Problemo

Hey there folks.

I've spoken to a number of Honda tuners and most recommend keeping the stock air box and modifying it slightly.

I hear removing the airbox is somewhat a bad idea (Civic Si 1999) but to be honest I can only think of a few reasons this would be bad, noise, heat (if using a short arm intake) and possibly questionable build quality of some of the cheaper intakes.

So folks, who's had any success modifying there stock intake and prefers it to a CAI ? What sort of gains have you noticed ? or indeed losses, with either setup !

Thanks folks,

- Prob

klungemonger

I read that Jackson Racing uses stock airbox with K&N filter on their Pike's Peak racing Civic.

Get a K&N for $40, remove the resonator, cut away the underside of the box but leave the mounts on it. That ought to flow pretty well for stock or lightly modded cars.

JeffS

I don't have dyno results to back it up, but I believe that modifying the stock box is a waste of time. It generally makes the car louder, which in-turn makes it feel faster, whether it really is or not.

Get a K&N drop-in and be done with it, or replace it alltogether.

klungemonger

Yeah I guess depending on the design of the airbox it could be wasteful to hack it up, though I don't think it would hurt anything. The early model resonators were part of the intake flow which made them restrictive, but the newer ones are an auxilary chamber and I know on some models it doesn't go directly in the flow of the intake pipe.

Problemo

Oh righty, I was thinking of at a minimum removing the resonator if it was already there just to make it a bit more free flowing but it already has an itg high flow air panel in there.

Would you say theres much more performance to be had in having a CAI ? do they loose torque in certain places ? Just curious, and trying to get past all the hype.

I do like a nice induction noise, but to be honest, I would prefer better performance.

- Jamie

WongFeihung

CAI Isnt really worth getting in my opinon. Not worth getting an extra 3-5 horse power over a short ram. do a search...there are lots of threads about Cai.

Problemo

Cheers man, I wasn't really considering it as I can't really justify the cost for something like that. Like you say. 3-5 hp for around £200, I could spend that money better on ITR cams.

- Prob

NR_hatch

when i had my 2002 GTi 1.8t i moded the stock air box. I took it out and opened it up and smoothed the bottom half where the air came in with a dremel. Removed all resonaters and made a large diameter tube that went from the air box down to the front bumper. I also replaced the intake air with a old piece of a broken CAI i once had on the car.

It was cheaper than a cold air...other people had dynoed it and it out performed the old CAI i had.

When i get a y8 or z6 mani im gonna do the same to my hatch. ill let ya know if and when it happens

Problemo

My main concern is, my car drives very smoothly with it's standard airbox, but could do with a little more pull. I don't want to put a cai on it and compromise the drivaibility of the car and I dont want to put a sri on it as I have a nasty feeling the heat from the engine would kill any performance gains I was likely to get.

This is why I'm looking into stock airbox mods, a lot of people have practically tried to take my keys off me when I suggest removing the stock airbox

I'm just going through a couple of cai threads, I'm reading like 3-5 hp gains at best and a lot of b/s. It's not a skyline, I doubt even a fantastic exhaust system is gonna get my little si more than 7hp let alone a chunk of metal which is likely to hydrolock my car in the rain

I'd be interested to hear about your modified airbox though, keep me posted, some dyno runs before and after would be fantastic.

- Prob

BauleyCivic

Stock airbox with K&N and 3" short ram intake pipe ownz j00

Soccerking3000

i thought ur car was boosted now?

Problemo

I think Bauley's is gonna be the way to go for myself. Exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. That and the ITR stuff I got (Intake/exhaust manifolds, cams and skimming the head) should help the little Si a treat

