Took it for a spin today to see if it lowered the intake temperature - and it did! Average of 10 degrees cooler now and super excited that it actually worked!!
I tested it with no cover and then again with a cover on. It was 82* degrees out today and I had max A/C throughout the test. I recorded three temperatures: freeway driving at 65 MPH, arriving at my house after some city driving, and after 5 minutes of idling.
First without the cover:
Freeway temp range - 100*-105.8*, 18-23.8 degrees over ambient
Arriving at house, city driving - 121*, 39 degrees over ambient
Idle 5 minutes - 138.2*, 56.2 degrees over ambient!
With the cover installed:
Freeway temp range - 89.6*-95*, 7.6-13 degrees over ambient (reduction of 10.4-10.8 degrees)
Arriving at house, city driving - 112*, 30 degrees over ambient (reduction of 9 degrees)
Idle 5 minutes - 134.6*, 52.6 degrees over ambient! (reduction of 3.6 degrees)
Results are over 10 degrees cooler on the freeway. There's a 1% gain in power every ten degrees cooled, so I gained more power from a colder intake charge. What doesn't show in this data is how much slower it heats up with the air chamber closed off. Both with or without would cool pretty fast once the vehicle was going around 40 MPH but with the cover it was at a lower temperature at all times. There was no saving the intake temperature from idling a long time, such as in a drive-through, as I think the walls of the air intake chamber itself were getting too hot.
For those that have an open cone filter element or a short RAM air intake right above the headers, take note that you're leaving power on the table by having the engine intake breathe in hot engine bay air. Hope this helps!
HP Increase:
+4 HP (1% power per 10 degrees cooler intake)
Running Total:
+168 HP