Intakes

I have a 90 integra ls and I just starting to hook it up. Does it really matter what brand of intake you have? Don't they all do the same thing? I heard cold intakes suck up water. So what I want to do is get a short ram with a hood scoop right over the intake (not in the center).

Ok here is my opinion on this subject. Way too many people but way too much emphasis on intakes. No intake is going give you more than 1-4 hp more than another. Just get a decently built intake and make sure you are using a quality filter like K&N or Apexi. The filter is important to have a quality one because it protects your motor. Now if you look around you can find a used AEM short ram intake for pretty cheap and if the filter has seen better days then buy a universal K&N cone filter and call it a day.

they're pretty much all the same...its just a tube with an air filter at the end...i think people are dumb cuz they would pay over 200 bucks for an intake just cuz it saids aem on it...is 2 hp a big difference?

thanx... I think I will do that.. so you would recommend AEM though right over Ractive?

main problem with buying say a no name ebay intake over a injen or aem is that

A. you don't get carb certification.... may matter in your state or it may not
B. sometimes they are not made properly.... meaning you can go buy an AEM or injen or something and it will fit perfect and it will have all the correct hose hookups and work great on your engine... as opposed to buying a ractive or a no name ebay intake that may not be bent just right or may be missing a vacuum or breather line etc.



I dunno I had a cheap intake.. (Ractive to be specific) and it didn't fit right and my engine threw codes all the time on it. I put stock back on and didn't get anymore codes. I refuse to buy cheap again. But at the same time I can't justify spending 200 some odd dolars on 5 HP at this point in my life soooo I deal with stock.




edit..... just noticed that after a year and a half of wonderful AF membership I have hit 1000 posts. on my birthday no less hmmm interesting.

how did the intake make you throw codes, hondas have 0 sensors on the intake, at least all the early 90's ones ive ever seen. I did buy one cai off ebay though and it fit but BARELY, and when you race it the engine rocked and pulled it off the TB so youd be pulling in unfiltered air so I took it off. but it was a REAL cheap one, I think they sent me the wrong one cuz it wasnt even close to actually fitting well. hopefully the one in the mail for my integra fits better I spent a bit more this time and it loks exactly bent like my freidns injen 2 pc CAIfor his 2nd gen so it should fit nicely.

I think I may go with the AEM short ram because of hydro lock.... thnx

how did the intake make you throw codes, hondas have 0 sensors on the intake, at least all the early 90's ones ive ever seen. I did buy one cai off ebay though and it fit but BARELY, and when you race it the engine rocked and pulled it off the TB so youd be pulling in unfiltered air so I took it off. but it was a REAL cheap one, I think they sent me the wrong one cuz it wasnt even close to actually fitting well. hopefully the one in the mail for my integra fits better I spent a bit more this time and it loks exactly bent like my freidns injen 2 pc CAIfor his 2nd gen so it should fit nicely.wasn't for my teg sorry, didn't mention that. but even so when you have a bad experience it makes you hesitant to go cheap again. i'd still rather go with a good name. I'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for. it may not apply to intakes as much as other items but it is a hard motto to stray from when you get used to it.

PS: congrats on the 2nd gen gs-r... you won't be disappointed by it.

My best advice to the thread starter is to do alot of research no matter what part you are buying and know exactly what you are doing when you get around to doing it, whether it be purchasing parts or installing them. There is a vast amount of knowledge here at AF; try and utilize it as best you can, use google, email companies etc. the leg work will be worth it when building your car.

the air under you hood gets a lot hotter than the outside air temp, obviously, your engine is in there and it gets hot, the worst place to put your intake is next to the hottest part of the car unless you take out the headlight and make it a true ram air intake not just a suppossed "short ram" people buy cai bcuz cold air is more dense it has slightly more oxygen in it. as far as sucking in water i live in ohio lol we get a good amount of rain and snow i run a 1 piece injen cai and have had no prob at all but aem makes something called an air bypass filter that is "gaurenteed" to prevent water from being injested into the engine it installs in the middle of the pipe on any system and i think its included with theres there are also companies that sell somthing called a splash shield that goes in front of and under the filter cone to block water. as far as one cai having more power than another i bought the injen cuz most of what i read said it had the most but its prob all just hype. beter known brands will fit better cuz they do more research but thats about the only diff. short ram might sound cool on the car but can actualy decrease hp if the air is hot and the stock would be better :2cents:

