Update from today, I took the car down to AIRAID Intake Systems here in Phoenix. They gave me a shop tour, drove around with me to take reading of stock fuel trim and removed my stock intake to throw it on their flow testing bench. After flow test was complete, I got the prototype intake installed on my car and we went out for another drive to test and take more measurements.
First impressions are that its definitely louder than stock, which is what I was looking for. Its a rapid-made prototype right now so it obviously looks a little rough and is subject to change. The end result though is something that should closely resemble stock which is perfect for me. When I return to their shop, they will be taking back-to-back dyno runs to directly compare the stock intake to their intake system to see how much power was picked up. Now obviously its a high strung 2.0L NA motor, we wont be seeing a huge power gain, but Airaid has a policy to not sell intakes that don't make any power gains, so thats cool.
One more unique thing I noticed about Airaid, they actually do 99.9% of their own work in house. I got to see mesh and filter media being made and cut to specs, injection-molded parts being completed and assembled, finished products being boxed up and shipped out. They really have a great work space, and its especially wonderful to see real quality work being done to produce high quality USA-made parts. The even have a laser engraving machine in house that they use to brand and label their products, its the little details.
I'll be updating further as I get more testing done see the final product.
Some pics:
Flow bench:
And of course, free stuff. (not pictured, delicious free pizza.)
