Lately I've been monitoring intake air temps thru Torque. As it's gotten hotter here, the temp have climbed pretty damn high.

Today:
92 degrees ambient temp
200 degrees coolant temp (fan clutch is failing so temps slowly climb in stop and go traffic)
161 degrees intake air temp

161! When I started driving it very slowly started dropping, and during the 5-ish minute drive back to work it dropped to 140.

There's got to be an elegant way to get those air temps down.

I remember the dryer hose out the bottom of the engine thread, and I'm not real enthusiastic about that mod.

Any other ideas? I suspect the high temp is caused by a combination of hot temps under the hood and sun heating the left fender where the intake is.

Also, has anyone cut a vent to help air flow out of the engine compartment?

 

Are you on the stock intake? I've got the cold air intake and I'm consistently getting cooler temps than those. I checked mine last on an 87 degree day, warm engine at 197 degrees, and my intake temp was consistently below 100, around 95 degrees any time over 45 mph, and only climbed to about 115 at idle which dropped right back once I was moving.

Here is mine, as you can see its sucking air directly from the engine bay.

 

Hmm, I had been thinking about moving to a K&N, but figured underhood temps would drive the intake air temps up rather than lower.

Where'd you source the parts for the mod?

 

Got them off of eBay, just a couple cheap turbo couplings. I think they are 3.25", but you can easily check that with a tape measure, and a short length of pipe. I went with aluminum because I liked the look, but you could easily use a mild steel exhaust pipe or pvc if you could find the right diameter in either. As for the filter, I believe or was an e-1006, but it might've been a 1009. I'll double check when I get home Saturday.

The pipe you can also find on eBay searching for intercooler piping, but it will be just a little expensive ($35-$40 if I remember correctly). The couplings should be no more than $10 each. You'll also have to cut the tube off of your factory intake and cut a hole in the 45 degree bend for it to slide through. I glued it also just to help it a little. If you search a little ways back in my signature link to my blog you can find a picture of how I did it, but I don't have one on my phone right now.

 

How much wet weather has the cone filter been exposed to? I'd go this route but have reservations about using it in snow and wet weather(puddles on fire roads, etc).

 

I daily drive mine, so it gets torrential down pours and last winter over 16" of snow with no ill effects. I've felt if it and even with no belly pan under my engine it doesn't get wet at all, unless that is I'm in water too deep (only once up to my doors and luckily it only got lightly splashed on the bottom). That said, you can get a drycharger for it if it makes you feel better (the KU-5045DK should fit according to the dimensions on the K&N website).

I'll actually be buying more couplings and pipe to make a snorkel in the future at some point and I'll probably put a drycharger on it as well as some kind of rain hood (most likely a black bowl with a bolt in the top holding it to the top of the filter). You'll see a post about it when I finally do.

I'll also note, I removed the foam around the horn on the drivers side and actually transplanted the horn itself inside the engine bay so it would get just a little extra air when going down the road through those holes, though that would not help with the stock intake because of how it is both designed and positioned.

 

Also, a very important note is that the two ends of the MAF are different diameters, so do not get a filter that fits the small end.

I'd also like to note (my third in a row, if I'm counting correctly) that I tried just the K&N on the end of the MAF with the stock intake and it did absolutely jack. The intake plus the filter are needed to have any noticable power gain, and it was noticable if only a little.

 

Air snorkel for me. The benefit is cooler intake .... plus keeps the dust away when overlanding during the dry summer months.

 

CAI's won't typically make any noticeable power, just more noise. I wouldn't waste the money.

 

I dont think he was going for power but rather efficiency. Cooler the air the denser the air resulting in more oxygen entering the combustion chamber.