Not a stupid question.

CAI = Cold Air Intake.

Aftermarket air intake that replaces your stock airbox, routed so that it pulls in cold outside air ... improves performance because (someone else is going to have to answer this one) ...


cold air is more dense, so there's more oxygen to burn?

 

Oh Oh i know this one! The colder the air the more power you will have. it combusts allot better wen the air is cold. some ppl use a fire extinguisher on their intercoolers to freeze the air inside the intercooler.

 

it combusts allot better wen the air is cold.

Hehe, ah, but that's the question, why does it combust better when the air is cold?

 

Because it's denser so there're more oxygen in there.

 

have you's seen the combustion chamber to a camry gen 2 motor? It is made with 2 inlet valves and 2 exhauset valves and the sparkplug is in the dead center of the chamber to get the best combustion. it is a sweet invention. DOHC EFI is just like a race car engine just not perfictly balanced or as high HP and alot cheaper. still a nice engine.

 

have you's seen the combustion chamber to a camry gen 2 motor? It is made with 2 inlet valves and 2 exhauset valves and the sparkplug is in the dead center of the chamber to get the best combustion. it is a sweet invention. DOHC EFI is just like a race car engine just not perfictly balanced or as high HP and alot cheaper. still a nice engine.

DOHC engines with 4 valves per cylinder are not race engines... they just normally have a narrow but nice power band. In the case of our engine (the 3s-fe) it is right smack dab in the middle of the rev range. That's why it kinda dies out on the top end. But its great for around-town type driving.

Oh, yes... cold air doesn't combust any better. It only has to do with the density. In fact, your car heats up the air to near the coolant temperature (there are coolant hoses heating up the intake manifold and throttle body) to increase the efficiency of combustion (to lower emissions), at the expense of some power. The reason cold air is better is only because of the higher density.

I have bypassed the coolant hoses on my throttle body and have a CAI myself...

-Charlie