Air Intake

There are two types of air intakes these days. Fuel injected air intakes are modern day air cleaners that flow air up past the mass air meter into the throttle body. The more free flowing cold air that enters the throttle body, the better the engine usually runs. More power gets built with an air intake with these characteristics.

Older carbureted engines also have intakes, but they are the cast iron or aluminum intake manifold where the carb sits. These intakes are responsible for bringing air and fuel into each cylinder. Different characteristics of these intakes can change the power curve of an engine as well. The more air you flow, the more power you build at certain areas of the power band. Single plenum intakes are usually meant for higher RPM engines meant for the race track. Dual plenum intakes are better at the building of low RPM street power.