Which is best?...

OK, I'm a new civic owner so I'm just getting started on the mods... I have a 98 DX 4-door and I'm looking to improve the performance, not nessecarilly make a rocket (yet), just give it some more *zoom*... So I have some starter mods in mind... exhaust, headers, intake, ECU, etc... but my main concern is about my intake. I know AEM and Injen make great intakes but which do I choose. I like the look of the short-ram intake from AEM, but I don't like the way it just dangles there in the engine bay. And I know the CAI they make it better for performance but how easy is it to remoe and clean the filter being that it's relocated? So what's the deal? I know just about everyone has one of these products so leet me know how you feel about yours before I buy mine. Thanks.

if you look around the forum you will find a poll about aem vs. injen intakes and most of the people claim that it is almost the same and produce almost the same hp, but i think they said that aem is just more reliable and almost no complaints about the aem intake. i plan on going for the aem over the injen but thats just me. im not really sure but i think on the 98 civic the cai is basically just visible on top of the engine so im guessing it shoudnt be that hard to clean????

I have the K&N Typhoon Filter....I like it....but I know the AEM CAI is better. Its not too difficult to install if you can follow instructions. If you go AEM get the CAI and not a short ram.

I'm running short ram. I had a CAI on my car, but noticed the filter gets filthy quick. There is a noticeable power difference though. Im keeping the CAI for track only right now.

I've got an AEM short ram on mine and love it. Much better than stock, and the sound makes me spurt. I have heard that the CAI gets dirty fast. And i dont know what you mean by dangles but it in there like a glove.

If you know how to remove your bumper, cleaning the filter is fairly easy. You could also get to it by removing the fenderwell trim. I personally like taking off the bumper, its much easier to get to the filter that way, and its kinda fun. ;)

However, before you go out and spend close to 200 bucks on this thing, you should be sure of where you want to go with your car, performance wise that is. If your long term goal is to swap out the engine, DO NOT buy anything for your current engine. You would be better off saving for that swap in the future (or doing as I did, and working on suspension, etc. first), and a little patience now can go a long way later on. If you want to keep your current engine, and run forced induction, you may be better served investing in an exhaust, and saving the rest for that turbo, supercharger, NOS. I only say this because I feel I could really do without my CAI, the gains are decent but not earth-shattering. I only bought mine, because I got an excellent deal (something like 135 bucks with shipping) and I wanted to see what all the hype was about. It seems a little stronger, and it sounds really cool, but is it worth the 150-200, I dont know. On the other hand, on certain engines (B series, or maybe even yours) perhaps the gains are better, this I can not tell you.

As far as the filter goes, yes it gets dirty and probably more so than if it were sitting in your engine bay. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, in the K&N pamphlet that is included, it states that some dirt build up actually helps filtering, so go figure. I have had my intake now for close to a year, and no problems to report.