00-ITR-373

This is on a '99 Civic CX (D16Y7) not a Type R

irst off: I love the intake, the car drives nice. Feel is exactly like the dyno plot posted in the magazine adds, nice TQ at 3K-4K, then tapers off and picks back up around 5.5K.

Some of you might remember this thread I started:
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=427309

AEM SUCKS! I love the intake. The V2 replaced the original cold air I had on. BUT, AEM you still have a ton of work to do on these kits. Mine sucked. Thanks to APC I was able to get my intake up and running. Here's the reason that AEM sucks at putting their kit together:

1) I can't run my neuspeed strut tower bar (not a huge problem, but I will miss that bar). The V2 takes up a lot of room under the hood. The original cold air cleared the strut bar, but the new one doesn't. (Again, Not really AEM's fault here)

2) The hose from the valve cover to the intake. Original hose was 1/2" (from the original cold air intake). The hose with the V2 was 3/8". Hello AEM..my car did not change, why would you change the hose with the kit. IT DOESN'T EVEN FIT ON YOUR INTAKE, YET ALONE MY VALVE COVER. The coolant hose is 5/16" so that's not going to work either. Could I have re-used my 1/2" hose from the original intake? Yes, but I'm giving it to the buyer of the original intake so I couldn't re-use it. For a quick solution, I plugged the hole in the AEM V2 and ran an APC breather on the valve cover. I never ever ever ever thought I'd have APC on the car, but AEM sucks at putting a kit together for the "most advanced intake" so no choice.

3) The soft rubber mount. Previously it screwed into a hole in the body of the car. The new one goes in the new bracket for the tranny mount (WHICH AEM INCORRECTLY LABELS AS AN ENGINE MOUNT IN THEIR DIRECTIONS - after complaining to me on the phone for calling it an engine mount - Figure your sh*t out tech line - Don't correct me until you correct your instructions) Anywho, since the new intake soft mount goes through the bracket, you need a nut on both sides of the soft mount (the hole in the bracket is not threaded). Well AEM only supplies one nut for the soft mount. Hello? How am I supposed to put it on. Again, nothing a trip to the hardware store couldn't fix, but come on, I already had a cold air intake, wanted to try the new one, get this figured out, it's not rocket science here.

Other than that I'm really pleased with it all. I like having the torque come on earlier, should be nice for auto-xing or street use. I'm just trying to give AEM a hard time for a sloppy kit. The main part, the intake and filter are great, just a few minor details to work out.

Don't forget, if you like your precious strut tower brace, this intake might not be for you.



Modified by 00-ITR-373 at 9:51 AM 4/27/2003

Jon5240

APC! You’re a ricer! Why don’t u get some wiper nozzle LEDs!
Hehe just kidding, i hear a lot of bad comments about this v2, maybe they should have held off on the production date until they made sure the kit was actually usable. Sorry about your strut bar though!

EDIT: for spelling

censored

never knew people got so worked up about an intake... gains from an intake go as so: 1% physical 99% mental

Qwikrex

Until I see an unbiased dyno of it installed on a B-series, I'm not buying into the hype.

TheAutoboxer

.. i don't think he's raving about intake power gains.. i think he's bitching about how half assed the v2 kit is. My friend got one for his ex, and it is an overpriced p.o.s

SpoonFedHatch

you should write a letter to AEM regarding all of your troubles just to install ONE of their researched/produced intakes.....i'm sure they'll offer some type of small compensation, maybe a free filter or something

makaveli284

yea man i remember your original post, i decided to stay away from all this trouble and the buying into the hype, so i got myself an INJEN RaceDivision CAI. So far, im loving it !

Mar_DC2

that takes ***** to install something made by APC, especially on an ITR. i think i'll have to agree with VTEC TL and say i wont believe it untill i see unbiased dyno results. we all know how accurate the butt dyno can be

00-ITR-373

Hey guys (and girls?)...anyway, this is on a '99 Civic CX - Not my R. I think the D16Y8 guys might be safe with the strut tower bar because their intake doesn't come out of throttle body vertical and pointed at the hood like the D16Y7 does.
The V2 is just so big that after it makes the bend away from the hood and then goes to the monster 4" piping, there's no room for the strut bar.

Again, I like the intake, I'm just posting here (and basically the whole reason I bought it) was because I haven't seen a good review here yet, so hopefully you're more informed now. It actually has pretty good clearances after the new transmission bracket, I was impressed. I wasn't sure how the 4" piping would clear everything.

Oh yeah, I'll try to get a dyno plot sometime soon. Unfortunately I have changed a few things besides the intake since I had the last dyno plot done, but generally we should be able to see what's going on.

Mocky57

Nice post
Has anyone actually physically seen the size of the new V2? I understand that there is some "R&D" work that goes into desiging this, but as far as I'm concerned, it looks like triple the pipe diameter, larger sticker, same suspect fit and finish, and there you go.. V2.
Any luck finding a company that makes a strut tower bar that will work around the intake?

