I dont get this at all... GM makes cold air kits that will fit the 2.4 and the 2.2. That's great... But why no intake for the SS/SC!? Honestly, one of the easiest mods to do and they won't make one for the SS/SC. GM knows people who buy the SS/SC are more likely to be into performance parts. I mean I can buy competition steering knuckles but no fing intake....



Im sorry GM but WTF!?

 

because they already gave us one from the factory.

 

Dispite claims made, all the after market "Cold" air intakes only give you a couple of whp. You can get as many with the airbox mod. The think that all the aftermarket intakes do is remove the sound dampening on the supercharger that the stock intake has.

So to recap...
Airbox mod = same performance as all aftermarket intakes
Aftermarket Intakes = something to get a louder supercharger

 

Do0d, I would like to see some dyno proven proof of that claim.

I had the airbox mod before my K&N and there is a noticable difference between the two!

 

so did I. and thats bs

it got louder. thats it.

theres absolutely no reason a CAI will out perform the airbox mod with a high quality filter by anything more than minute amounts.

95% of the gains given by a CAI on THIS car, is caused by the high flow filter.
give the stock piping that same filter and voila.


Explain to me any reason why its otherwise. the filter is sitting in the exact same spot.
the routing is the same, the filter is the same, the access to air is the same, the maf sensor is the same.

 

I'm gonna have to agree with most of the guys here... the intake we have is really just about as good as it gets... sure you could have bigger... or shinier piping... but all the intakes out there are merely duplicating our stock one... with only minimal gains over the airbox mod... and for a huge price.

For $100 I could understand an after-market CAI... but not for $300+ as is in most cases.

 

are there any reusable/cleanable higher flow filters out there for the ss/sc?

 

K&N and AEM both make them

Im personally a fan of the AEM, because with an oilless filter your chances of getting oil onto the maf sensor and causing cels and rough idling is 0.

 

CAI

Biggest scam rip-off in the so called performance after market industry.

No more than $50 and thats high, worth of materials sold for great gobs of profit.

More than 90% of these so-called COLD air kits take their air from under the hood where temps exceed 175 degrees.

Just for **** grins and giggles, use a indoor/outdoor thermometer and place on the end of one of those kits. Take the same thermometer and place it inside the stock air box on the filter.


10 degrees is one horsepower, see what you lost.



K&N has this nice little demo unit that shows you that their filter works so much better than the leading paper one. Watch the ping pong ball float or not. YEAH OK, they found the right exact amount of air movement required to make it float that the slight restriction in a paper one will not pass. OK, so lets all forget the fact that under higher amounts of vacuum, this applies and your regular filter wont pass enough air to meet the requirements of your engine.

Not one of these kits offered uses a secondary plenum like stock. People say how that smooth tube will flow more air etc etc etc. But they forget when you shift, your foot comes off the throttle, air slams the throttle plate and rebounds out that nice smooth tube so when you get back on it, it has to fight that out going rush of air and resuck it back in. Thats why GM factory ones have this secondary plenum, a place to allow this air to expand in, build a slight amount of pressure for that foot back in it.


There are actually some factory intake systems that are poorly made for performance and K&N uses UP TO X H.P. claims citing those few systems ,to keep the FTC off their ass.

 

An informative and mostly true post.

There are a lot of cars that can benefit from an aftermarket intake... my gf's Isuzu for example... gained about 5 MPG from just removing the stock intake and slapping a K&N on the end of the stock intake tube. I also recently put an intake on my mom's Jeep Liberty... it gained some torque down low... but the main thing is that it gained 2-3 MPG.

The airboxes in these vehicles were designed to be quiet and out of the way... an aftermarket intake simply sacrifices quietness for improved responce and better fuel economy.

 

agreed

 

They did make one. They, for some reason, just didn't keep making it or make it public. I've called on it before and I can't get a real reason why they discontinued it.

Here's an old list of accessories that GM offers. This excel spreadsheet came directly from GM. Look at line number 118. It will say "performance air intake" "17800655" for the LSJ's and it is already discontinued.

http://fr33k.5gbfree.com/accessories.csv

 

STILL, GM SHOULD MAKE US AN INTAKE. It would be just one more thing they could over charge us for! Y wouldn't they make one and have ppl buy theres when people will just go out and buy some other brands. It makes Sense $$$$ wise for them to make one!

 

You know how they achieve better fuel economy on some applications???

Leaner is meaner.

There actually not flowing anymore air, the conical filter/elbows they use cause air to pass by MAF sensors in higher amounts undetected.

GM use to use those 3 wire MAF's and K&N would always have the elbow turn on the opposite side of the wire hang. Air would first spin due to the conical ending and then simple air dynamics takes over. Air, like electricity takes the path of least resistance and since the air on the inside of the elbow is moving much much faster than the outer edge, WHALLA.. We data logged with stock air systems, elbowed, removed that same elbow and just put the filter on a straight piece of pipe and got consistent readings from the MAF that backed what we thought was happening.

 

Finally.. I was going to say It but I kept hush since Cobalts are new to me. It's not 1980 anymore people. These engineers are a tad more savy today. For the price..you are buying into a gimmic. This is a different car but good example. I bought my 92 mustang GT WITH a k+n cold intake already installed-along with other countless mods. Looked very pretty and sounded quite nice. Eventually I added a 9psi vortech blower. Did a dyno and was pretty giddy. For fun I put back the stock intake (with air silencer) to see the difference. Peak gain of 1.9 HP between the two. Whats funny is that during the whole "curve" I actually lost .1 Hp. Again. Different car..theres different dynos..and different circumstances. But my experience was that these things are the equivalent of those "cell booster" stickers you put behind your cell phone battery. I will admit that they sound mean and look great though.

 

Looking at my 07, the only drawback if you would call it one, is length.
Pulling air from ahead of the wheel well, through a decent size tube to and air box inside the engine bay, thats sealed, down to the engine. Has a good sized plenum for throttle let offs.

Engineering today is not close towhat it once was as far as performance engineered problems.

Bu the aftermarket is keeping the old problems in front of us, adding new ones to push for one single thing. PROFIT!!!!!

I'm not against a profit, but I do want something in return performance wise for my monies.

If it was looks I was after, I could get some nice stainless steel t-bolts, a couple of colored silicone elbows/adapters, go to my local exhaust shop and have them bend up some 3-4 inch tubes, paint them and for less than 1/3 the price, have the same thing!!