1995 Dodge Intrepid Air Intake

Please leave this alone. Manufacturers spend a lot of time figuring out the best way to warm up the air going into the engine for better fuel vaporization and better engine performance. The only reasons to cool the air are to reduce the excessive heating effects of a turbo charger or to pack more air into the engine. Cold air is more dense.

Once more air enters the engine, there won't be enough fuel to go with it so you will constantly have a lean condition. The oxygen sensor will report that to the engine computer which will try to richen the mixture and reduce idle speed back to normal. The computer can only adjust fuel metering plus or minus 10 percent. If that isn't enough to get enough fuel in to match the air flow, you'll have to find larger aftermarket injectors. With more air and more fuel, guess what happens to idle speed? The computer controls that too by turning the injectors on for shorter periods of time and by blocking or opening an air passage around the throttle blade. Once the computer is done updating the fuel trims in its memory, the result hopefully will be the correct amount of fuel to go with the amount of incoming air which, ... Wait a minute, ... That's what you have now!

Every time you turn the ignition switch on, the MAP sensor informs the engine computer of barometric pressure. Higher pressure pushes more air into the engine and the computer is programmed to compensate for that.

Fuel mixture is also modified based on a reading from the ambient air temperature sensor which lives inside the engine computer. It expects the air entering your fancy plumbing to be the same temperature as what's inside the computer. Colder than expected air entering the engine causes a lower percentage of the fuel to vaporize. This results in a lean-running engine with excessive hydrocarbons out the tail pipe. Liquid fuel does not burn; it goes out the exhaust where it can overheat and melt the catalytic converter. If the converter substrate melts, it can plug the exhaust. If that happens, you'll be able to walk home faster than driving!

Chrysler domestic vehicles never use a Mass Air Flow sensor. They are the only manufacturer that has been able to make an engine run good without one. The part you're referring to is a muffler that reduces the annoying drone on the highway caused by the air flow. It has no adverse effect on performance.

The air filter in your picture is a K&N aftermarket unit. There are plenty of things that limit horsepower, but the original air filter isn't one of them.

These cars already will tear your pants off and they get decent fuel mileage. Why risk all the potential damage and performance problems these modifications create?

Caradiodoc

Yes, cold air is more dense. So there's no point in having an ambient air temp sensor as it will be reporting incorrect information. The oxygen sensor will see a lean condition, so the computer will request additional fuel. This will affect long term fuel trim values which will no longer be a clue to a driveability expert. The exact same thing can be accomplished by pushing down further on the gas pedal. More air and more fuel in the most precise mixture.

Even though a little more air might enter the cylinders, at top rpm the injectors can't flow any more fuel to achieve a proper mixture because besides injector pulse width, which is the only thing the computer controls, flow is based on nozzle size, barometric pressure, manifold vacuum, and fuel pressure, none of which have been changed. The injectors can not stay on 100 percent of the time. There needs to be at least a small time where the injectors are off so the computer can detect a grounded wire or shorted injector winding. Also, the pintle valve in the injector can only move just so fast. It needs time to physically close before it can be commanded open again. If you look at the current waveform of an injector, you can see the exact point the pintle valve unseats. Some of the more sophisticated engine computers look at the switch point for diagnostics.

All this means is there is a limit to what the injectors can do to keep up to any additional air. No sense messing with what already works well.

Everyone knows engines get better fuel mileage in the summer, not in winter when the air is cold and combustion is not as complete.

Caradiodoc