Does anyone have the actual CFM numbers for comparison purposes, between the stock air box and a JLT, or C&L cold air intake? I called K&N, but they could only tell me that their intake increases horsepower by 7 horses. They couldn't give me any actual CFM numbers for their CAI. They did say that the cone filter they use is rated for 678 CFM.
I doubt any vendor has done the detailed and controlled mass flow experiment that would be needed to do this calc. We can, however, infer the increase from the power gain. If you believe 7 HP to the wheels, in a car that is doing about 170 HP to the wheels, this is a 4% increase in power. A 4% increase in power would require 4% more fuel and 4% more oxygen. So figure they get you 3-4% more air flow. Not much.... the tune is much more the contributor to better power than the CAI is.
Actually, C&L's website states that on the GT model, their CAI increases airflow by some 82%. Stock air box is rated at 550CFM and their CAI is rated at 1008CFM. Given that the ideal air to fuel ratio on this vehicle is approx 13 to 1, that would require an increase of approx 5 3/4% in fuel over factory specs. Unfortunately, they do not list any numbers for the V6 model. I have custom tunes in my car right now albeit, without a CAI, and to be honest, I am somewhat underwhelmed with the power increases. Some of this can be attributed to the fact that my car has a manual transmission. On automatics, changing the shift patterns and getting rid of throttle lag, probably contributes to some of the additional power that drivers with auto trans feel. That is why I am interested in the numbers that a CAI changes. However, if they are not available, they are not available. I spoke with JLT yesterday, and they did not have any numbers for their CAI either.