Official AIRAID Intake System Feedback, Pictures Thread

[Bu-Tang]

Just picked mine up from UPS, I was charged 72.86CND for customs charges by UPS, seems every product I purchase for the FRS some how finds a way to leave a sour taste on my mouth, I wish I could have chosen USPS as a shipping method. I once ordered a $800 Cerwin Vega surround sound system and I paid 60CND for customs charges which to me is fair, but 72.86 on a $280 purchased is BS.

Installing the intake tonight, I have no bog issues or any issues with my FRS in relation to engine, I will post a video and feedback tonight!

[scioneric]

UPS sucks they always charge big bucks to Canadian with Ground shipping. If you have to chose UPS do not ship on Ground!! Best way is send to the state and pick it up yourself!

[Reason]

To update this, my bogging/hesitation went away after installing the replacement tube which means my problem was because of my "home depo hack" solution to the PCV fitting was creating a slight vacuum leak.
I had a 1/4 to 1/8 adapter which was not that well made and was meant for liquid, not air
For reference The intake tube was in no way different other than it had the correct hole for the PCV fitting.

Once again thanks David and everyone at airaid! Very happy customer.

[Sony]

I wonder if the hesitation issue is being caused by the PCV fitting being loose. Has anyone with the hesitation issue tried taking some Teflon plumbers tape and putting it on the PCV fitting threads then tightening it as tight as you can by hand? Maybe the problems are caused by air leakage from around the PCV fitting throwing off the MAF sensor under high vacuum.

[BugeyedWagon]

Installed the intake last Friday. I have driven the car 400+ miles since the install and absolutely love the intake! I have experience no bogging issues, an improved acceleration feel in the powerband, and an amazing average fuel economy improvement of better than 2 mpg.

Here are the pictures:

[AIRAID]

Originally Posted by Reason

To update this, my bogging/hesitation went away after installing the replacement tube which means my problem was because of my "home depo hack" solution to the PCV fitting was creating a slight vacuum leak.
I had a 1/4 to 1/8 adapter which was not that well made and was meant for liquid, not air
For reference The intake tube was in no way different other than it had the correct hole for the PCV fitting.

Once again thanks David and everyone at airaid! Very happy customer.

Hello Reason,

Great news and we appreciate the feedback.

Originally Posted by BugeyedWagon

Installed the intake last Friday. I have driven the car 400+ miles since the install and absolutely love the intake! I have experience no bogging issues, an improved acceleration feel in the powerband, and an amazing average fuel economy improvement of better than 2 mpg.

Here are the pictures:

Hello BugeyedWagon,

Thank you for the feedback and the pictures as well, I will get you added to the Facebook album.

Thanks,
David

[2forme]

Originally Posted by Sony

I wonder if the hesitation issue is being caused by the PCV fitting being loose. Has anyone with the hesitation issue tried taking some Teflon plumbers tape and putting it on the PCV fitting threads then tightening it as tight as you can by hand? Maybe the problems are caused by air leakage from around the PCV fitting throwing off the MAF sensor under high vacuum.

Could also be the manufacturing variances in pipe size. Perhaps the MAF is reading a big better because the pipe sent to him originally was out of spec?

Either way, I'm completely stock now (ecu wise) and still have the same issue you, yourself experienced 2 nights ago. I've triple checked my install, everything is tight.

[gmookher]

So the stock intake apparently scavenges really well where the dip in torque is. likely some of the airraid and other cool looking intakes will reduce midrange power. I am also not convinced till I see a 3rd party dyno run before and after. I'd love to try out thios stuff and use vivd's dyno; but they seem to be pretty much a Agency Power shop; and my contact with them didnt seem like they were into testing or installing other brands...

cavitation is very desirable when tuned to happen at the right rpm range-car designers employ some pretty fancy tools to measure and tune that when building a intake

so racerboy pipe with the cone that works in so many other applications worsens the DI motors inherent TQ issue with regards to port injection maps

I'm betting the airraid makes things too rich at lower rpms, and a proper tune done on a car with an air raid box installed is what a visconti or a don need to get crackin on to make this airbox fly or not; the posts from Perrin from a while ago suggest making a better flowing box is hardly worth it unless done right.

