Are you using that K&N intake heat shield with the intake?

 

Yes

 

I pulled data for the 3 cars I've logged:

2014 SHO with factory airbox/filter:
IAT is about 2-3F over ambient when at speed, at the track with some heat soak the IAT is max 7F over ambient. At idle or stopped, the IAT is as high as 24F over ambient.

2009 Cobalt SS Turbo with K&N SRI (stamped steel heatshield etc):
IAT is 20F over ambient at 100 mph, and in the staging lanes/idle, it is 70F over ambient. Ambient in this case was about 55F. I noticed that even when I take off on the track, my IAT is still 70F over ambient until about 3rd gear when the IAT starts to taper down slowly.

2007 Mustang GT with Steeda cold air intake (same used on the stock Shelby GT):
IAT is 23F over ambient at speed (100 mph) while it is 65F over ambient when idle/in the staging area.

The Mustang owners are adamant that the stock airbox/MAF is a restriction, and the numerous magazine articles/dyno tests I've seen show that there are power gains from going with a tune and aftermarket airbox. I guess N/A motors don't have an issue with hotter intake air?

 

Have you ruled out some sort of heat soak? Sensor getting hot?

 

I didn't change the MAF sensor location.

I just went back to the very first datalog when I installed the K&N. It was about 30F over ambient at speed, and when parked, it'd go up by at least 50F.

The entire K&N assembly is made out of metal. I'd say it is soaking up the heat fairly easily. Plus, the heat "shield" isn't blocking all of the heat from the engine as the filter/intake is not in a sealed box.

If anything, the Mustang GT's Shelby intake has better sealing as it is in the front of the bay, but even that struggles to get cold air.

 

Wonder if wrapping the intake pipe would help.

 

I wrapped the lower part of my old K&N (down near the turbo) since it's post maf idk if it made a difference

 

I finally got around to swapping back the stock airbox. I decided not to try the ZZP tube for a few reasons, one of which is that stuff downstream of the MAF typically doesn't impact the flow rate. I know ZZP claimed something like 10 rwhp gains on the dyno with the tube, but I felt I didn't want to mess with it at this time. 10 rwhp is also not noticeable at the track.

I did some datalogging and ran a ~22 psi tune. With the WGDC set to the stock 95% limit, I was only flowing about 32.5-33 lb/min. I raised it to 100% like Iambroke recommended in a post 5 years ago, and I'm able to hit 34 lb/min at 19-20 psi above 6k RPM now, and using the original factory paper filter (less than 3k miles on it). I think the gas I had from last October w/ the Sta-Bil is contributing to 3* knock retard sporadically at WOT, even with 3 gal of E85 mixed in because I can run 24* of timing at WOT and not have knock, yet in other parts of the run, I'd see up to 3* of knock.

My IAT and IAT2 temps are exactly the same at speed and at idle, which is amazing. They are about up to 10* higher than ambient, but this is a significant change from IAT being over 50-60 degrees over ambient even at speed. The intercooler also seems very efficient with the stock K04. On my Taurus SHO, the manifold charge temp (IAT2) can be 50-60* above IAT and takes forever to drop down - possibly because the intercooler is small and sandwiched between the A/C condenser/trans cooler and radiator. The Cobalt's intercooler is at the very front and at the lower part of the air dam for maximum flow.

The Cobalt also feels a lot faster now with the stock airbox. I can punch the throttle on the freeway and the car would accelerate much faster. With the K&N, I always felt like the car lost a lot of power in return for maximum sound. The car has massive torque steer, even with the Powell TCABs and mounts. I can punch it at 60 mph in 2nd gear and just spin the tires.

 

The only part I cant get on board with. With or with out a tune, theres very little difference that swapping the intake is going to make. Your having a placebo effect of some kind.

 

With the K&N cold air intake, my IATs would be 60F above ambient. With the stock airbox, my IAT matches the IAT2 temp. I heard every 10F you can drop, it's worth 1% power. I'm flowing the same amount of mass air flow as with the K&N cold air, but at much lower air temps. I bet that is worth some power increase.

 

You won't feel 10hp

 

Fair enough, but the car is actually fun to drive now. I'm glad I ditched the K&N

 

I ended up cutting my K&N at the bottom half and cutting the lower half off of my ZZP tube and putting them together. Much easier to deal with taking it off the turbo, and half the intake is silicone now so the pipe doesn't cook as fast since it's not as close to the turbo. I haven't looked at temps on my Aeroforce, but I know after driving it the intake was a lot cooler to the touch vs when the whole K&N with that tiny coupler would be hot as hell after a drive.

 

This was me plotting IAT1 and IAT2 with a stock intercooler and a K&N intake years ago. The goal was to see if there was anything different with a bigger intercooler. I had a plot with a TR8 IC somewhere but not sure where it is. If you notice all the points at which the car is driving or in motion, there is no 60*F difference between IAT1 (Intake MAF sensor) and IAT2 (After IC, Intake Manifold sensor). The only time the temperatures changed was when the car was sitting still at idle or turned off which has zero effect on performance because well... theres nothing being performed.

This is what I see with a K&N intake. I am pretty sure I would see similar results with a stock airbox as well. at idle, temps would climb. With the car off, temps would climb higher.

 

I have datalogs from the track for the K&N that show otherwise, as well as on the street. The IAT with the K&N on my car was just insanely high.

With the stock airbox, my IAT is almost exactly the same as IAT2 whether idling in traffic or heat soaked after a WOT run. Definitely noticeable. I experienced the same change going from a steeda CAI on the Mustang GT back to a closed Saleen airbox.

 

hmm maybe it does have to do with the metal intake contacting the turbo inlet. Maybe mine isnt contacting as much. Also Im not tracking the car so Im not putting extreme stress on it. 60*F difference during the actually run sounds crazy.

 

So, hard to make out, but snapped a pic as best I could with my phone. This is on a side street doing 35mph after doing 70 down the highway for 20 minutes. Engine was at 183, ambient is 59, IAT1 is 62, and IAT2 is 60.

Edit: Had to turn lights off to make the camera be able to see the dash.

 

One of the datalogs from the track:

Ambient of 60F, IAT is 124F at the staging lanes, and IAT2 was 73F. IAT does not drop back into the 70s until 103+ mph when I'm crossing the line. The IAT then stays about the same as IAT2 until I slow down and come to the staging lane again (within 5 minutes) and IAT is now back to 105F. After about 30 minutes in the pit area, I fired it up again and IAT was now 140F (ambient is 60F). It dropped down to 120F at the staging lane, and rinse/repeat/recycle.

On the street, the IAT and IAT2 are about the same as long as I am moving. As soon as I slow down and idle, the IAT spikes up. During my commute home, with an ambient of about 62F, IAT rose to 91F just idling in my driveway before I shut the car off.

With the stock airbox, my IAT and IAT2 are very closely matched even after the same commute idling in the same driveway.

The K&N dyno shows a gain of about 10-12 hp with their cold air intake, most likely because they have the hood open with plenty of cool air being blown across it with a fan.

The EcoBoost SHO's experienced minimal gains with a cold air intake - they might run 0.1 seconds faster in the 1/4 or they may run the same time as with the stock airbox and a dirty 3-year old paper filter.