Air intake,true or false...

I was at the local Hi Performance auto shop yesturday looking to purchase an aftermarket air intake. I asked the sales person about the realities of bolt on horsepower through intake and exhaust. He told me I'd be wasting my time in purchasing an after market intake as all it does is "look cool" under your hood. I've been doing some research in this forum and allot of people seem to think otherwise as a good intake will add "top end". Can anyone shine some light on this. Thanks.....

intaek header and exhaust are the first things you should do to ur car, u could gain an extra 20 ponies (if ur lucky) with all three but they greatly imrove upon throttle responce, yes they are worth it

yes they do add horse power m friend added 20bhp from a intake, header and exhaust and they sound sweet too

Intake by itself is bullshit for bolt on HP. It sounds good, but depending on the ambient temp and location of the filter itself (ie NOT in the engine bay), then it may give you 3-4hp at the flywheel - maybe. In combination with a good exhaust and real headers, you may get 15 more ponies unless your original system was grossly inefficient. Just remember, by the time that 3-5 gets to the wheels, there's not much left.

Personally, I ran a HKS pod in CAI setup under the front bumper on the SiR and saw fuck all at the wheels (dynoed) and went back to the stock setup with high-flow insert which was just as good and keeps the car legal. Maybe if I upgrade my exhaust I'll try again, but I can think of better ways to waste my money.

Nice to see that for once a sales person isn't crapping on to make a quick sale.

Oh yeah - and boy am I going to get flamed for this, because I'm a heratic as far as intakes are concerned. :rolleyes:

What positioning would be best for an air filter in a 90' Civic Hatchback? The wheel well
lining is already removed on my right side. I'm not sure why as I just purchased the car. Maybe the guy who owned it before me removed it for better air flow to the engine.

the best thing is to get a CAI then the filter would be behind the bumper infront of the passenger wheel then u get direct cold air

an air intake is an essential mod. no matter what else you do to your engine, you will always need a free flow of nice fresh cool air.

the bad thing about hondas is that, they're not like a v8 engine where adding a set of headers gives you 25hp, adding an intake/header/exhaust on a civic engine, especially a lower end engine, you would see a 10hp gain possibly. Hondas are already designed fairly well, despit having stock intake and exhaust manfold, so adding aftermarket parts is only trying to squeeze every last bit of power out of an engine already technologically designed to do so.

I say get the intake. It cant possibly hurt, and your car will also sound better. Get a CAI.

oh, btw, all intakes are equal unless they have some "technology" to them like an Iceman is tapered along the entire length, and the AEM v2 has a "sound wave enhancer chamber", but still. Is getting 1 more horsepower worth paying $250 for when you can get the same effect from buying a $20 ebay intake. bottom line: a piece of pipe is a piece of pipe is a piece of pipe.

I dont think an intake is a very good idea unless you get the headers and exhaust to back it up, otherwise its just decoration under your hood

Basic bolt ons dont do much. i'm talkin about intake , header and exhaust. If you're goin all out then yeh they'll be a big help but on stock form....no u'll never see "20hp" gain. Hell u'd be lucky to get 15.

the thing is though if you do have plans to build up a N/A engine then the gains will be a lil better, if you plan on turbo... don't waste the money... and for the price you can get I/H/E for you can just about have a ZC engine...

Of course, you could always buy some "Type-R" stickers. I've heard that they are good for at least another 20hp - EACH :devil:

someone mentioned a location not inside the engine bay... this is what my bro did on his GTI, was a pretty sick idea but he sold the car, everyday he says how much he misses it
http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/840079mygti.jpg

i cant seem to find any other pics of it, i know he took some, cant remember if he scanned them or not

Originally posted by 1PhatCX
someone mentioned a location not inside the engine bay... this is what my bro did on his GTI, was a pretty sick idea but he sold the car, everyday he says how much he misses it
http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/840079mygti.jpg

i cant seem to find any other pics of it, i know he took some, cant remember if he scanned them or not

damn i really dont know what to say about that, i wonder if the gain is big enough for the ugliness, doubt it lol

the car actually looked decent in person, u'd be suprised, that car was fast as hell tho cuz of the motorswap and its light too, might I add... loud as hell!! we could hear him a good 10 - 20 miles away on the mountain when he was on it, even getting onto the highway we could hear him

ok, found more pics of the GTI
not like ne one cares but it shows the intake again hehe

http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/598779gti2.jpg
http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/370237gti3.jpg

