How do the cold air intakes really work for the LT1? They are basically touching the radiator because it is so tight under the hood in that area. Wouldn't that just heat up the plastic tube really bad and defeat the whole purpose of "cold air"? I felt the tube yesterday when I got home and it was extremely hot. I just don't understand.

 

the filter is mounted outside the engine compartment so it's drawing "cold air" instead of the warm air from the engine bay.

 

So the temp of the tube in the engine bay doesn't have any factor if the filter is outside? I figured that when the air get sucked through that hot tube in the engine bay that it will heat up.

 

That's the reason I got a K&N because it was plastic, and there is less thermal conductivity.

 

My Moroso is plastic also but it still gets really hot. There is no room for the CAI because it basically sits on the corner of the radiator and absorbs heat like a sponge.

 

yeah it gets hot, but the speed at which the air is being sucked into the engine doesn't give it much time to soak up the heat.

someone calculated once that a 350 consumes about 8 cubic feet of air per second at 5000rpms. that's alot of air to be pulled through that tube

 

In addition to temperature, you get a lot more volume of air and I think the CAI also helps straighten the airflow. If you ever installed a CAI, you had to have taken out the stock intake, air box, and some other piping. If you compare stock with any of the CAIs, it's a wonder how any air got through the stock piping. It's significantly smaller and forces the air to make several 90 degrees turns before hitting the MAF.

 

i got teh slp cai and yes its metal, but the cai does not ecven warm. teh pipe stays fairly cool and works on the lt1 engines. go w/ the slp cai. i felt a huge difference in power. l8tr

 

really? mine gets pretty warm....im not saying hot, but by no means is it "fairly cool"...