Intake tube, or CAI?

[Matt90]

I have tore through so many CAI,SRI,and intake tube threads that my eyes are bleeding.


i cannot decide what is worth doing at this point, i want one more bolt on before i go for a tune or Unichip. I was considering FI, but i really dont want to mess with warranty too much.. or drop 5k.


So i know the dynos are pretty sad for all the Intake units, 4-6WHP depending on which one, or even as low as 2... (thanks trd..)
K&N drop in got a 5.5whp gain.. so clearly the stock box is good..

but i figure once i get all the bolt ons in place, then do a tune or Unichip, the gains will truely shine.


Right now i have a flow master Cat-back, and drop in filter (K&N).

In your guys opinions, drivers first hand experience, what should i do from this point, an inlet tube? (Perrin most likely, seeing as it achieved some nice whp gains for a tube..( on their blog 2-4whp stacked with a catback). or a full on CAI/Short ram ? Yea i know hot ram intake , but i see them under guys hoods on videos all the freakin time.. so either ignorance is bliss or they actually do something.

if i went CAI, my options are AEM,takeda, or injen?.. though injen scares me with the CEL issues..
thanks in advance

[Minovsky]

Originally Posted by Matt90

I have tore through so many CAI,SRI,and intake tube threads that my eyes are bleeding.

if i went CAI, my options are AEM,takeda, or injen?.. though injen scares me with the CEL issues..
thanks in advance

http://www.japanparts.com/db/parts_d...=&SEARCH_page=

That is also an option with your stock box.. TBh i dont think an aftermarket intake system would be good. I had the injen before although it gave me no issues.. it felt sluggish at low rpm.. the stock is really the best with any aftermarket frop ins.

[Matt90]

Originally Posted by Honeydew

http://www.japanparts.com/db/parts_d...=&SEARCH_page=

That is also an option with your stock box.. TBh i dont think an aftermarket intake system would be good. I had the injen before although it gave me no issues.. it felt sluggish at low rpm.. the stock is really the best with any aftermarket frop ins.

thats awesome i like it! I agree, and am thinking the only improvement it needs is a wider inlet tube

[hattrickey]

I have been doing the same thing as you. I think I'm going to go with the Inlet Tube and Drop-in Filter since it makes the same gains as CAI for a fraction of the cost.

[Minovsky]

It makes the most sense I think. The stock air scoop looks really restrictive so if you improve that and have a silicon silicon inlet tube +drop in it be way better than any after market intake. The only thing I loved from the union was the sound it gave. But that's it..my exhaust will definitely cover that sound so I'm happy I sold it. I'm just waiting on my local shop to see if they could grab the hks air scoop. And I've herd companies dunno their intakes with the hood up +use the worse dyno from stock and best dyno for the after market intakes so the gains on top end would really be not much...don't just listen to what I say tho.. I don't have proof and all I say is what I hear with the exception of trying out injen.. Will see what others say if you really want an intake.

[Matt90]

Originally Posted by Honeydew

It makes the most sense I think. The stock air scoop looks really restrictive so if you improve that and have a silicon silicon inlet tube +drop in it be way better than any after market intake. The only thing I loved from the union was the sound it gave. But that's it..my exhaust will definitely cover that sound so I'm happy I sold it. I'm just waiting on my local shop to see if they could grab the hks air scoop. And I've herd companies dunno their intakes with the hood up +use the worse dyno from stock and best dyno for the after market intakes so the gains on top end would really be not much...don't just listen to what I say tho.. I don't have proof and all I say is what I hear with the exception of trying out injen.. Will see what others say if you really want an intake.

an intake looks awesome under the hood.. but im not going to invest money into nice sound .., i need some sort of performance gain too

and with my cat-back already on, the gains should be more pronounced for me then someone with a stock exhaust on, if i put on a sillicone tube. I read earlier in another thread, someone said that performance gains dont "stack".. ? that doesnt seem to make sense to me, because obviously a catback will give performance gains, a drop in filter gives gains, and so will a inlet tube, thus giving a total of gains acheived in torque in WHP. And some bolt ons compliment others, thus giving a higher over-all gain.,

for example, in perrin's blog i read their inlet tube gave 2-4 WHP in the powerband with a cat-back installed., with a dyno to show.

anyways, i am finishing up my reading on the AFE intake.. i am hoping theres some intake out there that actually out preforms stock but sadly... i think Drop in filter + sillicone tube = best bet.. drop in filter = 5.5 whp gain, tube = 2-4 whp gain if catback is on, thats about 8.5 WHP gain, which beats all the cold air intakes that were dyno'd on youtube.

[Prowl647]

Did you take into account inlet tube plus cai such as the example seen in the perrin system? I am considering the minimalist approach (drop in + inlet) but can't help but wonder what if I combined the perrin parts together.

[Adeets]

Innovates are using the stock box because its that good with a drop in filter, only thing I would do is an inlet pipe to stock air box to delete the sound generator.

