I dont know why ppl say that the cowl air intake gets hot and the air is hot.. Well thats not true.
I have the Spectre and everyone said it would get hot. Ive take vids of the intake and motor with a Seek thermal cam and have proven that they don't get as hot as ppl think.
They might get warm as it just sits engine not running, but once you start the jeep it gets cool as the outside air. Look at the vids of the engine bay with the Seek. I was showing the motor temps. But you can see the Spectre in it..


This is the motor running,, Spectre nice and cool.


This is the motor just sitting 15mins in 75f not running, the Spectre is warm but not hot..

I made my own and since I no longer have AC I used to the outside air intake for HVAC to run my CAI into the cab. Works great and with the engine at normal operating temp of 200-210 my intake temp is 110 while sitting still and 85-90 when driving. I'm always running doorless and I'm using my ultra gauge to tell me the temps.

So you never use your vent or heater either? Is your heater core disconnected?

Still run the heater core and kept the defroster vents. I rigged up a fan for that purpose. But all my HVAC controls are removed and I'm in the midst of making a custom stainless dash insert for all my switches and gauges and radio

If the heater core is still hooked up, wouldn't you have a hot air intake?

The whole point of a cowl intake is to get the cold air being backed up into the cowl at the base of the windshield. If you connected it to the cabin air intake, you would be sucking hot air from the heater core back into the engine any time you have the heater running in the cabin. Furthermore, if you have a fan blowing air into the cabin, it's sucking air away from the engine intake, reducing the air pressure and defeating the purpose of getting denser air into the intake manifold.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't see any reason why you would want to do this.

I have a Airaid "Cold Air Intake." It is secluded from the rest of the engine bay using walls around the filter. Who knows the air temp, but I like the setup. Simple to install (plug and play using the factory intake pipe). I can clean the filter whenever it gets dirty using K&N recharge kit. I think snorkels are awesome, this is just a cheaper simpler alternative.

These videos are what convinced me to do a cowl air intake. I just decided to make my own for half the cost.

The heater core is in the middle of the dash. And my air intake is behind the glovebox a over my tank for the OBA. My heater core only puts out heat when I "activate" the valve in the engine bay. It about 2 feet away from my heater core and the make shift ducting I have on the heater core keeps it cool inside the jeep on top of being doorless it's always pulling cooler air.