00-ITR-373

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mocky57 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Any luck finding a company that makes a strut tower bar that will work around the intake?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Haven't started looking, but since APC bailed me out when AEM included too small of a hose, maybe they have a strut tower bar that will work? o.k. maybe I'd be better off making one myself, or not having one at all.

JSPECHB

I bought an Intake and it feels like I lost power!

TRENDSETTLER

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JSPECHB &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I bought an Intake and it feels like I lost power! </TD></TR></TABLE>
ummm...ok


anyways, good review. thanks for lettin everyone know whats up with the V2

nsxmatt

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JSPECHB &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I bought an Intake and it feels like I lost power! </TD></TR></TABLE>

I knew someone who had a hamster in his play ball and it fell into the pool killing the hamster. Very sad.

Anyway like was said before until they do some dyno plots on a B-series motor, i'm happy with my regular AEM

euclid

[QUOTE=nsxmatt]

I knew someone who had a hamster in his play ball and it fell into the pool killing the hamster. Very sad.
what a horrible death for such an innocent creature.

why dont you just use the old tube that aem had with the original cai kit? the 1/2" one.

Mocky57

post said that he was selling his other aem cai and he wanted to make sure that he had all the parts for it. although it would make sense to take the old hose off, i'd say that's pretty low of someone selling it to another person knowing that it's missing a part.

Shawn C

iTrader: (1)

what's wrong with APC? i thought they were the best? all that expensive stuff is a waste of money. Why the hell would you pay $300 for an air intake when you can get the APC one at auto zone for like $65? you people kill me......

censored

I agree with the second part of your post, I would love to see a dyno with an AEM v2, take it off put on ebay special CAI and strap it back on the dyno...

Mar_DC2

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 22lbGS-R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what's wrong with APC? i thought they were the best? all that expensive stuff is a waste of money. Why the hell would you pay $300 for an air intake when you can get the APC one at auto zone for like $65? you people kill me......</TD></TR></TABLE>

i cant really tell if youre being sarcastic or not.....but incase youre not.....one reason why i'd pay $200 for an AEM CAI over the APC intake is because it is a complete kit. have you ever seen the APC kits at autozone? its an intake pipe, one 8" hose, and one bracket that you have to cut yourself. you buy the filter seperate for $40 and still have to fend for the hose clamps, fittings, hardware, and everything else thats missing. then after you go through the trouble of finding all that stuff and installing it, your engine bay now looks like **** courtesy of the generic piece of chrome pipe sticking out of your throttle body, which happens to look like it was randomly bent and assembled. i'd much rather pay $200 for a complete kit that enhances the look of my engine bay and i dont need to go out and buy a slew of parts just to get it installed. so i guess the whole "you get what you pay for" thing is true when it comes to this.

Mocky57

unfortunately, if you read the first post, that's kind of what it seems like he's complaining about as well. i was looking into going v2, but after reading this, i'm somewhat reserved about discarding my current intake and going with the V2. I might hold off for a bit and see if they improve the quality and start providing the right parts for the vehicle. Performance gains is one thing, but running around looking for parts during an install because the box didn't come with the right parts is not a luxury I can afford.

Dengar

I installed a regular AEM CAI this weekend with a similar problem. They shorted me a hose clamp. I found out at 5:30 on a sunday after everything was closed. Luckly a friend bailed me out. It is funny that AEM is one of the leaders in this area, but they make so many stupid little mistakes.

mugen76

there is an intake shoot out in this month's import tuner or honda tuner or something like that. i read it and found it to be pretty informative. it wasn't biased towards one brand. and they compared several CAI's and tested several short rams also. does anyone know which mag it was?

the V2 DID NOT do that well.

B2FiNiTY

iTrader: (2)

Import Tuner I believe.

Red Rising Sun

Well then, I'm astonished about the **** up, how AEM works, as I read this thread
about installing a V2.

In the next time I'll swap a B16A2 into my car, throwing the D13B2 out (don't know, if that engine type is common in the US. The US soldiers based in Ramstein laughed, when they saw my engine )

As soon as I'll have the B16A2 swapped, I was thinking of getting an AEM CAI V2 for my car.
But as read this, I'm wondering, if it makes sense buying the V2 instead the original AEM CAI.

I'd also like to see a dyno with the V2, maybe compared with a dino of the original CAI (let's call it V1)

If anyone has a dyno with V1 and V2, post it please

(edited my fucked up grammar )

wilsel

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 22lbGS-R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what's wrong with APC? i thought they were the best? all that expensive stuff is a waste of money. Why the hell would you pay $300 for an air intake when you can get the APC one at auto zone for like $65? you people kill me......</TD></TR></TABLE>

What kills me is people that'll pay $150 for a clock that displays in amber, but they are too cheap to buy an intake that has R&D in it.

That's like saying don't buy Toyo's buy Continentals.