AEM Cold Air Intake Questions

Now that I bought my exhaust, I might as well buy cold air intake, too. I have a '98 GS, and I was wondering...

About how much HP will I gain from AEM cold air intake? On the package for the exhaust, it said 10-20HP gain (haha, 20 my ass), so I have a reason not to trust "official" statements.

Also, I noticed they sold that bypass valve seperately. I live in socal, so it's probably not really necessary for my to buy it, especially at this time of year. But, I'm probably going to be moving to either Kansas or Illinois within the next few months, where the weather is pretty much the complete opposite. Would I need a bypass valve just to rest my mind when I move? What is the probability of hydrolocking my engine out there?

Lastly, what's the cheapest place to buy it? You're probably gonna say EBay, so I guess I just answered my own question. Thanks in advance for any help!

Did you end up buying the exhaust off ebay?

You dont need a bypass valve, unless you drive though every single puddle you see and rev the engine.

Cheapest is make yourself a homedepot intake and get a good filter. The filter might make it cost more than the ebay ones but it will be a lot better.

Write up for NT homedepot intake:
http://www.2gnt.com/nuke/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=80

If it were up to me, cars wouldn't be allowed to be rated in horsepower until they were past 300whp. 10-20hp huh? What does that mean? Nothing, really.. could be 1-12 or 7-9 horsepower, but nobody will ever know.

Well if you've already installed a less restrictive exhaust you'll sure as hell want to add a cold air intake to get more air in. Working together this will add a little power, but you might consider a header and a high-flow cat (if you haven't already) to add even more. If you get a namebrand intake with a real filter (no $20 ebay intakes) sucking in water shouldn't be a problem.

This is just my opinion but, I hate AEM and I won't hesitate to say it. They charge an extra $100 just for the name. Every other brand out there can match the amount of performance that AEM has for half the price. I am not a big fan of some name brands like AEM. Now that I have spoke my peace, I can rest.