Are aftermarket intakes worth it?

[Sellout]

Originally Posted by zooki

It will soak up more horsepower because you're trying to turn the same amount of mass(the drivetrain plus the rollers on the dyno) quicker. The inertial resistance increases the faster you try to accelerate it.
Theoretically, think of it this way, I could probably put a bar on the end of the crank and turn the motor over when the car is in gear on the chassis rollers. I may be able to go from 0 to 1 RPM if I'm lucky. The drivetrain and the rollers are providing resistance, but I can apply enough force to make it turn. Now, it I try to turn it'd rom 0 up to 6000 RPM the resistance suddenly gets a lot harder, and I have to expend a lot more energy to get it to 6000 RPM. Everything drivetrain wise is the same, but the amount of power needed over the same amount of time has increased because I have to overcome the inertia to get the motor to a higher RPM. Every drivetrain is efficient at a different rate, but all things being the same the rate remain constant.

So what's the drivetrain loss on a load bearing dyno with the sweep time set at 10 seconds? Is it the same as the losses experienced on an inertial dyno like your description?

[zooki]

That I don't know. But physics is physics. There's no getting around it.

[wbsrazzle]

I think I'm selling my AEM intake that was installed for a total drive time of way under 1 hour or less. Basically brand new other than unbox. The reason why I say I think is because I'm not bent on selling it, could go either way.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36357

[tennisfreak]

I enjoy my TRD intake.

Not sure how much "power" I gained but I love the look, sound, and how it cleaned up my engine bay.

I am about to get a tune which is where I have been led to believe the real advantage of having an intake comes in. Since it flows air better it should give the tuner more room to work with and potentially a bigger HP gain.

[StormTrooper]

Intakes on our cars simply don't make much power..... To clean up the bay, for sound or for response then go ahead just don't be mad when a stock car makes the same with a tune as one with an intake.

[wbsrazzle]

Originally Posted by StormTrooper

Intakes on our cars simply don't make much power..... To clean up the bay, for sound or for response then go ahead just don't be mad when a stock car makes the same with a tune as one with an intake.

Nope. But this AEM intake makes power. Just would rather have the low end response, that's why I may end up selling it.

[Robbie]

Originally Posted by cfusionpm

Except in their example, the engine is a turbo. Of course a cold air intake isn't going to do much... as soon as the air passes through the turbo it will heat up. That's what intercoolers and such are for. They have big advantages on most NA cars. The reason why it's not THAT MUCH better than our stock cars is that the factory intake already pulls cold air from the front bumper via a snorkel. It does it pretty efficiently too. So much so that you can gain 90% of the performance of a full intake with just a drop-in filter. Some non-cold-airs actually lose power because of the warm engine bay temps.

That's incorrect. Turbo cars benefit from a cold air intake more than an NA car as the math for how a turbo heats the air up involves an exponent. That means that a 10 degree drop in intake air on a turbo means a >10 degree drop after the compressor and even with an intercooler, the cooler the air is to start, the less work the intercooler needs to do.

[Carwhisperer]

using Perrin's CAI on John's stage 1 tune. Let me tell you once the cam's open up at 3.5k+ rpm's the car sounds better than ANY 4 banger on the planet IMO. Power is there especially on the highway. Throttle response is better than stock, MUCH more responsive with 21k miles on stock intake. Day 1 on perrins CAI I notice how much easier it is to Up or down shift. Well ~260$ spent.

[Sellout]

Originally Posted by zooki

That I don't know. But physics is physics. There's no getting around it.

There's a flaw in the explanation that you gave(it doesn't work on a load bearing dyno), my question was just to make you think about it.

That's enough dragging this thread way off topic for me though. Carry on...

[Lverasky]

Originally Posted by CSI:86

I personally got a AFE intake, it took a few days for the ECU adjust. At first, it didnt do much. Then it started having more low end torque before the torque dip and more torque after 5.5k to redline. BUT the torque dip is much more noticeable, once you put the AFE intake in. BE WARNED!

I have AFE intake Pro Dry..love it so much.

[wbsrazzle]

Originally Posted by peace_noel

I have AFE intake Pro Dry..love it so much.

Is that a drop in? I am considering whether to sell my AEM and get a drop in or just stay stock. The power up top on the AEM is nice but maybe I just need to let it chill for a few days and learn the intake...

[Lverasky]

Originally Posted by wbsrazzle

Is that a drop in? I am considering whether to sell my AEM and get a drop in or just stay stock. The power up top on the AEM is nice but maybe I just need to let it chill for a few days and learn the intake...

Here is the link for you.

http://afepower.com/shop/details_new...as&&brandID=78

[Lverasky]

Here is a picture of the aFe Intake PRO DRY in my FR-S.

[zooki]

Originally Posted by Sellout

There's a flaw in the explanation that you gave(it doesn't work on a load bearing dyno), my question was just to make you think about it.

That's enough dragging this thread way off topic for me though. Carry on...

Here's an interesting article that explains what I was trying to say a lot better. It does touch on the differences between dynamometers a bit. It does explain why horsepower losses go up as horsepower increases, though like you say, it's not as simple as a hard and fast percentage number.

http://www.modified.com/tech/modp-10...s/viewall.html