I am dropping in a foam filter for now, till someone truly works out the TQ, richness, and drivability issues presented when replacing the OE airbox with one with less optimal air flow. Unless you are soley tracking it and dont need driveabilty at 3000 rpms, but seems making a design worse is never good

Those of you who have any background in physics, fluid dynamics is NOT an easy class. Excersize alot of skepticism when buying exhaust and intake. I avoid too many bends, sections welds, I avoid vendors who are jumping on this bandwagon to try and make a buck. I would bet air raid could benefit finding a FA20club/visconti/don and having a tune built around it seems like the next step, as users all agree 'it pulls up top'

Is that just a relative observation to it NOT pulling down below? only a 3rd party dyno run will tell

Those of you posting feedback- thanks from the rest of us.

[2forme]

Originally Posted by gmookher

So the stock intake apparently scavenges really well where the dip in torque is. likely some of the airraid and other cool looking intakes will reduce midrange power. I am also not convinced till I see a 3rd party dyno run before and after. I'd love to try out thios stuff and use vivd's dyno; but they seem to be pretty much a Agency Power shop; and my contact with them didnt seem like they were into testing or installing other brands...

cavitation is very desirable when tuned to happen at the right rpm range-car designers employ some pretty fancy tools to measure and tune that when building a intake

so racerboy pipe with the cone that works in so many other applications worsens the DI motors inherent TQ issue with regards to port injection maps

I'm betting the airraid makes things too rich at lower rpms, and a proper tune done on a car with an air raid box installed is what a visconti or a don need to get crackin on to make this airbox fly or not; the posts from Perrin from a while ago suggest making a better flowing box is hardly worth it unless done right.

I am dropping in a foam filter for now, till someone truly works out the TQ, richness, and drivability issues presented when replacing the OE airbox with one with less optimal air flow. Unless you are soley tracking it and dont need driveabilty at 3000 rpms, but seems making a design worse is never good

Those of you who have any background in physics, fluid dynamics is NOT an easy class. Excersize alot of skepticism when buying exhaust and intake. I avoid too many bends, sections welds, I avoid vendors who are jumping on this bandwagon to try and make a buck. I would bet air raid could benefit finding a FA20club/visconti/don and having a tune built around it seems like the next step, as users all agree 'it pulls up top'

Is that just a relative observation to it NOT pulling down below? only a 3rd party dyno run will tell

Those of you posting feedback- thanks from the rest of us.

There will be dyno comparisons done by myself when my other intake arrives. I'm going to do a couple more logs and maybe a video now that the ECU is back to stock, then put the stock intake back in. You should really review the stuff over in the bog thread. We could use some educated input!

[AIRAID]

Originally Posted by David@Airaid

Hi guys, just so you know we have been monitoring this thread and will be doing some data logging with our own FR-S here at our facility. We will be sure to report our findings as soon as we have something. Please note that moving forward you can see more information on the bogging concern at this thread here - http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15651

Lastly, we apologize for deleting some posts on this thread, we did so with bad judgment however with no intentions of hiding anything. We are here to support you and the FR-S community and will remain here for the duration.

Gentlemen,

an update on the bog concern from a few members here on the board. Our engineers here took our company FR-S and did some data logging/testing on it to see if we couple duplicate the bog that a couple of you are experiencing. First they drove the car for about 50miles in 100% stock form and logged the data. They then installed our AIRAID cold air intake on it and went out drove it again for about 50 more miles all while trying to duplicate the bog issue using the test that user Jidonsu explained. We were unable to get our test vehicle to duplicate the bog in either form. We have been in touch with John @ Visconti and have offered to send him an intake for testing.

