Cold Air Intake

I've heard a lot of hype about cold air intake systems. I have heard the probable bullsh*t of like 15 horsepower gain. I have olso heard more enlightened car enthusiasts say that you can hardly tell the difference. So i need some closure. Is there a good cold air intake out there for a 92 lude si? if so what is it?, how much does it cost? and(most importantly) how much of a horsepower gain will it give me? any throw in any other suggestions if you feel informative. Thanx:D

you'll get 15hp out of a CAI...when i get 100hp from a CF hood. :rolleyes: personally, i can't tell b/w a CAI and SRI in performance. soundwise, the SRI is definately more noticable. i dont' know if it's a mind thing when people claim it's night and day between the two. a lot of people will mention the air temperature difference. while the air temp under the fender will obviously be lower than behind the battery, the variance is negligible in hp difference according to my findings. anyone else care to disagree, feel free to post your own findings. but i know on my car, if there has been a difference, i apparently have missed it.

most CAI cost around $200 for the intake tube plus maybe $50 for the filter. i'm sure you can find one cheaper on the internet. dont' expect too much of a boost in hp from an intake. at most you should get 5hp out of this mod.

I agree. Im lookin around for a cai myself, but im not about to spend 200 bucks for one.....im thinkin at most 75-100...I need to save up for an exhaust and a cf hood because im so sick of the f-in chipmarks in the paint...I hate Michigan..

I have heard you can get the same effect with a K&N drop in..

The difference between a cold day and a warm day on my car is very noticeable.. So I would imagine it would be the same as a cold day with a CAI. It is hell where I live because the weather changes so much though. I guess it'd be a cold day in hell before I bought a CAI..

I do, however, want to know about those air swirlers that twirl the air into your throttle body (much to the same effect as the barrel of a gun) so as to compress it more.. How effective are those? I don't mean to steal the thread, but it pertains. Could be a nice mod for the buck.

ok, ill make this short and sweet

youll be lucky if you get 3hp from just the cai intake itself. and if you get cai, you might as well get the by pass valve from aem. yea, youll get around 1/4 hp diference but its worth it so you dont get hydrolock. you need to get headers and exhaust to complete the whole air flow, then the cai will give you more of a hp gain then just the intake by itself. if you get intake, i recommend aem(which i got) with a by pass valve to prevent hydro lock or injen intake which doesnt have by pass valve but is still a good cai.

cai=more high end power
sri=more low end power

consider that when you buy ur intake.

short ram = low end? news to me... every other thing i've read about a short ram says it decreases low end, and increases high end. i don't mean to belittle your statement, but it seems wrong. if i'm wrong, i'm sorry.

btw: can you buy mid length intake and just replace your plastic tube that goes from the throttle body to the airbox? anyone know if it would just plug right in?

yea, it should raise low end power because of the short piping. the cold air intake has long piping so between when u step on the gas and you hear the engine roar, you can hear a gulp kinda sound so it should help with the high end power because it has to start flowing alot before it will flow correctly and you will see the gain. since you rejected my statement, im just gonna say im not so sure about this now either, i would have to find out.

well, i think there is like a mid way intake. before the by pass valve came out, there was a "solution" for cold air intake users. it was to take off half but the piping and put the filter mid way so it would take in air from the engine, so there should be intake like you describe..... im not sure if that what your talkin about but i tried :)

i did a small bit of research and now im not sure about the low/high end gains of sri and cai

Originally posted by Prelewd
btw: can you buy mid length intake and just replace your plastic tube that goes from the throttle body to the airbox? anyone know if it would just plug right in?

"Most cold air intake manufacturers, AEM included, have offered the following solution in the past: When it rains, simply remove the lower section of the intake, remove the air filter, and attach the filter to the upper section of the intake where it can act as a conventional underhood intake until the rain stops."

I just want to keep the airbox and everything, but have a polished tube going from there to the throttle body. Just wondering if that first piece fits directly in... More show than go, but even the beasts have to have some beauty.

why dont u just want to replace the whole thing? k&n filters come with the aem cai

false statement!

aem does not use k&n filters anymore. they use their own brand, made for them by a different manufacturer, identical to the k&n style, and with their name embossed on it.

most of the cai's out now are one piece tubing, so the whole 2 piece thing doesn't work that well for a solution, at least from aem.

there are other companies that offer them, but it's not that easy to take apart. and who wants to spend 20 minutes pulling out tools, taking the intake apart and putting it back together... in the rain. hmm...

yea, exactly my point. no one wants to take out tools and do that. thats why it wasnt such a good solution.

im gonna have to double check that k&n filter cuz im pretty sure mine was k&n

Originally posted by MidNiteMysT
why dont u just want to replace the whole thing? k&n filters come with the aem cai

I don't want to replace the whole thing because

1: a K&N drop filter in is about 100 dollars cheaper than a whole intake..
2: I could buy some shatty ebay mid length intake tubing, and have that polished look.
3: the rain.


I did, however, hear that a company makes a rain guard for a CAI.. It's like a little aluminum box you put down there to keep it off.

I did, also, hear about AEMs new dual tubed intake? That any good?

yea, its called aem cai v2. im still trying to find out how good that is.

that intakes on their site. it's not for ludes yet. it's huge. 4 in outer diam.

aem used to use k&n filters, but you can see on their site that they've switched, as i noted.