Chill out. Here's the info on Cold Air Intakes.
For today’s in-depth product explainer, we thought we’d get into the ROUSH intake for the Coyote powered Ford Mustang. ROUSH continues to engineer updates for something that is often overlooked, and over-simplified.
Let’s start with some information. We all tend to call any manner of aftermarket intake a “cold air intake.” That’s not exactly true. In fact, many intakes bring hotter air into the intake system. In the halcyon days of 2000’s auto culture, where backwards spoilers and bright neon were kings, A lot of the intakes were drawing air from well down in the engine bay. Placing the filter on the end of a long tube, typically at the front bumper, right down near the road. The idea being to draw in cool, more dense air and keep it from drawing air that’s already around the hot engine. In theory, it worked. In reality, it was a great way to learn that yes, that filter is water permeable, and no, your engine can’t compress sucked up rain water. Oops.
Sad rod noises.
Moving forward, we got more intricate air ducting from manufacturers. More thought was put into where to place air ducts to draw cooler air in at speed. As more and more manufacturers moved to forced induction, it became even more important so as to ensure that the intake tract could keep up with the demands of turbo or supercharging. Dodge presented a great example of this with the Demon where they went for one of my all-time favourite motorsports moves. The removal of a headlight to facilitate a gaping intake. Love it. As time’s gone on, we’ve seen a deviation from the traditional “filter on a stick” for aftermarket intakes. More thought has been put into routing and sealed air flow.
ROUSH is one of the ones moving full-speed ahead on this. Sticking with a more OEM style airbox, but having updates to some of the weaker parts of the intake. Harder, more thermo-resistant plastics on the intake. They’ve implemented the cone filter (for increased surface area) inside of an airbox. This helps limit the heat soak found on open air intakes. This was something that Ford had experimented with previously if you recall the old Triton V10’s and their absolute nightmare of an air filter change. They used a cone filter in-line in the intake. Not exactly in a traditional airbox, but close enough for our purposes. Honda, way back in 1999 actually did implement the idea on their S2000. The car used an off-the-shelf airbox they had, but with a cone filter fitted directly in the intake box.
ROUSHCharged Mustang with the ROUSH cold air intake
ROUSH has gone to great lengths to adapt the ford setup in a way that has factory fitment, but increases power and durability. Utilizing a large surface area conical filter, the system can draw in as much air as needed. The plastics used in the airbox assembly are more thermal resistant, reducing the amount of heat soaking occurring at the filter. Keeping the top covered keeps the heat in check even more. The sealed housing has a channel that connects to the factory intake ducting. Keeping that connection to the stock routing means all of Ford’s R&D isn’t going to waste. While some people may think “open filter more air!” the reality is that wind-tunnel tested ducting exponentially increases airflow into a system that is attempting to pull air. Trying to pull static air results in more turbulence, which in turn has less density. This becomes increasingly obvious when you get into forced induction, especially with a root-charger where air turbulence is a big issue.
The end result is an intake that is more thermally efficient, allowing for cooler, dense air. There are big performance improvements to be had from just an intake. They’re most noticeable on boosted setups where the factory induction can be very limiting compared to what the turbo or supercharger can pull. Smoother induction for less turbulence and more reliable combustion as less turbulent air provides for better atomization in the combustion chamber. In the case of the 5.0L Mustang, the intake on its own adds about 10HP. Not a bad power gain for just an intake. Lots of intakes promise power increases, but few provide the dyno information like ROUSH does. Plus, there’s no denying the sweet intake sounds that come from a bigger filter pulling more air in. And, honestly, they just looks great.
Hopefully this gave your better insight onto what exactly constitutes an upgrade for your intake system. If you’re looking to buy, follow the link below to order an intake for your 2018, 2019, 2020, or 2021 Ford Mustang GT. If you’re still on the fence, sign up for newsletter and stay tuned for our next big deal or flash sale! We also have ROUSH cold air intakes available for EcoBoost Mustangs and V6 Mustangs.
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Here at Mud and Track, we have the best ROUSH prices in Canada. We ship same day, Monday thru Friday. Free shipping on cold air intakes across Canada, and never any duty or brokerage fees. If you find a better price on ROUSH in Canada, let us know!