So i just received my K&N intake and I decide to do a couple of test and datalogs.
Temperature today was 55.4F and the two test were done without one hour of each other. The car used is a 2001 Mustang GT. The stock intake used had the silencer removed.
I did a idle log just to see what the intake temperatures are like. Engine coolant temperatures were the same.
STOCK
IAT MAX : 92F
IAT MIN : 86F
IAT AV : 89.42722266F
ECT MAX : 202F
ECT MIN : 190F
ECT AV : 195.1125098F
MAF MAX : 522GM/S
MAF MIN : 427GM/S
MAF AV : 468.1471282GM/S
K&N FIPK
IAT MAX : 112F
IAT MIN : 90F
IAT AV : 102.4705F
ECT MAX : 202F
ECT MIN : 190F
ECT AV : 195.8300551F
MAF MAX : 565GM/S
MAF MIN : 443GM/S
MAF AV : 489.9677419GM/S
As you can see, the IAT for the K&N is higher than the stock one for obvious reasons. The K&N is fully exposed to the engine compartement as oppsed to the stock one which has a casing around the whole filter. So when the car is not moving, K&N will have a higher IAT.
Also, MAF reading for the K&N are a more than stock(better hope so ).
Here's a graph of both runs at idle for 120 seconds
The next run is a 1 mile higway run from one exit to another. I tried to keep the same speed and driving habits so the data can be relevant.
STOCK
IAT MAX : 110F
IAT MIN : 84F
IAT AV : 91.99381F
ECT MAX : 196F
ECT MIN : 190F
ECT AV : 191.8602F
MAF MAX : 19 910GM/S
MAF MIN : 538GM/S
MAF AV : 2376.385GM/S
K&N FIPK
IAT MAX : 104F
IAT MIN : 68F
IAT AV : 73.77699F
ECT MAX : 202F
ECT MIN : 188F
ECT AV : 191.5991F
MAF MAX : 20 707M/S
MAF MIN : 485GM/S
MAF AV : 2511.444GM/S
Right away you see a differene of 18F in average IATs. Since the K&N filter is more exposed, air flowing through the engine bay can be sucked in by the K&N filter. The stock filter being enclosed in a plastic shell, can only suck air from a small area, close to the fender. With K&N you can get IAT as low as 68F. So, once the car is moving, K&N IAT will dramatically drop and will ahve cooler charge than stock even though it's not a cold air intake kit, jsut the fact it can be in contact with the air outside flowing through the engine bay can reduce IAT.
Here's a graph of both runs. You can see those two fine curves, those are the VSS of both runs, in MPH, so you can see the speed are very close to each other in both runs.
I've got more data but Í'm just too tired to look at it. I hope you guys frind thios useful.
Here's a 3rd gear pull on the highway at about the same speeds. I've also calculated the RPM curve equation and VSS curve equation.
As you can see, the acceleration with K&N is slightly higher than the stock one. K&N is increasing at a rate of 30.602 RPM/Unit time as opposed to the stock which is increasing at 30.132 RPM/Unit Time.
VSS for K&N is increasing at a rate of 0.5296 MPH/Unit Time compared to the stock's rate at 0.4906 RPM/Unit Time.
The fine red and green curves are the IAT during the run.
I had my metal inlet pipe ceramic coated to minimize the heat, however it might actually be hurting things because once it gets hot it might stay hot.
However a few minutes after shutting the car off I can hold my hand on the inlet pipe without having to pull it off, its drastically cooler sooner than my friends pipe that isn't ceramic coated.
I personally think the temp of the air coming in is more important than the material of the tube as the the tube wall can not elevate the temp of the air at the velocity too much.
that being said optimum would proably be plastic without and exposed filter. I would not be above runing aluminum though. I think the crome ones look stupid so I would not run them anyway.