The air a car’s engine draws in while it’s running has a huge impact on its performance. The positivity or negativity of the impact depends on the quality of the air supplied to the engine. Cold air intakes offer more efficiency as the air they send to the engine is denser and the oxygen molecules are tightly bound together resulting in better engine performance.
There are a lot of air intake systems available on the market these days and some can increase the power of your car’s engine. Modern cars and other vehicles have air intake systems that are made up of different parts, some systems are very complex and have specially developed intake manifolds that divide the air into different cylinders and thus increase power.
Mainly, a car intake system has three parts.
- Air filter
- Mass flow sensor and
- throttle body
Some manufacturers also include the muffler in the construction of the air intake system, but the muffler has resulted in decreased efficiency because it impedes airflow. Therefore, most owners of performance-oriented vehicles usually remove them. An important part of the air intake system is the sensor that detects air temperature. Cold air is allowed in by opening the hatch. The air enters through a long plastic tube; then it goes through the air filter and finally reaches the AFM (Air Flow Meter).
There are two types of air flow meters:
- paddle type
- hot wire type
The hot wire type system has numerous wires that have a constant resistance to the passage of air. Cold air hits hot wires as it enters the air intake system, causing the wires to cool. Because of this, the resistance of the wires decreases and the EFI computer gets more voltage and adjusts the fuel/air mixture. Everything happens in a fraction of a second, but the effect on performance is impeccable.
The throttle chamber in the air intake system controls the flow of air into the car’s engine. In addition to this chamber, there is another bypass chamber that allows a small amount of air to pass into the throttle body. This amount of air is used to adjust the speed of the motor.
The last part of an air intake system is the cold start valve. The functions performed by this component are exactly the same as those of the choke present in the carburetor. This component is shaped like a valve with a special element present that expands when heated. When it is not in its expanded form, that is, when it is cold, it makes it easier for air to reach the throttle chamber.
These are the main functions of an air intake system and you can greatly improve the performance of your car by installing one. Systems like K&N air intake systems are not only affordable, they also increase the power and fuel efficiency of your engine and allow you to take your car’s performance to the next level.