Looking to see what you guys think of the CAIs out there as of now. Whats youre favorite?

First I was looking at Hahn's... It goes real low so it should definitely draw some cold air, but anybody think theres a good chance of drawing some water?



Dejon has a nice looking kit too, but my concern with that one is its so close to the engine, wont it just be drawing hot air?

The AEM kit Turbotech has looks pretty good too. It goes low enough to get out of the engine compartment, but It doesnt look like it goes quite as low as Hahns which may be a good thing.
http://www.turbotechracing.com/produ...dcategory=5611

So what are your thoughts on these three? Any other kits out there you prefer?

 

Dont drive thru big puddles of water and you should be ok. I know people who DD their cars in the rain with a CAI installed, you just have to watch out for big puddles and of course stay away from the sides of the road where the water is likely to settle.

 

I actually have Dejon's intake and I have to say that i was amazed at how little heat soak there is the engine bay of the TC. It stays pretty cool compared to most vehicles. I guess because the exhaust is behind the motor and not in the engine bay. If you sit there for a long idling it will get hot but any intake made of metal weather SRI or CAI is going to get hot when you sit there and idle. I will tell you it sounds mean now. I don't know yet if it added any power yet have not had a chance to redyno the car yet. I will probably have to adjust my A/F a little but maybe not. It is very good quality and very lightweight the only issue I had installing it was the tube for the valvecover breather would not stay on so I removed it using a 5/16" fuel line tool and installed a 3/8" heavy duty rubber hose and two hose clamps. It would have taken 10 min to install if I had not had that problem. I CAI is going to be a lot harder install it takes around 1.5 hours to install and whenever you need to clean your filter It takes a while just to get at the filter.

 

theres always a chance especially with long intakes. get ur hands on an air bypass valve. your going to have to cut the intake pipe so it will fit, but itll be good for if u decide to

 

There's been a lot of lively discussion regarding true CAI vs. short ram intakes. Some will say that with a turbo car that has an intercooler, the need for a CAI is not as great. Personally, I plan to get a true CAI, but I like the Clear Image version. It doesn't extend quite as low and it uses a better filter, plus it's a little cheaper.

 

i to have the dejon however the car is under about 10 inches of snow and i just got it tuesday havent instaled it yet

 

Cold air intake doesn't make much of a difference on turbo vehicles. The intake air charge is going to heat up when compressed in the turbo hence the reason the car is equipped with an intercooler. I can't remember all the details right now but I read in the tech section of Sport Compact Car once about intake systems for turbo cars. The power gains when comparing a short ram and true cold air intake were negligible. I would go with what's cheapest and just make sure you have a good quality filter attached to the end. If you live in an area that sees alot of rain or the roads are prone to flooding then avoid the cold air intake in the bumper. 'Terminator2' made a good point as well about how much of a pain in the ass cleaning the filter would be so keep that in mind as well.

 

CAI vs SRI. Baiscally the same. When air is compressed it heats up, then the intercooler cools the air back down before it enters the engine. So the air will be heated up regardless. In theory the CAI and SRI would work the exact same. I would agree with the fact that the filter is what really matters. And placement of the unit itself. More air flow to the intake the better. When you speak of air flow, hot air actually travels faster, than cold air does (atleast the actual molecules do). So you would think a SRI would work better, since our cars are turbo, that hot less dense air will become cold and more dense once it passes throguh the IC. Again, in theory, if we could generate more hot air through the intake before it reaches the turbo the faster it will move through the turbo. But then you throw in the fact turbos are based on the fact that exhaust is needed to make them function, then you make things interesting, because all that fast moving hot air wont mean **** if the turbine is not spinning.

If a tree falls in the woods type of deal.

 

I decided to go and move all the snow and put the Dejon intake on along with the BOV spring, you can seriously here the turbo twice as much as before, and the spring alows you to here the bypass vave a little more. I have never been able to post pics or vids but i will really try to now.

 

Yah please try, because those are the two things Im thinking about getting from Dejon.

 

heres a pic of the intake for ya
http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0973.jpg

i have vids with this intake but my dejon piping has a hks BOV so you can't hear the intake over it lol

 

Looks nice. Can you post the video up too? Im curious to hear the HKS on it.

 

sure
http://s491.photobucket.com/albums/r...t=100_0978.flv

 

We are building an air baffle for our intake that will block off engine compartment air and pull air thru the hole in the fender. This will fit any intake already sold. Expect it in about 2-4 weeks (well before summer heat)

 

Sounds nice. I was working on an '06 WRX STI the other day at work, putting a Cobb dp on...the car had an HKS SSQV. When I was done with the exhaust of course I had to road test it haha. It sounded real nice, seems like a good BOV.

What kind of charge piping do you have?

Sounds good. Ill probably wait until then to get the intake. Whats the expected price? Any idea yet?

 

I have the dejon intercooler piping. and btw I have personally talked to Dave from Dejon and he is one of the nicest guys ever and an awesome vendor. A++ customer service.

 

I just posted some pics of the intake in the pics and vids area, under dejon intake

 

Im planning on doing the CAI and then eventually a tune. I know initially before aftermarket CAI were available people were making their own and getting trouble codes and having issues with their cars running poorly, is that because they were poorly made or because they didnt have a tune. Basically what Im wondering is can I get an aftermarket CAI without a tune. I know I probably wont get the performance increase because of the 'learn' feature, but will it cause any issues with how the car runs?

 

no these were causing problems because of the MAF sensor I do believe, although I had the spectre kit and made my own, had it for 3 months and NEVER threw a code. So I dunno. weird

 

yah thats what I had heard. I think they werent placing the MAF sensor in the right place and that was confusing the ECM. Damn cars with their own minds! haha.

 

yeah they were putting them to close to the engine. It has to be a little further away than most people were placing it. I guess that's why mine worked.

 

What filter does Clear Image use? Hahn uses a K&N, so I doubt anyone uses one that is better.

 

I agree, K&N makes great filters, I have in my GTO. Clear Image uses S&B cone filters which have an inverted end to allow nearly double the filter surface area of a standard cone filter. That means more flow, especially as the filter gets dirty.

 

I guess I live my K&N then, because I've never used any filter other than K&N. S&B does have nice filters though, I've seen them before, but didnt know that is what Clear Image was using.

 

I dont know if this means much. But AEM claims 17 hp gain.

plus dry flow filter is always nice. no oil :-)