When it comes to selecting the best air intake kit for your car or truck, perhaps the most important choice you’ll have to make, is selecting either a short ram or a full cold air intake.
As with pretty much everything in the performance upgrade world, there are pros and cons to consider, so we’ll dive into the topic in a bit more detail, so you can pick the best air intake system for your vehicle.
Air Intake 101: How Intakes Work
If you think of your engine as an elaborate air pump, then the more air it can move in (and out), the better.
And though that may be over-simplifying things a bit, there is a significant amount of truth there.
An air intake kit typically does away with factory airbox components like moisture traps and resonators, and uses larger, equal-diameter tubing sections with smoother bends than the stock system. All this is done to let the more air move faster, which will improve the engine’s combustion process and overall performance.
Benefits of Cold Air
That performance gets kicked up a notch when the intake is able to ingest colder, denser air. Thanks to the magic of thermal expansion, when air is cold, it means the air molecules are packed more closely together.
In less fancy talk, it means that cold, dense air has more oxygen molecules. More oxygen means better combustion, so when it comes to engine performance, the colder the air your engine is sucking in, the better.
That’s why many cold air intake designs route the intake tubing down through a fender, for example, to reach a high-flow air filter element placed outside the engine bay.
Cold Air Intakes
Now, here’s the big distinction that you need to know when shopping for a performance air intake system—not all performance air intakes are true “cold air” intake systems.
As mentioned, getting the coldest, most dense air possible is vital for optimal combustion, so having your air filter isolated and away from engine heat is critical.
In a perfect world, a cold air intake will relocate the air filter entirely outside the engine bay. In these types of air intake systems, you’ll often see a long length of intake tubing extending away from the throttle body and down into the fender or behind the front bumper.
Though these full cold air intake designs can be a tad cumbersome to install, the benefit is that you’re getting your air filter into the cleanest, coolest air source possible.
When underhood space makes completely relocating the air filter element impractical or even logistically impossible, air intake manufacturers often do the next best thing by enclosing the filter element into a box or compartment that’s fed by air ducts routed outside the engine bay.
These designs are still cold air intakes, and they take advantage of larger intake tubing with smoother bends, while still getting some cooler air benefits from a compartmentalized air filter element.
Short Ram Intakes
When even fitting a small, separate enclosed airbox is difficult or impractical, it’s possible to just place the air intake and tubing inside the engine bay wherever it may fit. The end result is usually a small section of tubing with an air filter element installed on the end—what gearheads colloquially refer to as a “short ram” intake.
While this means the intake is drawing in heated air from the engine bay, it does take advantage of more airflow from a short, straight path into the throttle body, versus a potentially restrictive system with complex bends and tubing transitions.
We tend to see this sort of setup on engine-swapped vehicles, particularly vintage cars and trucks with modern fuel-injected engines. And that’s simply because not many kits are available off-the-shelf and many builders have to use universal air intake kits to create custom solutions.
Air Filter Maintenance
Something that’s often overlooked in these discussions is air filter maintance. No doubt about it, a performance high-flow air filter needs to be serviced regularly. Depending on the type of filter used in your specific kit, that could mean periodically oiling or cleaning your air filter.
So if your air intake kit relocates the air filter element to somewhere remote, it could make that job a bit more tedious. Conversely, some air intake kits feature a sealed box with a removable lid to make it really easy.
At any rate, though it’s not a glamourous subject, knowing how you’ll have to service the air filter in the future should factor into your intake decision process.
Intake Take Away
There’s no clear answer when it comes to deciding which one’s better, a cold air intake or a short ram intake, as there are pros and cons of each:
Cold Air Intake with Relocated Air Filter
Pros
- Best performance potential
Cons
- Complex with more tubing
- Typically the most expensive option
- May be more difficult to service air filter element
Cold Air Intake with Sealed Airbox
Pros
- Less complex than a full system
- Still gets some cold air performance benefits
- Protected from the elements
Cons
- May make the filter element more difficult to service
- Still susceptible to heat soak
Short Ram Intake with Exposed Filter
Pros
- Simplicity
- Often the cheapest (or only!) option
- Easy to service filter element
Cons
- Don’t get performance benefit of colder air
- Filter is exposed to the elements and engine heat
- Filter may require more maintenance
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Sometimes though, you may be faced with a single option, which makes your buying decision really easy.
Regardless, picking the best air intake for your car or truck (vintage or modern) often boils down to your performance goals coupled with underhood space constraints.
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An air intake kit is very often the first serious upgrade many enthusiasts make to their vehicles. That means we have oodles (yes, oodles) of tech information, buyers guides, and FAQs on them. Click the links below to learn more.
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