Ebay CAI Kit w/ K&N Filter
 

Hello! I was thinking about buying a CAI for my 2013 BRZ. After seeing the prices for the Injen and K&N kits , I was wondering if it would be a better idea to buy a cheap $50 kit off Ebay and just substitute a genuine K&N filter for an additional $50. Has anyone done this? Should I do this?Wouldn't this setup achieve (theoretically) the same gains as a $350 K&N kit since I am running the same filter with just a different pipe?

Couple of suggestions:
1. Post in the appropriate section of the forum next time. You seem to originally have put this in the shoot-the-shit about gen/mk 2 section. I suggest checking out the technical topics first, though general discussion section might also be a good place to ask about this stuff. Don't make a new thread, I'm sure a mod will be along to move it eventually.

2. Google is your friend on all of these questions. Use "ft86club[question]" and you will find some good results from this site. Helps to come in with some basic background of what has been discussed before, in the case when it doesn't answer it outright.

3. If you are looking for actual performance increase, forget about the CAI, and just get a drop in filter. Save your money for a tune and/or headers if you want to take it that far. Any CAI will need the MAF rescaled to really run correctly anyway, and doesn't actually give you anything a drop in won't. Except some more sound I suppose.

What type of gains are you expecting from a CAI without a tune? Some people add these things and lose power. Listen to Spuds.

Spuds: forgot to add 4. GT86/BRZ/FRS stock intake IS CAI. :)

Truth.

Keep it stock, or go with a trusted brand. The maf scaling on these cars seems to be pretty sensitive, so an eBay special could really mess stuff up. The last thing you want is for a cheap CAI to land you with reliability issues. Especially considering the risk that it will make less power with a cheap CAI.

I personally bought a couple of used CAIs, logged IATs and air mass, and picked the one that was better than stock. Its an Injen evolution sealed CAI, picked based solely on IATs. Mass air was basically the same as stock, there was literally no power increase (there basically never is). The only improvement was throttle response off the line after a long period of idling, and I basically could have got the same result with a different duct on the stock air box.

TL;DR Just buy a new duct for the stock box, don’t buy an eBay special.

I'll echo what's been said before. Keep the stock intake if you are worried about price/performance.

If you absolutely must have an aftermarket intake, there are basically 3 options that don't lose power, and none of them are cheap:

TRD
Grimmspeed
Perrin

The Perrin CAI is horrible without a tune. -10% LTFT's all over cruising.

If you want the engine bay to look cooler, spend $50 on a roll of heat reflective tape and cover the lower half of the airbox with it. Serves a purpose, looks good, and cheap!

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