Cold air intakes- Is there a difference?

I have asked myself a whole lot about how Cold air intakes can differ by how much money you spend. I think and have heard that there is no difference in buying a 200 dollar Cold air intake to buying a 35 dollar one off of ebay. i mean the only thing that i could imagine would make a difference would be the air filter. so buying a cheap intake off of ebay then buying something like a K&N air filter would be just as good as buying a super expensive one. Any comments anyone?

Can always change the filter.. this may sound cheesy as hell or what not, but I built mine for $10 bucks using PVC tube and PVC rubber to connect the tube to the TB.

Works awesome as hell, and when you do this you'll want either rubber or PVC (something that wont heat up or collapse) if it heats up kind of defeats the purpose.

Total cost for mine 46.50? K&N was 36.50.

Oh, PVC heats up alright... I work with it everyday... under normal conditions in the engine bay it'll heat up... maybe not enough to collapse on itself that takes constant direct heat from say a heat gun.

But PVC will heat up in a warm environment, hell it gets hot when I'm cutting it with a radiac saw. Of couse thats just heat built up by friction, but you can feel the hot air at the end of the pipe 3-4ft away from the saw.


I guess what I'm saying is... PVC will work fine, but dont think it doesn't heat up. For use budget-racers it'll work perfect. :p

I have an expensive intake. I wish I had saved my money and got a cheap one.

cheap is the way to go buddy. honestly its mostly jus a sticker put on the side...if u want, i'll buy u an aem sticker to put on the side of the generic one...same thing over-all.

Well anything will heat up.. its in there by the motor, but compared to CAI I've seen that are metal they won't heat up like that.

After driving my car when its all warm I can put my hand on the PVC and it feels cold as ever :)

Can always change the filter.. this may sound cheesy as hell or what not, but I built mine for $10 bucks using PVC tube and PVC rubber to connect the tube to the TB.

Works awesome as hell, and when you do this you'll want either rubber or PVC (something that wont heat up or collapse) if it heats up kind of defeats the purpose.

Total cost for mine 46.50? K&N was 36.50.
Hmmm, sounds like PVC is the way to go with my budget... so all you did is take 3" PVC piping, cut it, put in bends, and slapped on a k&n filter?? And it works?? :eek7:

Hmmm, sounds like PVC is the way to go with my budget... so all you did is take 3" PVC piping, cut it, put in bends, and slapped on a k&n filter?? And it works?? :eek7:


yeah lol 3.25 outside diamater 3 inch inside, bought a 45 degree bend (female end) and 1 1/2 - 2 foot of PVC angled it so its right by the side air vent on the car and walah :biggrin: and yeah it works great.. heard of people doing it I was like you have to be kidding me, I did and the supercharger sucks a whole lot more and sounds really wicked.

oh yeah heres a pic I found.. thought it got deleted guess not.. painted it silver instead of white and knocked a hole in it for the sensor

http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/2/web/278000-278999/278655_91_full.jpg

Isn't that a short ram intake and not a cold air intake?? I thought that a cold air intake moves the filter out of the engine bat completely to draw cool air by your front fender.

BTW, nice job on the intake. Looks like home-made is the way to go. :iceslolan

Isn't that a short ram intake and not a cold air intake?? I thought that a cold air intake moves the filter out of the engine bay completely to draw cool air by your front fender.

Where's a cold air intake gonna go in a Fiero? Into the cab and out the window? hehe j/k :p

As for the intake, I've got the uber-expensive AEM cold air intake for my car. Got it for $90 though, which is the only reason I got it. Otherwise buy or make cheap piping and toss a K&N filter on it and you've got basically the same thing. I think K&N makes the AEM filters, but the one for AEM specifically has a velocity stack in it, whereas the other K&N's do not.

Isn't that a short ram intake and not a cold air intake?? I thought that a cold air intake moves the filter out of the engine bat completely to draw cool air by your front fender.

BTW, nice job on the intake. Looks like home-made is the way to go. :iceslolan

its out of the engine bay completely, the TB on the fiero is on the drivers side, along with that side vented scoop. Mine comes out about in the same area.

pics explain it better :icon16:

http://www.fiero.nl/uploads/imgs2003/DSC00155.JPG

http://www.fiero.nl/uploads/imgs2003/DSC00152.JPG

http://www.fiero.nl/uploads/imgs2003/DSC00150.JPG

oops I see you have to copy those links and put it in your browser for some reason..

For the money...you cant beat good ol PVC, but if you have the money to spend...get a brand name CAI...companies like Injen and AEM spend lots of money on R&D and thats why the prices are a little higher...but the quality is there!

Scooby Doo.

to me an intake(short ram i m talking abt) is just a pipe and a filter, just get a K&N filter and u r fine, don't let american engineering management rip you off with 100 bucks

yeah lol 3.25 outside diamater 3 inch inside, bought a 45 degree bend (female end) and 1 1/2 - 2 foot of PVC angled it so its right by the side air vent on the car and walah :biggrin: and yeah it works great.. heard of people doing it I was like you have to be kidding me, I did and the supercharger sucks a whole lot more and sounds really wicked.

oh yeah heres a pic I found.. thought it got deleted guess not.. painted it silver instead of white and knocked a hole in it for the sensor

http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/2/web/278000-278999/278655_91_full.jpg

Ok so is there any last minute advice you can offer before I rip into my car???

You also are paying for the CARB E.O. number when you pay $200 for a cold air intake. :iceslolan

Never use PVC for a cold-air intake.

When it heats up it releases toxic gases and then they go directly into your motor.

The ambient engine bay temperature can easily heat it up enough to acheive this.

Use ABS plastic tubing, or aluminum piping. You can still get those at Home Depot.

The Home Depot CAI with a good quality filter is just as good as any other CAI out there.

The main thing to worry about is the filter. Stick with quality names that are known to work.

~A

Never use PVC for a cold-air intake.

When it heats up it releases toxic gases and then they go directly into your motor.

The ambient engine bay temperature can easily heat it up enough to acheive this.

Use ABS plastic tubing, or aluminum piping. You can still get those at Home Depot.

The Home Depot CAI with a good quality filter is just as good as any other CAI out there.

The main thing to worry about is the filter. Stick with quality names that are known to work.

~A

Good looking out, yo. :biggrin:

jus buy an ebay one for $45-50 shipped.

save urself the risk of messing up...its jus an intake guys... :biggrin:

Good looking out, yo. :biggrin:

What???

~A

What???

~A

he's saying thanks for the advice and for "looking out" for him.

i bought an intake just because i didnt want to pop my hood and have that plastic shit... but as for performance same thing and the funny thing is that the plastic pipe sounded cooler than my intake i bought..

hmm maybe if it burns, what isn't considered toxic when it burns.. my dad deals with PVC a bunch and he saw no problems using it.

i went wth the aem cai cuz i figured pvc wul look kinda funny when im at a car show. And since i dont really know much about pvc and shit i figured id go with the aem(advanced engine management) intake. It came in a performance bundle from landspeedracing.com. I paid 1000 bucks for apexi catback exhaust, dc sport headers, ae cai, and a jet ecu upgrade, so i basically got the intake for free.

not for free... they figure the price in with your other items :2cents: but it feels free :p

i thought that cold air intake worked better just cause it keeps the air just a little bit cooler than usual