Short ram vs. Cold air intake

[75aces]

I'm interested in getting either a cold air intake or short ram for my 96 honda accord 4cylinder. Not looking into brands yet, just want to get the differences and advantages or disadvantages. Thanks.

[elliascool]

yea i wanna know too . because i wanted to put one of these long ones that go into the hole where OEM intake box sits .
but i heard the short ram ones are better for the engine to breathe and people just put the filter right on the intake manifold n very short ...

i also want to know which one to get and which is better ...?!?!

[Aradin]

Short ram will net you a deeper tone than a cold air, but it sucks in air from the engine bay which is often warmer than the air outside the car where the CAI gets it.

CAI is supposed to give more power, but if your car is otherwise stock I really doubt you're going to notice anything other than noise.

I've been using a no-name Ebay SRI on my 95 for some amount of years now, it has a nice deep tone to it.

[uberEFtuner]

A filter on the intake manifold will sometime smell like fresh gas, and be loud. But the shorter the intake better the low end power and faster throttle response. A cold air intake will give you better mid and high rpm power. Either one is fine.

[75aces]

Thanks for the info. I live in California and they have strict emissions here. Anyone know off hand if they require carb stickers for either short ram or cai?

[ninjaturtleEG]

Cold air intake is good but if you live somewhere that rains a lot, it'll suck water into the engine because the filters mounted close to the ground. I just have a short ram, because its almost as good and I dont have to worry about sucking in water.

[HONDA1luv]

yes technically you need a carb legal sticker on your intake or otherwise you might have problems passing smog, etc.. but i know alot of people that dont

[75aces]

Do you know how to get a carb sticker? Also, if I get one, do I need to swap back to my oem to do smog?

[MAD_MIKE]

Originally Posted by 75aces

Do you know how to get a carb sticker? Also, if I get one, do I need to swap back to my oem to do smog?

The C.A.R.B./E.O.# sticker is only on approved parts. You cannot just 'get' a sticker the number is related to the approved part. A smog legal part does not require removal during testing, its approved.

If you have smog/smog laws, just purchase an approved part. Less hassle, no worries if your hood gets 'popped'.

[nus_dogg]

From what I gathered and read, SRI gives lowend power while CAI gives topend power.

--Short Ram Intake--

*Pros:
-Doesn't suck up water
-Sounds cool

*Cons:
-Sucks up hot air

--Cold Air Intake--

*Pros:
-Doesn't suck up hot air
-Sounds cool

*Cons:
-Sucks up water

I'm a SRI guy and has loved it the first time I got one. I have a 3" Ebay intake piping due to my setup. I had an AEM SRI but piping is too small(2.25").

[75aces]

Anyone out there have links or info on what intakes are California approved? At madmike, this is going to be the only mod that I'm going to do to my accord for now. Maybe install exhaust later. Thanks for the info everyone.

[Nicefeet]

The stock air box with a drop in will work fine for a majority of applications.

[75aces]

With the drop in, would it produce the tone or would it sound like it's been ghetto-flowed?

[Nicefeet]

Originally Posted by 75aces

With the drop in, would it produce the tone or would it sound like it's been ghetto-flowed?

It’s not going to produce any tone change with a drop in. I’m of the opinion that any engine tone should come strictly from the exhaust on an N/A engine. I’m also of the belief that the stock intake flows more than enough air on a mostly stock N/A engine.

Again this is my opinion, but I just don’t buy into the slam an intake on results in X amount of horsepower.

[Cereal One]

I have owned both and it is a plaebo affect. Looking back it would have been wiser to save the money for replacement parts and/or maintainence. Not as fun, however less of a headache down the road.

[Balwin]

CAIs are stupid on stock motors. Too much risk of hydrolock for what.. 5-7hp at the most?

[75aces]

I'm thankful I live on the west coast where we don't see much rain. You're right about the CAI. My brother had a AEM CAI on his Civic and it got damaged because it picked up a rock on the freeway. I would've thought by now there'd be a protective screen or something to prevent that. Yes all stock internals as this is a old vehicle and may be going to the graveyard in about a year. I may just go with the drop in as it is the cheapest of the options. Thanks for the input.

[nicolaselias]

Balidwin, 5-7hp from a CAI on a stock motor is wishful thinking... Lucky if you get 2 or 3

I know that most of the big brands are CARB approved, eg AEM, Injen, K+N

Personally, the ideal combination for me is a K+N piping with AEM filter but thats my personal preference..

I went with a short ram and then ran some cool air ducting to the front bumper.. Gives me most of the benefits of CAI without the hydrolock risk..

[Balwin]

I did that once with an extra intake elbow but man does it look terrible.

[TheMuffinMan]

Honestly, what I did was remove the resonator chamber from behind the bumper and rock a short ram that sits where the stock one does.

[elliascool]

even with that inner fender under the wheel has 3 small holes where air would go into that stock air box the resonator chamber that sits there
....
which i took out cuz i see no point for it, so if you get one of those intakes that go in there
even with the inner fender water would still get sucked in?

[TheMuffinMan]

You wouldn't get the CAI for that, you can get the SRI and keep it inside the engine bay but benefit with the cutout for colder air.

[elliascool]

Originally Posted by TheMuffinMan

You wouldn't get the CAI for that, you can get the SRI and keep it inside the engine bay but benefit with the cutout for colder air.

so like one of these

[TheMuffinMan]

Yep.

Then you don't have to worry about water getting to it but have it sitting right over top of a hole with access to colder air. Several members have created ducting to force air up to the hole.

[nicolaselias]

Yea, my ducting involved the use of a 3" velocity stack placed down in the front grille and some high quality indiustrial hose going right through that very same hole just under the filter..

It wont do much good at idle, but the moment you get the car moving cold air will be flowing without any risk of hydrolock..

Shame I didnt take any pics of the setup but I will as soon as I get back to the Caribbean