Do you need a cold air induction kit for when you change the SC pulley or is the ADTR intake sufficient?

The ADTR intake should be sufficient. You could only expect 2-3 horsepower difference, and only in the summer probably, from a cold air induction system. Simply rigging a heat shield on the radiator side should be enough. It'll still draw most of the intake air from the fender and headlight.

Will,
Why is it that most aftermarket CAI tubes are only 3" ID ?
Thrasher uses the factory flex connector and a 9" cone.
It seems that most other aftermarket cone filter type CAI kits (like RSM & ADTR) reduce from 4" down to 3", RSM even uses only 5" cones insisting that there is no difference if a 9" is used.
The factory box internal holes and flex tube are 3 3/4" ID.
I think that if one is going to attempt to improve performance, one should minimize all intake pressure drops by going to larger tube size and increased filter area. Do you agree?

Ok, this is where it gets tricky, especially if you're talking NA or SC. I'd have to dig out old physics books, or defer to sharper minds to be sure, but here'* my take on it:

Really, you're only filling one cylinder at a time. It'* not like you need to fill 3800 cc'* all at once. Also, you're already limited by the ID of the TB. Now you look at the CFM capability of the intake tube, say at 3". I'd have to say just guessing, that a 5" cone would probably be sufficient for the short-term, but now think long-term as that filter begins to collect debris. Performance will fall off more rapidly on the 5" cone. The 3" vs 4" delivery tube may have 2 other benefits also. #1, the air will be 'in the tube' for less time in the 3", preventing it from picking up heat from the engine bay, and #2, the 3" tube will tend to keep the airflow more laminar before entry into the TB.

All that rot was just off the top of my head. Does any of it make sense or not? This is a pretty good topic. One of them headscratchers.

Why don't they make an air box for the aftermarket intake? This would eliminate any engine bay heat from entering the intake.

The reasons ADTR doesn't use the stock accordian tube is because its sucks. And look at the Thrasher, they charge over $200 and it still uses the accordian tube, give me a break. We use a 3" pipe for numerous reasons. First it'* about velocity. By making the pipe smaller we increase air velocity and with more velocity more torque can be generated at lower rpm'*. Secondly it has more air to draw from, ie the engine wont be suffocated, even the */C versions. If your */C is not receiving enough air, you have problems. We have tried over 5 different airbox designs, they don't really do anything. It makes no difference at the track and it just adds cost and expense to the intake. We just make performance that give maximum power. At higher rpm and on the fwy, cooler air is already in the engine compartment and is sucked by the intake. Our intake is designed to have more lower end torque, better throttle response and better high rpm breathing. It does all of these. The last week though I have been thinking about a tuned intake, I might try it to squeeze out a few more ponies from the engine just cause.

So I am sorry to say 2000SilverBullet all your theories are wrong. We use 3" pipes on Crown Victoria intakes and they are 4.6L'*.... They gain over 7/10 tenths and 3 mph w/ our intake and a reburned chip to make sure it does not ping (Ford'* computer for the Crown Vic sucks). What do you say to those improvements?

If your have more questions, I am more than willing to answer them.

-Hector

will your intake fit the naturally asperated 3800 series 1 ?

Going to find out soon, just waiting to get the intakes back from the powdercoater.

LOL you know I have to admit I was the guy in shop who would slowly grind away at the "sparking apparatus" known as the flint to spark up the torch. Once I had a big pile and the teacher had almost finished his drunken chat I would light it up. Did I mention I was behind him? Big flash and a shop teacher chasing me around with a hammer. So my opinion is not one derived from my own education of the grade type but more of the education derived from reading 1000’* different theories on intakes.

Basically although the science is very simple to look at it is full of constantly changing variables reliant on controllable and uncontrollable circumstances. So what to do? Well a simple cone with a smooth pipe is a good way to go. PVC is great nice and smooth. Not very cool looking but smooth. Well pvc is plastic that can melt and when you look at it you know its not a "performance" part. Alternatives are steel pipe and aluminum pipe. Both will not melt under normal engine temp and look professional. They work and will increase the air mass coming into the intake. So that’* the intake part.

Cold. Well cold is good but truly there is no way to get cold air from warm air unless you cool it. So a box helps but not as much as it looks cool. Water injection will help a quite a bit. Refrigerate the air? that would help but you would use all the gained hp to run the system.

Personally I figure unless you can play with the pulse (resonator box) of the intake Hector has it covered and it works fine. You want more hp get a bigger throttle body or mess with another part of the engine. Then the intake will help other improvement become even greater.

Resonator boxes are available on stock cars but they are built to hold your car back or to improve gas mileage not necessarily make more hp. If done right a resonator box can be made to be tunable and will give you a bit more hp. It does this by timing the intake with the engine so the highest density of oxygen rich air is lined up with each breath the engine takes. Not easy to make but worth it if you are after the most performance you can get out of an intake.

Ty

I agree that increasing the velocity will result in more low rpm torque, but at the expense of high rpm hp! Increased velocity results in increased pressure drop, ie. more restrictive inlet.
I also agree that the cold air box is not that cost effective.
I would prefer the filter located down low inside the fender well with a scoop below the chin skirt, preceded by a 4" stainless steel thin wall pipe. Stainless steel has a much lower heat transfer rate, costs a bit more and looks as good.

Crown Vic 4.6 L'* make about the same hp as the SC 3.8 so they pass about the same flows if the Crown Vic also has a 3" exhaust.
Wow. That improvement, if just from the 3" inlet pipe and 5" cone not the computer chip , equals the improvement I got switching to the 3.4" pulley, about 30 hp. If it sounds too good to be true.........