does it REALLY matter?air filter heat soak..

[t5_carl]

As per always, the air going in to the engine should be cool as possible, on a N/A car i can see the point of shielding the air filter to keep the heat away, as there is no cooling as it flows into the engine. On a turbo car, A good intercooler cools the hot air from the turbo, so why shield the air filter?it gets hot going though the turbo, then for the cooler to cool it back down, so does it really make a difference with a turbo??
views!:D

[jez.w]

Because if air is really hot the intercooler wont be able to cool it as much as it would for cooler air outside the engine bay if you see what i mean. The intercooler will be able to reduce the intake temp but really hot air would still be warmer than cooler air outside the engine bay under extreme conditions. I think the highest possible intake temp is 38 ish degrees, after this you can get DET, a good intercooler and water injection can get your intake temp down to 12 to 18 degrees in good conditions. The cooler intake temperature makes your car go much faster.

[Al115]

If it starts colder... it ends colder... :)

[p fandango]

i've always doubted how effective heat shields are when working with cone filters, inless its 100% sealed (which is very hard to do) then you might as well not bother. As for heatsoak itself, i prefer open cone filters & never had any issues. As i've said before my fastest 1/4mile time was done with an open cone & i've used many (both open & sealed) intake kits