Celica Hobby - [ENGINE] Intakes in General

I have seen all this stuff about short ram vs. CAI vs. nothing, etc, etc, etc...
It seems like a lot of people are guessing, so I can add this feedback from experience...

Hydro lock? Only if your filter is Completely Under Water. Other than that, you will be fine. Be aware that the CAI filter can get soaked from water from the wheel well, water shield! It won't hydro lock your car, it can greatly reduce the filters breathing ability though.

Does the AEM Bypass work? For the most part, but be aware there is a voluntary recall on them because of pieces breaking off and becoming lodged in the throttle body. bad thing!

Heat Soak - I have an Accutron ScanII tool. What this little box does is read almost every sensor in our OBDII equipped cars. One of those sensors is the MAF. It reads intake temps as well as actual airflow and I can read that in real time while driving.

Stock - little heat soak. Only rises to around 20 degrees Max over ambient air temp. with car sitting. At 35mph drops to near ambient, at 65mph ambient. Air flow I used as a baseline for aftermarket intakes (it was measured with no butterfly).

Short ram - Does get heat soaked at idle for long periods. Ran up to 50 degrees above ambient. However - within a 100yrds of 35mph driving it dropped back to around 10 degrees above ambient. 65mph it was actually cooler than ambient by a couple degrees. 100mph dropped another couple. (air was around 80 with 50% humidity when this was done). Airflow was between 5-15% greater depending on speed.

Short ram with custom heat shield - This is my current setup. I have a stainless steel cold air box I made that wraps around bottom and back of filter and funnels in air from behind grill. Idle air was 30 higher than ambient. 35mph same as outside. 65mph 1-2 degrees cooler than w/o shield. 100mph 4-5 degrees cooler. Airflow was unchanged.

Cold air intake (CAI) - I need a volunteer to test it! I think one of the guys I autox with knows someone with a AEM. I am hoping to test his car. My guess is zero heat soak, but I am curious what happens at speed, airflow, and if possible when its raining hard (to measure air flow)

My setup works fine for me. I think CAI's biggest gain would be for 1/4 mile guys. No heat soak sitting at the line. When I autox, my hood is up till I stage and the temps never get above ambient. I am curious about the dynos, are the short rams being tested getting enough air through the grill to cool them? You don't need much.

Well, that's what I have tested, and it's all with a computer. No manufacturer claims, driver error, etc...

Any feedback welcome -
Shannon (shannonmarsh@excite.com)
00-GTS
STS 00 - NeOhio