Are these the same or does one have something the other does not. Thanks in advance to any who answer.

 

cold air intake - directs air from outside of the engine bay (and not inside the engine bay like it is currently) to obtain cold air. see MG Racing's site or King's site for their cold air intakes.

intercooler - air flows through it, resembles a radiator/oil cooler/radiator cooler in the front of the car - which cools the air by dissipating the heat generated under the hood, say from a turbo or supercharger.

 

Thanks alot Schatten,
A couple more things have been bothering me. If anyone knows anything about this feel free to share.
1)Could you have both a intercooler and a cold air intake.
2)Would running only a cold air intake with a SC be less effective than a intercooler.
3) Do you need a intercooler in order to run a SC.
thanks

 

1)yes
2)depends
3)no

 

A CAI is pre S/C or Turbo and a IC is post S/C or Turbo. The point being - grab cold air from the outside of the bay, pressurize it (creates lots of heat) and run it through an IC and into the throttle body. You can run a S/C or turbo at low boost levels w/o an IC. In most cases, to compensate for the higher intake charge temps because of no IC, more fuel is added to richen the mix (decreases HP gains relatively to a stoic mix).

CAI's are good for NA motors. ICs (liquid or air) are good for most turbos and higher boost S/C motors. To run a CAI is simple, to run a IC takes ingenuity and lots of piping. But its always worth it (safety wise).