If you want a good intake get a cold air one. After installing my cold air intake I could drive the car for a while and if I popped the hood and touched the intake pipe it would be ice cold, so it must work. And on the 4G the filter element is behind the bumper inside of plastic panelling so it's protected very well and sucks up cold air. I don't see any point to having a hole in your fender.

And for VWs the do sell "turbo fenders" which have slits in them which are supposed to get colder air to the intake. I've seen a couple of older stock Turbo Benzes so that idea must work.

Originally posted by FourthGenHatch
And for VWs the do sell "turbo fenders" which have slits in them which are supposed to get colder air to the intake. I've seen a couple of older stock Turbo Benzes so that idea must work.

dunno if this is it or not, blurry pic kinda but this is the VR6 Jetta and he has those slits in his fender

Originally posted by 1PhatCX


dunno if this is it or not, blurry pic kinda but this is the VR6 Jetta and he has those slits in his fender

Yeah thats it I guess, I've only seen them for the MKIII but I guess that is the MKII version or something.

well by the looks of it, it looks like his fender was cut and someone moulded that in there themselves for a custom touch

Just get a 40 dollar intake and put a k&N filter.Its all about the filter the pipe doesnt really matter.

Originally posted by crx hf
Just get a 40 dollar intake and put a k&N filter.Its all about the filter the pipe doesnt really matter.


THANK YOU!!!! Thats what i did exactly!

Originally posted by FourthGenHatch
if I popped the hood and touched the intake pipe it would be ice cold,


Please tell me your kidding?? :p

I have a quick tip that i thought about the other day... everyone knows colder air is more dense and thus gives more power, well, instead of before racing, putting bags of ice on the intake manifold, take a can of spray duster, hold it upside down, and blast the intake pipe with it all over. it will turn very cold. a colder pipe will cool down the intake charge even more.

i havent actually tried this, but i figured it would work.

I always thought about building an aluminum box around the intake piping and just filling it up with dry ice before a run down the track.

Originally posted by dx_tuner
I always thought about building an aluminum box around the intake piping and just filling it up with dry ice before a run down the track.

hmm, dry ice...... anyone else think of doing this? sounds interesting.....

behind the front bumper if i put the intake wont it get wet and is that a problem ?

Originally posted by dx_tuner
I always thought about building an aluminum box around the intake piping and just filling it up with dry ice before a run down the track.

I've seen it done with intercooler piping etc on warm days at the drags.

BTW - I want one of those CAIs that makes the intake pipe "ice cold". Shit, I thought they just brought ambient air from outside the engine bay to the motor, but now they ice the air as it travels in? Can I mix drinks with it as well? :devil:

Originally posted by BlueCivic83
behind the front bumper if i put the intake wont it get wet and is that a problem ?

It is an issue yes, usually it's relatively protected, but it will get damp and collect dirt quickly. As an extreme example, you do hear of some cars becoming "hydro-locked" where water is sucked into the motor and it shuts down, often damaging the engine in the process as it increases compression (briefly). AEM have a bypass valve as an option on their CAI, but avoiding puddles etc will help.

Originally posted by Setanta


I've seen it done with intercooler piping etc on warm days at the drags.

BTW - I want one of those CAIs that makes the intake pipe "ice cold". Shit, I thought they just brought ambient air from outside the engine bay to the motor, but now they ice the air as it travels in? Can I mix drinks with it as well? :devil:


LOL! I know for sure an intercooler does that but a cold air? I dont think so.

Heheh - I was being sarcastic in response to this post:

Originally posted by namedeleted
If you want a good intake get a cold air one. After installing my cold air intake I could drive the car for a while and if I popped the hood and touched the intake pipe it would be ice cold, so it must work.

;)