When it comes to performance, cool air is one of the largest contributing factors. Cooler air is more dense meaning that more oxygen is sucked into the cylinders during induction. The more air in the cylinders, the more power an engine can make. With fuel injected engines, cool air also affects how the computer controls the ignition system (that’s where cold air intake heat shields come into play but we’ll get to that later!)

All modern fuel injected engines have air intake temperature sensors. With these sensors, the temperature of the air entering the engine is measured, and the ECM then makes the necessary adjustments to ignition timing, air/fuel ratio, and more to keep the engine operating within its set parameters. As you can imagine, warm air effects this measurement. When air intake temps get too warm and there’s a risk of detonation, the ECM will reduce ignition timing to gu

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