OK, so here's the story, my birthday is roughly a month away, and my g/f has decided I am allowed a toy for this occasion (Anyone else see anything wrong with that sentence? ) Anyway, the toy of my choosing is the Injen CAI for the 2.2 which I've been assured will work on my 2.4L SS. So, of course this sounded great until I was about to order the damned thing, and people came out of the woodwork and told me things like "you'll only get 1 or 2 HP" or "you're gonna ruin your car" and "it wont fit, trust me, you'll regret it". suddenly all the "wow this works great and gives me like 17 HP plus a nice sound" are missing in action. I wanna settle this finally. First off, is it worth it money wise. Second, am I getting myself into something I'm gonna regret? and third, what exactly am I gonna get outta this thing? I don't wanna spend 200 bucks on a shiny pipe and an extra horse.... any help/advice would be welcomed and gladly taken into account. Thanks!

 

The Fujita 2.4L intake for the Solstice dyno'd a 10hp gain, while their 2.2L intake for the Cobalt showed only a 2HP gain. (By contrast their Cavalier 2.2 Eco intake is good for 8hp).

AEM didn't fair much better, showing only 4hp for the 2.2L using a cold air intake.

It might be worth it for the 2.4 engine, but I would save my money if I had a 2.2L.

My opinion: if you decide to purchase, stick to these brands: GM, AEM, Fujita, Injen, K & N. And do not use an oiled filter. I would use a GM filter. AEM offers a dry filter as well.

 

I am also looking at getting it. Actually its already ordered with my Corsa exhaust at my job. What has me worried I've heard that is throws a CEL and I've wondered if anyone has had this code come up and what they did to fix it.

 

I netted 8hp on my cavalier sedan eco with the aem cai. You shouldn't have fitment issues with the injen but gains at most would be 4-5 hp. With other mods like an exhaust you may see better gains with your intake.

 

the thing is... when you get an intake honestly your getting it for the sound. you're not going to feel huge gains. I use a short ram weapon r on my 2.4L and it actually made a noticable difference at lower rpms. but thats just me

 

Also does anyone have a pic of the Injen CAI on a 2.4? That would be great

 

agreed, it's mostly for sound... to be fair, it DOES sound cool. i kinda wanna try out this famed airbox mod deal... if i can find an extra airbox top laying around.

 

Go to gmpartsdirect.com Part #17800653 It is the intake from GMPP It will fit.

 

I went with the Injen short ram on my 2.4 and I like it. I feel a difference in throttle response, especially in the lower rpm's. I have to say that the sound is not a big selling point with me. After I switched out my muffler with a magnaflow, the car sounded great. Then I added the intake and it is LOUD- not bad sounding- just really loud. Letting my engine breath was worth it though.

 

mmmm Injen CAI.. it was well woth the money.

Fitment - Great
Sound - Great
Look - Great
HP - its a tube with a filter, no matter what brand the only restriction is the filter.

 

Get the Injen, its worth it for sure. You will be in love with the sound. There is no doubt. You'll also see a gain of anywhere between 5-10 HP

 

its worth it !!!

 

it was well worth, i love it and it fits geat

 

That's not really true, bends in the pipe (especially 90's) are a big restriction.

 

it will not ruin your car, and you will get more than 1 or 2 hp our of it... but, it is mostly for the sound and the look... if you're looking for the perfmance aspect of it, take off the intake resonator and get a K&N drop in for 39 dollars... pretty much the same exact thing as the intake but for 39 instead of 200... then you can get an exhaust instead!!

 

whoever told you this has no idea what they're talking about... don't listen to them, and don't ask them for advice on cars... or at least on the cobalt..

 

idk if i would say taking off the resonator and k&n is pretty much the same thing...i'm pretty sure that there's a pretty big airflow increase just by changing out the plastic tubing for metal.

 

the resonator is the most restrictive part of the intake... when i took it off but dyno said increase in power and throttle response, and was alot louder... K&N claims about 3 hp gain for using the filter, soi think 5 hp for the airbox mod is fair to say... that's the same as an intake... and even if it's a 1 or 2 hp difference, that's not worth the extra 180 dollars in my opinion... if you want it for looks, then that's a different story...

 

i was under the impression that the airbox wouldn't stay together without the resonator???

 

the resinator is under the fender liner and is held on by 2 clips... it's not even connected to the rest of the airbox... you may be thinking of the box that actually sits on the throttle body...

 

yes, that's what i was thinking of, as the shape looks like a resonator of sorts to me. lol, so you just pulled the bitch off huh?

 

yea... these airboxes arent' that bad, and that resinator under the wheel well is the most restrictive part of it... when you look at it, you'll see what i mean... it comes off pretty easy, it's not really connected by anthing than clips that pull right off... much better throttle response if you take it off...

 

maybe yours is held on with clips, mine was a bolt and some sort of super clip

 

Ok well I didn't expect this much help, thanks a lot! I wanna start off by telling you all that I already have the chevy cat back racing exhaust... lol. I wanted the CAI for the HP gains, I was originally told it was near 17HP (which I now know is BS, someone told me the only way to get that is with Nitrous...if that's true...I'd hafta say false advertising right there but that's just my opinion...). I would like the extra exhaust noise, however I fail to see how it would be worth that much money, unless it's some wonderful change in the exahust note? (sound clips please? lol ) It certainly does look nice under the hood, my 2.4 is Victory Red and I love the way that one looked, but I'm still not sold. I have heard that there is a 2.4 specific version coming very soon from some big names, and was considering waiting for that, but i guess my view now has shifted and I have to ask, if not the CAI, then what? What's the best bolt on mod that wont run me up into the thousands of dollars, that will bolt on roughly 20 horses, give or take a few? I'm at roughly 190 now, and I wanna be able to at least roll decently with an SS/SC without breaking the bank, my friend has one with a Stage 2 setup, and while I blow away just about every car we pass together (beat a mustang GT w/exhaust and a CAI, w00t!) he just coasts by me like it's nothing to him. ( he's at roughly 270 whp, so I don't expect to get that w/o some heavy modding, but I'd like to start climbing the ladder) any suggestions?

 

What mods do you have to put you at 190 hp?