The short ram is better for high-end though and if you read some of the past threads you will see a discussion on how short ram and cold air intakes aren't all that different. The cold air intakes do work better for low end but the difference isn't all that noticeable. Plus, hood scoop that I would put in would shove in cooler air. Also, I heard that the Air bypass valve suffocates the little hp out that you do get from an intake. Is that true?

short ram might sound cool on the car but can actualy decrease hp if the air is hot and the stock would be better :2cents:

I dont think so there, hjave you ever checked out the stock routing, cant remember exactly but its a f'n maze. air goes in a plastic rippled thing, then curves and has a y'd peice where one part goes a few inches and stops, does a sharp 180, then it goes into a big box where theres a filter and then another big hose to the TB. might even be more but I remember when I took the stock setup out of my integra I was amazed at how many peices it was composed of.

and the filters on a SRI sit almost 2 feet away from the engine and almost a foot away from the tranny, and the air doesnt sit in there, its always moving so its not as bad as you think. but just get a 2 peice CAI and you can go back and forth within minutes to whatever setup you want in case your driving in heavy rain or its flooded outside.

and I belive teh get what you pay for as well, just things like intake where the filter is the only thing that matters, why spend 230 when you could get it for 40 and then just buy a better filter. now headers Im going with name brand most likely cuz last set I got off ebay for cheap were bent wrong, didnt face straight back and I had to port match them cuz the flang ports were rediculously small.

and I sure hope the car turns out to be good for me, picking it up friday when he gets off of work.

my buddy has the 2 peice aem with an air temp gauge sender just before the tb he tested it at the track with the short ram and headlight taken out to let in more air and still said he got an average of about 20deg colder from the full pipe. i no the stock box is full of bends and the resonator chamber is more restrictive i just ment the air is cooler

Actually the stock system sucks in the air from almost the same spot as a SRI. The stock system gets the air from inside the engine bay. So the stock would be no better than a SRI as far as heat goes.

but as far as restriction goes the straight pipe with filter takes the contest there.

but as far as restriction goes the straight pipe with filter takes the contest there.


Oh most definitely I was just referring to the heat aspect of the discussion.

I just wanted to thank you guyz again for the helpful posts.... I can't seem to find a 2pc AEM intake only the INJEN kind so I think I'll go with the short Ram

why are you so set on AEM vs INJEN?

I just want to get my money worth and I want to pass emissions. Can you get the same performance from Ractive? Or a no name because what I gathered from the thread is that the difference is how well it fits

hey whtteg, dont even try and start a conversation in here about the heat aspects and why a CAI isnt worth what it costs, i was flammed and shun in a thread not to long ago just because i brought up the point of ambient air and the fact that the air in the engine compartment is actually the same temp as outside air once the car is moving. hows your teg doin? havnt seen you around here much, although i havnt been here much either....been over at TI lol, less hype.

I just want to get my money worth and I want to pass emissions. Can you get the same performance from Ractive? Or a no name because what I gathered from the thread is that the difference is how well it fits


yes you can, 2 major reasons AEM is "USUALLY" better than the no-names is 1) because of fitment is guaranteed perfect for your specific application, sometimes of ebay they send you the wrong one or it wasnt designed perfectly

and 2) AEMs kits come with a far superior air filter than the cheap ones.

but I think Injens filters are probably real high quality as well, the cheap kits just come with filters you can get for 4.00 off ebay by themselves.

so a cheap kit for like 35 bucks (just bought my blue one 2 pc CAI with filter and mounting bracket and pic looks like it should fit great for 39 shipped off ebay) and then maybe 30 more for a nice K&N universal cone off ebay and youre much cheaper than AEM's CAI.

Maybe a difference between brand name and noname is that the metal that they are made of. Maybe a noname get's hot easyly while the brand name doesnt get as hot. That what I have always thought of.