[FR-Sizzle]

Id go with the intake tube / drop in filter. Just because you will be using the OEM airbox and any gains you get from it will be positive throughout the dyno. Unlike some intakes you will see some random drops through out it. Even though it isnt a lot its still a little. Its not like you gain a lot from an intake or drop in anyways but who wants to lose power even if it is just a couple here n there on the graph.

The drop in filter dyno's ussually are positive through out the graph. The OEM airbox is already well designed and improving it will just make it better than any intake or CAI you get as those mods basically get the same gains as a drop in filter. The inlet/drop in filter and if you want a duct like the HKS duct will be better than any CAI you can get. CAI use metal piping and that will soak more heat than a silicone tube/oem airbox.

If you get any other mods an upgraded oem air box with inlet/duct/silicone inlet will get gains just as well as any other CAI if not better. It is less prone to heat soak as it isnt made out of metals like the true CAI on the market, perrin and Fa20. Lotta owners of the silicone inlets have reported feeling the inlet after driving and it would be luke warm compared to intakes which would be pretty hot since it is metal. Upgrading the snorkel to a duct is a must if you decide to stick to the stock air box IMO. The Syms intake duct with drop in filter got 8 whp on the dyno, the HKS duct isnt too far off from it in design so I would assume it would perform similar. It is a vendor dyno but those gains are believable since drop ins get 5-6 whp. Most of the gains are from a drop in filter on the ducts and to get 2-3 whp additionally from the duct because it is sucking more air in then the oem air scoop isnt far fetched. Other cars like the s2000 got gains like that with ducts and its true potential cant be measured on a dyno anyways as you cant imitate real world driving conditions (60-80 mph) with just a dyno fan. If it works well then you shouldnt mess with the design especially considering Subaru/Scion probably spent a lot of time working on its design.

[Minovsky]

+1 to the above post. I also read that the powers don't stack. Zz but yeah one thing I did notice from the I ken intake is it got hot to the point where I couldn't have my hand on it for long.. Like 2-3 sec? Don't remember.. But it was really hot n got me worried... So I'd change snorkel n silicon tube. Hks snorkel is cheaper than syms by a lot since I think syms had a carbon fiber design? To me it was pointless since its under the hood and cost like 3-4 times as much

[zooki]

Interesting article on AEM's development of their intake for these cars.
http://www.aemintakes.com/dynocharts...-1408-AITS.pdf

What I find interesting is they actually flow tested the stock intake system and their intake system with the OEM snorkel attached. The OEM system flows something like 400 CFM @ 25"H2O. The AEM sytem closer to 500 CFM. I dont know why they didnt go to 28" H2O, thats kind of the standard when flowtesting, so you can make apples to apples comparisons. That should support quite a bit of horsepower, I think.

[Prowl647]

Those air ducts sound good to me. Anyone know of any USA distributors for said products?

[FR-Sizzle]

Originally Posted by Honeydew

+1 to the above post. I also read that the powers don't stack. Zz but yeah one thing I did notice from the I ken intake is it got hot to the point where I couldn't have my hand on it for long.. Like 2-3 sec? Don't remember.. But it was really hot n got me worried... So I'd change snorkel n silicon tube. Hks snorkel is cheaper than syms by a lot since I think syms had a carbon fiber design? To me it was pointless since its under the hood and cost like 3-4 times as much

Never did say it stacks. Thats why I said that most of the gains are from a drop in and the duct just improves it slightly more. Almost all drop ins get around 4-6 whp. Most of them being 5. So the duct getting a slight gain of 2-3 whp from improved air flow is believable. Syms dyno had 8 whp/10wtq. Their duct is much larger than the HKS so it probably performs a little better but the HKS duct is large enough for the price difference.. Remember the Syms costs 900-1000 just for the duct alone and thats not including shipping/taxes from Japan. So its a huge difference. The resonators cost 400 more and IMO wouldnt even be worth getting if you get the duct from them since upgrading to a silicone inlet would be much better.

Someone has the Syms intake duct w/ resonators AND the SARD carbon fiber inlet. That comes out to almost 2 grand for just an intake and IMO if you spend that much you might as well just pay a little more for the Gruppe M which is much better IMO. Without a doubt though the Sard CF inlet/Syms intake would look amazing together. The whole intake is basically carbon fiber except for half of the OEM air box.

[Matt90]

I was wrong in my reading of the Perrin blog, a quick google "perrin inlet tube hp gains"

shows they saw 5WHP gain on a frs with a headerback exhaust system, and an intake system. we all know now that the CAI systems dont outperform the stock box. ,

so its safe to assume the gains would have been ALOT better if they used a drop in filter + stock box + inlet tube.

Hard to say how much the gains would have been, but a drop in filter alone beats most CAI systems.

they did a dyno on a bone stock frs and saw gains as high as 2-4WHP, without the headerback or CAI.
(exhaust system is going to assist the gains of inlet/drop in the most IMO, the stock exhaust chokes the car up).

long story short, i beleive stock box, with drop in, cat-back, and inlet tube should see at least 5WHP, considering stock box with drop in will breathe alot better then a CAI.

Ill be purchasing the inlet tube asap.