Whats up? I am wondering about what kind of mileage you are getting with a CAI? For those who are running them. I am thinking about picking up a Fujita CAI from a sponsor.

 

I have the Fujita CAI, averaged between 42-44 MPG on the highway (both directions), I detailed the trip under this thread.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/eco-...79-40-mpg.html

My first road trip, so I have no idea what my base MPG would have been.

 

Cold air is denser so the engine adds more fuel for the same volume of air -- so more or less, you lose in mileage what you gain in power. Serious mileage nu-- er, enthusiasts build WAIs.

 

True, but dosn't an engine with more power generally work less hard on when you throw it on a highway? I know my friend has a 7 series BMW and he gets unreal miliage out of the V8 on the highway. It would only make sense if the Honda had a few more ponies availaible it would improve highway miliage, I would agree with you that city miliage may decrease.

Nothing eats gas like an underpowered car on the highway! Case & point; our faimily runs a couple of trucks for a small buisness... on the highway the Chevy with the 305 eats fuel like crazy, the same year Chevy with the 350 is much better! Then the Dodge Diesel kills them both for highway miliage, thing has a HUGE engine but uses next to nothing on fuel when you hit the highways cause all the power is availaible at a nice low RPM. True it is a diesel, but the shear size of the engine & vehical makes you shake your head when it starts getting close to double the miliage on long highway trips!

 

hmmm so its like 50/50 so far huh haha.

 

anyone else?

 

i'd also like to know...

i got a lil' better mileage w/ my CAI on my RSX (except of course when I was gunnin it)

 

Doesn't the cai make our cars run lean & perhaps improve our mpg???
Just look at all the intake dyno's with a/f ratio's.

 

Since as kps said the hypermilers like to make warm are intakes I would assume that a cold air intake would do the opposite and reduce mileage. The reason high powered cars can do better on the freeway is the gearing, taller gearing means more efficiency. With given gear ratios, final drive, and tire size a more powerful engine will almost always be less efficient than a less powerful one.

Some modifications can break that rule, such as going for more advanced spark timing or increasing compression ratio as those things will increase both power and efficiency. Also, anything you can do to reduce pumping losses will help with efficiency, and a more free flowing intake and exhaust could conceivably do that.

It also depends on the car's ECU though. As Jimmy101 said a CAI may change the air/fuel ratio and effect gas mileage in a positive way, but that is the computer interfering with the basic physics of the set-up. The hypermiler guys really like Saturns because their ECU will go into a lean-burn mode if you make a warm air intake, and they can get huge mileage improvements from a simple mod. That is due to tricking the computer though, not necessarily a function of higher or lower efficiency of the intake.

Somebody would have to do real testing with our cars to know the effect it has. If I ever get an intake (thinking about the T1R chamber) I will be sure to test it's efficiency relative to stock both cruising and accelerating with my ScanGuageII.

 

OMG could CAI + WAI = SRI? WTF? LOL

Really though, would a short ram give you the best of both worlds?

 

A good reason people report lower MPG after installing a CAI is because they are lead-footing it more often for the new intake sound.