Perrin CAI Intake and Silicone Tube
 

I know that others have started their own threads and @Sony did a great install write up with detailed install pics so I won't waste time with that.

I received my Perrin CAI and Silicone Tube today and wasted no time getting it installed. I removed the front bumper, which was very easy and straight forward, and then removed the OEM intake and noise generator tube. I installed all the Perrin parts and plugged the hole into the cabin. I also have the Perrin catted front pipe installed and the Perrin Overpipe and Perrin pulley.

The first thing I noticed when I started up the car after the installation was how quiet it is inside the cabin at idle. I let it warm up and then blasted through a few gears both up shifting and down shifting. I immediately noticed the change in pitch to the intake sound and starting around 3k RPM under full throttle the sound is much deeper and you can feel the difference instantly. It pulls much cleaner and stronger all the way through the band and the sound under the hood at high RPM is awesome. You can def tell that the intake has been modified.

I have the rest of my exhaust on back order unfortunately. Perrin will be shipping my resonated matte black CatBack in about two weeks (fingers crossed) and my Borla UEL header soon after. At that point I will be dyno tuning the car to maximize the gains from all the aftermarket parts.

Lastly, I have to thank @PERRIN_Chris and @PERRIN_Jeff for the great customer service and support from beginning to end. I even had a few last minute questions for Chris if I should reset the ECU or not after installing and he was quick to email me right back with all the answers I needed. These guys do the best R&D on all their parts before releasing them to us and I appreciate that way more than companies that rush parts out just because they fit but don't do enough testing and tuning with each product or even test multiple variations on the dyno and on the street. We are very lucky to have such talented guys producing too notch parts for our platform. I will shoot a few pics in the daylight this weekend after I get a chance to wash the car and clean everything up. Once I have the rest of my exhaust installed and tuned I will post some sound clips and videos.

I hope this helps anyone that's on the fence about ordering this intake. If you have any questions about the install or how it feels please ask away...

Did they recommend resetting the ECU? I figure it is good to let the ECU learn it and adjust as it doesn't hurt.

I think the install calls for removing the negative terminal of the battery which will reset the ECU.

No, they said no need to reset ECU. Also no need to remove the battery terminal either which would reset the ECU also. There is only one plug that needs to be unplugged and that's the MAF sensor but as long as you don't start the motor with it unplugged you will be fine. I made sure it was plugged in and all my connections on the intake were solid and tight before starting the engine.

I've probably got to reset mine. I'm swapping out my aFe Takeda intake for it when it arrives Friday. With how hot it gets here in the summer, I want it the filter away from my hood.

I see that you live in Round Rock.. I spent some time there designing the Mr. Clean carwash a couple years back. It does get REALLY hot there. It was something like 60 days over 100 degrees!! At the time I was living in SoCal and couldn't take the heat...now I live in south Florida and even though it doesn't get up over 100 its still in the high 80's, low 90's all the time with 95% humidity.

The placement of the Perrin CAI and filter is great! Away from the engine and shielded by the diverter shroud so the only air going in there is nice and cool, fresh air entering the bumper. I was thoroughly impressed by the simplicity of the intake setup and how nice and clean it is.

From what Chris says, the ECU is self learning and will adjust on its own so I think you're fine without resetting. If you have already ordered the part then shoot them an email and see what they say...they're always very helpful.

Chad

I know that may seem logical, but metal intakes heat soak MUCH faster than plastic. Sitting at a stop light for 1 minute will see your intake temps jump a good 30-40 degrees on a metal intake, and 10-15 on a plastic. The AFE is a CAI by all of the temperature testing I've done.

IMO, having to rip off the bumper once a year to clean the filter isn't worth it, especially when the gains are likely to be negligible (I'm still waiting for third party dynos to confirm).

Hey bud!! I do agree with your statement of metal vs plastic.. However this intake is routed away from any serious heat generating parts and where the air is pulling from is in a good location surrounded by plastic. Once its past the air diverter and in the engine compartment there is a TON of open space around the CAI tube that is far away from the block. The two radiator fans blow warm air that is exhausted from the radiator which could warm up the metal tube a little while sitting at lights but once you're driving and moving air through it should cool off pretty quick. Plastic does get hot too and from the other intakes I've seen I don't think their designs are any better. They're designed for track use and performance while driving, not sitting at lights.

I will post results once I install the rest of my parts and dyno tune. I know that doesn't isolate any parts and show gains for each one but I honestly don't care about that. I think a combination of parts together working in harmony will create better overall gains. We'll see I guess. I do have to say that the full intake setup has given me the most noticeable improvement in performance over any other part I've installed to date. I'm hoping the header and the back half of my exhaust really wake this car up and the tune gets me where I'd like to be...if not its FI time.
@2forme...on a side note I'm back from Vegas and caught up on work FINALLY!! Going to get Daisy and her engineers on Skype tonight and see if we can get our project off the ground. If they prove to be too expensive or try to reinvent the wheel I think we should put together a few of the decks you have tried and build our own prototype and then get prices by sourcing parts. Either way, I'll have some answers by 10PM tonight!!

Ya, pulling off the bumper is a pita, but at least it's only once a year. I'm already familiar with removing mine by removing the stock snorkel bolts for my aFe. I personally like the Perrin design, but I probably won't see much of a difference between both intakes. It's simply personal preference at this point. I'm sure someone will gladly buy my aFe and I've got sound changers that I ordered weeks ago that are coming in too that I won't use because I'm now deleting my sound resonator!

Here's a couple pics I took with my phone..Attachment 26965Attachment 26966

Do you really have to take the whole thing apart (bumper) once a year to clean this thing?

Rechargeable Air Filters are usually cleaned every 30K miles. So yeah, if you put on 30K miles every year, you're going to be taking the bumper out that often.

crap... i don't suppose there's an easier way to clean this thing without doing the install all over...?

All you do is pull the bumper and a few plastic pins. It doesn't require you to unmount the entire thing. You just remove the filter, clean it. put it back on, and clip the bumper back in place. It's not that hard, especially every 20-30k miles depending on your driving conditions.

Is anyone worried about hydro-locking? Since the filter is not really in a box or shield of some kind, sorry for the noob question