Cold Air Intake System

[JoshParsons84]

I'm coming to the decision of upgrading my Saturn wagon just a little bit. I'm starting off with a Cold Air Intake System cause I think that's the most basic upgrade. Anyways NOPI has an Injen cold air intake and Saturn Motorsports has an AEM cold air intake. Now which one would be the better CAI? In other words which one would I be more satisfied with? Another thing, this is totally off the topic, I actually just now thought of this. When I'm sitting in traffic or I'm sitting at a drive-through window my car gets really hot (normal is quarter way on the temp. guage) and it gets up to half way on the temp. guage. What could cause that? I know it's not the CAI but I was wanting to get that also.

[sickcallawayc12]

Well for the temp gauge that actually sound normal. It is supposed to go a little past halfway when the car is sitting at idle and then the fan kicks in.

As for the CAI, I was not aware that Injen made a CAI for any Saturn S-Series and looking at the site, that is most likely a short ram intake they offer.

There are two companies that make CAI for your car. AEM is of course the namebrand one and the other is CP Products. I bought the CP products one not too long after getting my Saturn, which was about 3 years ago. I didn't realize at the time you had to cut away part of the inner fender in order to get the second pipe on. The bend of the second pipe has to stick out of the plastic behind the left front wheel. Anyway, I wasn't willing to cut away my car (first time i ever financed) so I just put on the short ram version and upgraded to the AEM after roughly two years of using the short ram. Both kits are essentially the same, but the AEM tubing diameter is a little less than the CP diameter. I believe the AEM website as well as SPS will have dyno results for the CAI. Power is gained around 3k RPM and you lose power on the bottom end. It has a great sound and you will notice the power (even though there isn't that much of a gain), especially if you have upgraded other essential parts. For example, I also had 2 1/4" diameter exhaust with a 4" diameter titanium APC muffler along with the 92 SC headers (almost just as good as aftermarket header) at the time and my car was pretty loud and was a little more powerful than stock. I say get the CP one if you can find one just because its significantly cheaper than the other and pretty much does the same thing as the AEM version. This generic vs. namebrand idea applies to a CAI for any car for that matter. All in all, either one is basically for the sound and encourages you to go close to redline more often (worth the money either way IMO).

[JoshParsons84]

Well what's the difference between a cold air intake and a short ram intake?

[JoshParsons84]

That is a picture of the CAI. On the site NOPI says it as a "tube style intake system"

[sickcallawayc12]

A short ram intake is basically a big pipe with an open filter that replaces the factory box. It usually has a bigger filter than stock to suck up more air, but the air is warm since the filter is in the engine bay so there isn't any power gain (solely for sound). A CAI relocates the filter outside of the engine bay to draw in colder air, which provides more power than warm air. I can't remember the technical explanation how, but i'm sure alleninpa, cat fuzz, or sierra can explain how it works if they see this. I can also say a CAI hurts the bottom end and gains are around midrange since there is longer tubing for the air to travel. Also, the filter can get dirty a lot quicker on a CAI system.

Injen makes CAI for a few cars, they make short rams, and sell a CAI extension for some of the short rams. The tube on top is a CAI extension for an Injen short ram (which are the other three) sold separately. That extension on top doesn't appear to look like the secondary tube for the Saturn car, but its really difficult to tell. The only Injen CAI i've ever seen were for the 99-02 S-Series. I'm pretty sure they won't work with earlier ones nor did they make a CA setup for the 96 cars. Even if Injen made one for your car, they are usually quite a few bucks more than the AEM and i'd still say get the CP or in the worst case AEM. Brands don't really matter when it comes to intakes. They all essentially perform the same.

[JoshParsons84]

This is off NOPI's website. It's a Cold Air Intake system from a parts company called #1 Number One. Does anybody know anything about these parts?

[holdemjunkie]

a cold air intake has a longer tube that tucks down closer to the road so it can grab more air, a short ram intake just stays in the engine compartment. I deff wouldnt buy a cold air intake because there is the chance of it sucking up water when its raining. For ur temp gauge problem, sounds normal to me, at idle your car has no fresh air rushing on the rad so its normal for the heat to go up a bit

[sickcallawayc12]

It usually takes A LOT of water to cause damage to/hydrolock an engine and the filter doestn't really suck it up that well either. Definitely no danger with rainwater unless the rain causes serious floods in your area. Just keep it from really really deep puddles/areas of water where it will be completely submerged.

[sickcallawayc12]

Originally Posted by JoshParsons84

This is off NOPI's website. It's a Cold Air Intake system from a parts company called #1 Number One. Does anybody know anything about these parts?

That looks very similar to the CP Products CAI I had. I say take it.

[saturnspeed_12]

it doesnt take a really really deep puddle to hydrolock a motor. it just takes a puddle that splashes up. hell my stock 07 cobalt sucked in water from a small puddle i hit.


there are some companies out there that make intakes for s-series. you could even get on ebay and buy a cheap-o intake. sometimes the mounting tab on the ebay intakes will break, which wont be hard to fix.

now as of the temp, the car should be near half mark under normal driving conditions. the fan will kick in near 3/4 mark