No, not you at all...just in general.  this debate of whether cold air or warm air make a difference, has nothing to do with an intake for the trackkicks.  Of course cold air is better, but the under hoods of our trucks are drafty as all hell and tons of cold air circulates through it.  Trust me it doesn't get remotely hot enough under the hood of a trackkick to justify needing a "cold air" intake.  I'm not picking out any one member, I just think it's silly to debate it when the rules don't apply to our vehicles.

Do you mean me? then yes I do, I own a 2000 8V Vitara which is a first gen, same as a Track/Kick but with a more advanced ECU. I run a Safari snorkel, cutting out the airbox isn't practical in the UK because we do a lot of wading. Personally I suspect that you'd get more of an improvement from a good service. I'm not disagreeing with you I'm just saying that its possible to quantify the results using a scan tool. My own vehicle has the factory bonnet scoop so I get plenty of cold air in there.

A snorkel should count as a cold air intake - it's allowing the engine to pull colder air in rather than warm underhood air.

Rhinoman you've got the technology to put some numbers here - what's the IAT with a snorkel as compared to without?

No, not you at all...just in general.  this debate of whether cold air or warm air make a difference, has nothing to do with an intake for the trackkicks.  Of course cold air is better, but the under hoods of our trucks are drafty as all hell and tons of cold air circulates through it.  Trust me it doesn't get remotely hot enough under the hood of a trackkick to justify needing a "cold air" intake.  I'm not picking out any one member, I just think it's silly to debate it when the rules don't apply to our vehicles.

I would not agree with Jookycola that it is a silly discussion and under-hood temps can get very high causing high input air temps. .  I have Scanguage II that I use in all of my vehicles. http://www.scangauge.com/ This gauge allows me to monitor input air temps in real time using the data the ECU is getting.  This highest temps by far in all my vehicles is in my Tracker.  I have a stock air intake with a K&N filter.  The other vehicles include a 8.1 liter V8 motorhome that tows the Tracker and a supercharged inter-cooled Mercedes. Now the highest temps I read on the Tracker was during a extremely long and steep climb up a 13,000 foot mountain in Colorado.  The long hard climb in very slow low range speeds had input air temps also climbing and this was in cool outside temps. I turned on the AC to get the condenser fan running to increase air flow.

Seems some people do not realize the air in a factory system is not pulled from under the hood and is in fact a cold air intake system however the under-hood heat can transfer into your intake as in my example. In my opinion it is just silly to think you are creating a "ricer cold air intake" with a large air filter just mounted under the hood.

True your point allpies to factory airbox with drop in K&N.  But mine is open on all four sides, and still retains the stock tubing from the fender meant to bring in cold air. i see my hood vibrate as i drive down the highway, i refuse to believe that cold air is not being jammed under that hood into the engine bay. 

> There is no insulation behind the head lights,
> there is tons of space around the grille,
> There is at least 10 inches if not a foot of open space between the air box and motor...i look down and see the ground under the car in between that space.  Don't tell me air is not shooting up through there.
> The hood does not seal air tight so plenty of air is being drafted in there.
> the open "slots" on either side of the hood i'm sure takes in plenty of air.

Point is, it may be warm in there idleing, but once you get moving cool air flushes through there rather freely from many sources so the point of it being too warm under the track kicks hood to make a difference is hog wash.

And technically a cold air intake sucks air from the lowest point.  Heat rises so the cooler air is ground level.  Hence why all cold air units usually snake down the fender of a car to a low point behind the bumper.  So a snorkel is technically NOT a cold air intake, it's more along the lines of a Ram-Air unit.  I've been an import tuner for years i could go all day about cold air intakes. 

But long story short, the mod i did to my track kick is all any average person should ever need to achive improved fuel economy, cooler sounding exhuast note, and very mild if any at all power boost.

Cold air intakes will produce more power, and will save gas if the engine operates only at Wide Open Throttle.

However, under 90% of driving, Warm Air Intakes are more efficient because the engine is throttled and under less than full load.  It will not work on all cars.  WAI does two things:

1) Fuel evaporates more quickly, increasing combustion speed.  Fast burn engines improves the amount of pressure generated and expansion work available for a given amount of fuel.

2) With oxygen sensors, engines run at stoichiometric air/fuel ratios.  For any given amount of fuel, a corresponding mass of oxygen is admitted.  WAI lowers the density of air, meaning that a higher volume of air must be let into the engine for a given fuel input.  So with WAI, the throttle must be opened further for a given output, and this lowers the "pumping" work of pulling air past the throttle.



Your father ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader...
So what Ive told you is true... from a different point of view
 

A snorkel should count as a cold air intake - it's allowing the engine to pull colder air in rather than warm underhood air.
Rhinoman you've got the technology to put some numbers here - what's the IAT with a snorkel as compared to without?

I'll check mine when I get it inspected, I'm going to look at reworking the whole intake with a bored out throttle body.

If you guys don't think it gets hot under the hood of a Trackick, just open it after a long high speed freeway slog. ( Or a paticularly long steep climb like skitime described) I can't remember what mine was like before turbocharging, it's been a while, but without my hood louvers I could fry eggs under there. Yes, I know the turbo generates heat too, my point is even in stock trim, it gets pretty damn hot under the hood of ANY vehicle, regardless of how many openings there are to let IN air from outside. It's getting the heated air OUT that's a problem for most vehicles, and the heat soak of all the parts and pieces close to the engine that's an issue.  If you don't vent the engine compartment some way, just slapping an air filter on the end of a tube inside your engine compartment will not do anything to increase performance in any way,and will probably decrease actual performance, IMO. Snorkles are TRUE cold air intakes. The difference in ambiant air temp from 2ft to 6ft is negligable, if even measurable. The snorkle is not just for wading, it provides a CLEAN enviornment from which the engine can draw air. Most of the debris in the air is located at or near wheel level, snorkles draw in cleaner, cooler air from above the debris zone, and at speed can also provide somewhat of a "ram " effect, like the intakes of a modern motorcycle design.

Don't know about you guys, but it's pretty warm under my hood. I think the whole intake design is a little poor - who's bright idea was it to use the TINY slit on the intake horn, and who's idea was it to run the intake directly over the engine & exhaust manifold