N/A all the way ... for now

- Prob

Redline96LX

ok, so here is the deal.
The reason we have that crap of a intake is for noise. the resonator makes the car quiet.
Here is what I did. I have a short ram intake i got for 31$, and then i got a foam air filter, its THE best filter out there, by AMSOIL. K&N's air filter is damn close. They let in more air, thus more power.
My short ram is a aluminum pipe. Its not the exact same length or diameter as stock plastic, so it makes the car give a deep, almost resonating noise at low RPM. it doesnt sound like a bad wide end muffler, it sounds much nicer.
Now the heat thing. I got mine so you can touch it after driving. How? I got a ceramic based spraypaint, a engine enamel, and coated the inside and outside. This helps solve the heat problem of short ram intakes. They are better on high performance engines, like say, a boosted ITR, whereas a N/A civic DX would do better with a full cold air pipe.
So, i reccomend a short ram intake with a good filter. It will sound deeper (not bad like some fart muffler), and will give almost the same power as a cold air, unless you get AEM, they are by far the best, but by far the most expensive. So get a intake, and ceramic coat it, or get one thats already coated (for heat).

.nate

I have a B16 airbox in my EG that I chopped the bottom out of... seems to work fine for now...

mister Lin

I've seen it done, but I still like the look of an SRI or CAI.

Targa250R

I replaced the AEM CAI that a previous owner installed on my Civic with a stock airbox because I was sick of the annoyingly loud noise and crappy throttle response. With the stock airbox, throttle response was drastically improved, and low end grunt seemed to improve slightly as well from the restriction and turbulence. Top end seemed to suffer slightly of course, but I think it was due to Placebo Effect from the lack of loud noise more than anything. We're only dealing with differences of ~5hp max.

Spoon used to sell a carbon-kevlar piece that eliminated the resonator chamber that is attached to '96-00 Civic EX/Si/R airboxes downstream of the filter. I've always wanted to get one of these, but the Spoon piece is just too retardedly expensive.

jmk2888

I'm using a USDM Civic DX STock Air Box w/ drop in K&N and USDM ITR Arm on my JDM B18C-R w/o the resonator.

I love the instant throttle response compared to short ram or CAI.

This is not not my Car, found it on H-T.




Modified by jmk2888 at 5:51 AM 12/4/2004


Modified by jmk2888 at 5:51 AM 12/4/2004


Modified by jmk2888 at 5:53 AM 12/4/2004

steve00si

having an 00 si i say dish out the money for a cai (aem) its worth it , and if you are really worried about sucking up water get the bypass valve. just my opinion

MASTRCHANN

i'm using a stock 99 si intake arm and box, but i added a spoooooooon elbow, K&N drop-in, and dremelled a larger hole on the underside of the airbox. I happen to have a spare box so that's why i decided to try cutting. It's got some sound to it, but no noticeable change in power.

pdiggitydogg

Stock box w/ k&n filter + 3" sri tube + cut stock downtube (to resonator) for cold air pick-up

I like it a lot better than the straight sri w/ cone filter I had before

Redline96LX

i have a foam air filter, not gauze, foam. from AMSOIL. they filter better and let in more air. this is how you get more air in, more throttle response, and a lil more power up top. Look at spoon. They have a drop in OEM type air filter that gives almost the power of a CAI with just a filter cause it beats the **** outta a metal or paper one.

xcivicdx

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by klungemonger &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Get a K&N for $40, remove the resonator, cut away the underside of the box but leave the mounts on it. That ought to flow pretty well for stock or lightly modded cars.</TD></TR></TABLE>
thats what i did, no problems at all....

Problemo

Thanks for your posts folks, I think the stock airbox with modifications listed by yourselves sounds by far the best option. I had an idea however. In fact I was gonna try it just to see if it improved anything.

If I was going to route a small amount of piping (2 - 3" wide) from the bottom of the stock box to the front of the bumper (protected by mesh to stop me sucking leaves and ***** up) just to see what effect it had.

Sounds like a good compromise to me. That way hopefully water won't be sucked in. My mate gave me the idea with his RS Turbo, seems to have improved top end slightly. If not made stuff a little noisy.

Just a thought, let me know how ***** it sounds

Cheers,

- Prob

Tad

3" shortram tubing, no resonator, KN dropin.

CLMTAutoXR888

It seems to me that price is an important factor in your selction of intakes, right?

Well then go with a short ram (quicker throttle response, throaty intake sound, and of course very cheap). I don't know what u have available in UK, but here in Cali i picked up a Carb legal AEM short ram for only $84. Well worth it in my opinion.