bonZai

i heard that having a cold air intake would be risky for my car...
also.. if i have a cold air intake ( a good one most likely from aem) on my car... how much would it improve?? and wat could i do to make my car faster :-)
ready my sig for my car..

eK9aT10pSi

if you get one, just get a bypass valve. itll help pretty good. swap the tranny for a 5spd and get a y8 head. that way, you'll get a pretty good starting point. you'd increase your bhp by about 15-20ish + few from the intake

Outrun

A CAI will probably give you 2-3 wheel hp peak power increase. You'll notice more noise than performance. All things being equal you can probably reduce your 1/4 time by a tenth or two or three tenths. Nothing major.

WongFeihung

that thread will help you in your choice on getting a cai or a short ram.


https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1029357


Modified by WongFeihung at 10:13 PM 1/5/2005

bonZai

i could swap the tranny and keep the same engine?

WongFeihung

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bonZai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i could swap the tranny and keep the same engine?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes, you can convert your car to a manual, 5 speed and keep your same motor.

bonZai

wat would b the cost of that?

Civic4less

from my researching its usually around a 400-600$ job

31flavorscivic

converting to manual is the single best thing you can do for your car.

Everywhere I read the stock 0-60 for manual sunfires are 9 sec... fastest mine does is 15, I have AT. I believe transmission has a whole stinking lot to do with it. You could probably do it yourself for around $500 transmission included.

I would also go with short ram, it helps down low in the RPM band, and I think having cold air is too risky, especially if you live in one perpetual puddle like washington, california, etc.

civic-4-ges

Keep your stock airbox, drop a new filter in it. Get a short ram intake 92.5" or larger) and some silicone hose bends (2.5" straight, 2.5" to 3"). Cut the short ram to meet up with the stock airbox.

Voila, you get the flow of a CAI, with the quietness of the stock airbox, without the loss of tourque!

Also lose the U-Bend Hose under your airbox. Cut it in half at the Apex of the bend

GdmLaz

**** from a 9 sec to a 15sec 0-60 is not all about the tranny an auto tranny will not slow you down that much

civic-4-ges

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Slammed92hbonN20 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">**** from a 9 sec to a 15sec 0-60 is not all about the tranny an auto tranny will not slow you down that much </TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't get what you said. Punctuation??

99cxrico

I don't have a cai on my current civic, but I have run a cai in the pouring rain, without a bypass valve. got caught in a storm and had to drive, was shitting bricks everytime I heard a splash. I am sure the air was moist going onto the im as the filter was soaked, but there was no engine damage. I am no mechanic, but this led me to believe, unless you are driving through a river the bypass valve is useless. The tests I have seen are not realistic tests, when it first came out import tuner dumped the filter in a fish tank, if your going to try to drive through an area that is flooded up to the middle of your tire, then buy one. I know running a cai in the rain is risky or not good, but something i carelessly did after nothing happened.

eK9aT10pSi

you got lucky then becuase ur engine didnt hydrolock. did you do an oil change afterwards?

99cxrico

No oil change, I commute 100mi a day to work. what is hydrolock, when the motor siezes up.

wushubrian

You could get a torqueconverter for ur automatic transmission if you didn't want to swap out the transmission. As for which intake to use i recomend the aem v2 intake.

00Red_SiR

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 31flavorscivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would also go with short ram, it helps down low in the RPM band, </TD></TR></TABLE>

Short rams help more woth top end power, not low end. A short ram cannot compete with the torque production of a CAI and that's why they make more overall power.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 99cxrico &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I don't have a CAI on my current civic, but I have run a CAI in the pouring rain, without a bypass valve. got caught in a storm and had to drive, was shitting bricks everytime I heard a splash. I am sure the air was moist going onto the im as the filter was soaked, but there was no engine damage. I am no mechanic, but this led me to believe, unless you are driving through a river the bypass valve is useless. The tests I have seen are not realistic tests, when it first came out import tuner dumped the filter in a fish tank, if your going to try to drive through an area that is flooded up to the middle of your tire, then buy one. I know running a CAI in the rain is risky or not good, but something i carelessly did after nothing happened.</TD></TR></TABLE>

What you've said has been the basis of every argument on this site about using a CAI vs a short ram. The AEM bypass valve is designed to only work when it is submerged in water because realistically that's the only way an engine will ingest enough water to hydrolock. Some others on here have said that they've hydro-locked their engines just by splashing through a puddle etc, but when the CAI is installed properly with all the stock shielding left in place it's virtually impossible. I run a CAI on my car and live in a very rainy climate, I even have my filter exposed to water coming in from the car spray in front of me and have never had a problem for the last 4 years and just like your own personal experience I doubt you would either unless you're driving through a river.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by eK9aT10pSi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you got lucky then because ur engine didnt hydrolock. did you do an oil change afterwards?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No need to do an oil change since there's no way for the water to get into the crank case unless you submerge the entire car under water. If a little water got ingested into the engine it would get divided up into the 4 cylinders and evaporated and go out the exhaust...no oil contamination.

snoochtodanooch

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 00Red_SiR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Short rams help more woth top end power, not low end. A short ram cannot compete with the torque production of a CAI and that's why they make more overall power.

