hassle?
8 Celsius drop in temperatures gave a 5% increase in engine power.
The Test
I recorded an 8.3 Celcius reduction in air temperature reducing acceleration time by 0.3 seconds, between 115km/h and 140km/h
How much horsepower does that equate to?
Using the StrikeEngine engine power calculator
Engine produced 159PS at 9.3 Celsius and 151PS at 17.7 Celsius.
An 8 Celsius change in temperature gave the engine an extra 5% of power or in this case 8PS.
For such a small change in the intake temps, the difference in power is huge.
This test was on a normally aspirated engine.
Can you imagine how much lower temperatures will have on a turbo vehicle whose intake manifold temperatures are much higher than ambient temperature?
Anything that can be done to lower the temperature of the air entering the engine is a good thing, even if it only lower the temps by a few degrees.