Testing Procedure:

Put car in 1st gear, let car accelerate to 5mph. Foot off gas pedal and let car settle around 5mph, which for me is around 800rpm or so. Quickly increase throttle. Observe whether the revs climb steadily and smoothly to 2000rpm and beyond or not.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15651

Thanks,
David

[gmookher]

Originally Posted by David@Airaid

We were unable to get our test vehicle to duplicate the bog in either form. We have been in touch with John @ Visconti and have offered to send him an intake for testing.

David, thanks for your prompt reply
I see your are well intended, and that goodness WILL pay off

its tough as a vender to balance time to market and R&D

The right thing to do is continue your product development, acknowledge user concerns, and PAY visconti or fa20club or don or someone to write a tune for your airbox, and get the folks who bought your airbox a better result, build brand loyalty and forum brownie points.

You have a ripe base of testers out here, why not come up with a few different designs and send them out to see what feedback you get?

Based on your response, I would NOT buy your first generation product for a OE tune having read this thread. But this is your opportunity to earn mine and others business.Come up with something that can be proven to improve power in one area of the band, let folks know if there is a sacrifice in another, and sales can be better.

Do not tell a customer the problem wasnt replicated and expect more sales. the forum is about truth in user experience; its really not a 'sales arena' as vendors hope it to be.

For me, my money is where my mouth is and I am willing to pay for HP and improvements. so far this one is a fail.

[Keith@AIRAID]

Originally Posted by 2forme

Could also be the manufacturing variances in pipe size. Perhaps the MAF is reading a big better because the pipe sent to him originally was out of spec?

Either way, I'm completely stock now (ecu wise) and still have the same issue you, yourself experienced 2 nights ago. I've triple checked my install, everything is tight.

Our molding process is such that the MAF section of the tube is a controlled, molded diameter, so there is no chance of a diameter variance at the MAF.

[Keith@AIRAID]

Originally Posted by Bill@SiR

On Topic, I think this is Airaid's first subaru air meter housing design. Thats not to say its not good, its just to say Subaru ECU's are very sensitive to MAF, more so than any other platform I have tuned.



And your car runs without any problems

It is a Denso MAF that is used on a lot of different cars. The same MAF is used on the 10-12 FJ Cruiser and 4Runner and it runs perfectly with our intake.

[AIRAID]

Originally Posted by gmookher

David, thanks for your prompt reply
I see your are well intended, and that goodness WILL pay off

its tough as a vender to balance time to market and R&D

The right thing to do is continue your product development, acknowledge user concerns, and PAY visconti or fa20club or don or someone to write a tune for your airbox, and get the folks who bought your airbox a better result, build brand loyalty and forum brownie points.

You have a ripe base of testers out here, why not come up with a few different designs and send them out to see what feedback you get?

Based on your response, I would NOT buy your first generation product for a OE tune having read this thread. But this is your opportunity to earn mine and others business.Come up with something that can be proven to improve power in one area of the band, let folks know if there is a sacrifice in another, and sales can be better.

Do not tell a customer the problem wasnt replicated and expect more sales. the forum is about truth in user experience; its really not a 'sales arena' as vendors hope it to be.

For me, my money is where my mouth is and I am willing to pay for HP and improvements. so far this one is a fail.

Hello gmookher,

I think you can tell by reading this thread that 99% of the customers are very happy and have reported Zero issues.

There are still a couple people claiming the "Bog", and as much testing as we have done with 5 different FR-S/BRZ car's and we are not able to replicate the claimed issue.

The design is very solid and works great as stated by the majority of the members here on the forum who purchased the system.

As far as the couple people still claiming to have the "Bog", how do we know there is not another underlining issue with the car?

We have offered to send Visconti a system so that he can write a Tune for it, for those that want additional performance, however the Tune is clearly not needed for the system to run properly and make power.

As you can see by the poll results, the Majority are not having issues.

7 people reported having issues who are running other aftermarket part's including a Tune, Pulley, and Cat-back.

19 People have reported ZERO issues running an Intake Only.

So again with all due respect, I am not sure if you are seeing the big picture here or not, but I think once somebody writes a Tune to accommodate the addition of the Intake, Tune, and pulley or any combination there of, then these" issues" will go away.

Thanks,
David