What you've said has been the basis of every argument on this site about using a CAI vs a short ram. The AEM bypass valve is designed to only work when it is submerged in water because realistically that's the only way an engine will ingest enough water to hydrolock. Some others on here have said that they've hydro-locked their engines just by splashing through a puddle etc, but when the CAI is installed properly with all the stock shielding left in place it's virtually impossible. I run a CAI on my car and live in a very rainy climate, I even have my filter exposed to water coming in from the car spray in front of me and have never had a problem for the last 4 years and just like your own personal experience I doubt you would either unless you're driving through a river.

No need to do an oil change since there's no way for the water to get into the crank case unless you submerge the entire car under water. If a little water got ingested into the engine it would get divided up into the 4 cylinders and evaporated and go out the exhaust...no oil contamination.</TD></TR></TABLE>

only fact in this thread thus far, stole all my thunder

97VtecIN

It is true that the CAI only improves hp by like 2-3 but with additional mods you will notice even more improvement ie... cams. Also it really depends on where you are wanting to go with your car and how much money you have to work with. Of course after you get a few bolt-ons you might want to consider a manual swap. If you want real speed look into an engine swap or boost. If you go all motor then i/h/e and a cam would be good for performance.

A quick answer about your CAI vs. Shortram... It is possible to run a CAI w/o a bypass valve, I do personally but I am not in an area that floods and there is rarely standing water. As for driving in the rain, I do it.

d15z6

Did any one tried to combine CAI and ram. CAI is ok for low speed torque and RAM is for high rpm power. So you combine them and you hawe pover from 1500 to 7000+ rpm. The only problem is how to make short intake activate on 5000.
Does this make any sence to anybody?

00Red_SiR

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by d15z6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Did any one tried to combine CAI and ram. CAI is ok for low speed torque and RAM is for high rpm power. So you combine them and you hawe pover from 1500 to 7000+ rpm. The only problem is how to make short intake activate on 5000.
Does this make any sence to anybody?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well fundamentally speaking the main difference between a CAI and a short ram is the intake length and that has the greatest effect on power rather than the overall air temp that the two are drawing from. The question you asked has always been a challenge for engineers ever since cars were built. The best way to answer it is to tell you that everything you do to a car is generally a compromise between low and high end power. There have been companies that have designed intakes with the best of both worlds in mind, such as AEM with it's new V2, Mugen and Comptech with their Ice Box style intakes etc. VTEC was an attempt to bridge the gap/compromise between low and high end power. The challenge will always continue.

31flavorscivic

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wushubrian &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You could get a torqueconverter for ur automatic transmission if you didn't want to swap out the transmission. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Are you just talking about getting an upgraded torque converter? The only objection I have about this is that with all of the new settings in place you'll be peeling out from every stoplight. It would make a horrible daily driver. Good luck finding one too. It's more money than its worth, and even then you would still get beat by a 5 speed.

Another problem with automatics is the longer gearing. A 4 speed vs a 5 speed, the 5 is going to accelerate faster because the gears are shorter. Autos are set up for gas mileage primarily.

p.s. from all of the dyno graphs I saw, from the AEM CAI to a Fake J' short ram, the short ram did REALLY bad up top, whereas the cold air helped from about 4500 upwards. I'll post graphs if no one believes me.

flood

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bonZai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> and wat could i do to make my car faster :-)</TD></TR></TABLE>

hmmmm, buy something other than an econobox would be a good start.

Believe me I have a 98 ex 5/speed and its slow as beans. I use it to commute to work and back. I bought a used Vette 75 Stingray for less than I paid for the honda and the Vette will SMOKE the honda in every performace test known to man and its 30 yrs old.

sorry if I offended anyone, but I speak the truth. Or get a turbo or SC for your honda and introduce all sorts of problems. But eventually it would be fast.

00Red_SiR

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 31flavorscivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Are you just talking about getting an upgraded torque converter? The only objection I have about this is that with all of the new settings in place you'll be peeling out from every stoplight. It would make a horrible daily driver. Good luck finding one too. It's more money than its worth, and even then you would still get beat by a 5 speed.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Upgraded torque converters primarily just increase stall speed or "slippage" up to a certain rpm. This allows a more powerful car to leave the line better without spinning the wheels as much which translates to faster launches. It's the automatic equivalent to slipping the clutch off the line instead of dumping it = less wheel spin and faster launches out of the hole. So a car that has an upgraded torque converter would be LESS likely to be peeling out all over town than one with a stock converter, especially a Honda. I do agree that a manual transmission would be the best bet for increased performance in his case.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 31flavorscivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

p.s. from all of the dyno graphs I saw, from the AEM CAI to a Fake J' short ram, the short ram did REALLY bad up top, whereas the cold air helped from about 4500 upwards. I'll post graphs if no one believes me.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I believe you that you may have seen 1 dyno that had shown this, but it is a recognized fact in the industry that this isn't the normal result of a short ram intake. It could have been caused by a number of factors that day or the brand of intake being used, but it isn't the norm.

Outrun

CAI and "short ram" intakes do not involve the "ram effect".