I am going to get an intake soon, since no cai's are available for my car, I gotta go ram air. The only choice I have is between metal or plastic tubing. I was also thinking, that if I go with metal, perhaps I will get a jet hot coating done ( www.jet-hot.com ). Heat is a big concern because the intake is right near the turbo so it will get very hot!.

 

Go aluminum. Some people have misconceptions that plastic is better because it doesn't attract heat, but on the flip side, there's no avoiding heat in the engine bay, having aluminum will dissipate the heat actually.

 

Aluminum has a low specific heat factor and conducts heat well, which means it heats up quickly, but it also means that it cools down quickly as well. Plastic is an insulator and does not conduct heat well. While this may seem like a valuable trait, plastic tends to hold on to the heat it's subjected to for a longer amount of time, dissipating it slower. Whichever material you choose, if you want to keep the intake arm from soaking heat from the engine bay, wrap it with some ThermoShield.

 

yep. Ever pull aluminum foil out of a 400 degree oven? Its still room temperature.

 

word

 

I did that last night

 

And you mean a short ram intake, not a "ram air" setup, right?

 

Ah yes, thanks for the correction, I definitely mean short ram.

 

dude is this for your 1.8t?

 

No matter, the intake will be the temperature of the air that is inducted. I've done extensive dyno tests on two Civics, and on long drives (ie, Vegas to Cali) the Iceman Civic and AEM Civic will both have cool intake arms when driven at night. On a hot day, both intake arms will be warm/hot and about the same temp.

Last thing to consider...the air won't even be in the intake long enough to get heated...so basically, there is no significant/discernible performance difference, all things equal.