Due to the overwhelming/everyday newbie intake questions here some info and very biased opinions about accord intake and such

1)Should i buy AEM or Ebay knock off?
I cannot answer it for you, so i break it down with some insights.

<U>A)Reasons people by AEM intake</U>

-AEM build a unique application for every car according to dyno result, their intake is a guarantee gain.

-When you get pull over by cop, AEM have a SMOG/CARB E.O. sticker that keep the police give you the ticket, a tipical intake ticket is over 100 buck and you need to show the ref. that you fixed everything. This is another reason you should buy AEM if you have State inspection law, SMOG check and such.

-AEM are know for their quality control and customer service, got a damage from shipping, they'll send you another one, no question ask.

-Used AEM intake worth at least half of their price, if you are poor like me, get the AEM intake used. I got my CAI used for 80 dollar, i could sell it now or three years later and still get 80 for it.

-K&N made all the AEM filter(all the oil'ed filter, not the newest dry syn. air filter), K&N's filter are pretty good consider the price.

-All AEM intake tube(that i known for) are beam rolled(keep the piping from felling off due to vibration) and powder-coated(Unless you buy the more expensive polished version). The connector is silicone with nylon mesh, not cheap rubber band connector that get tore or twist out of shape.

-Most AEM intake have pre-welded bracket to attach to the body of your car to minimize vibration.

<U>B)Reasons people buy Ebay intake</U>

-PRICE PRICE AND PRICE, you could get a brand new intake shipped to your door for 35-50 bucks. They are pretty close copies of AEM piping.

-People that live in state with no Smog check, state inspection and Smog **** police.

Note: not exactly reason why you should buy ebay intake but here are some thing you could do with your ebay intake.

-Change your filter, the old came with your intake might looks like AEM/K&N but they don't flow or filter like one. Change it, this is the best thing you could to your Ebay intake. The ebay filter is not using cotton based filtering element and it cannot be clean and reoil like K&N(more reading on this on the filter section)


2)What is Cold air intake(CAI)? Short Ram Intake(SRI)? What is the different? Which one is better?
Again, I cannot answer that for you, here some argument for both side, you be the judge.

Cold Air Intake(CAI)
CAI a misleading name, the air are never really COLD(unless you driving in WI winter). The main advantage of CAI is that it deliver cooler air compare to short ram intake. The far end of the CAI is usually by the wheel well for most accord.


<U>A)Reasons for Cold Air Intake</U>
-Gasoline Internal Combustion Engine likes COOLER air, the motor runs cooler, more power and more efficient with cooler air, doesn't matter if you have a High Rev'ing high compression N/A motor or Ultra pressurized sleeve'd motor fed by two snail.

-CAI is more quiet compare to CAI, which isn't a bad thing if you don't want to attract unwanted attentions.

<U>B)Reason for Short Ram intake</U>


Guess what? Short ram intake doesn't really RAM air into your intake, it's a commonly misused name like the ram air hood(or charging hood) on firebird.

-Cheaper, yes they are and it's important for poor college kid like myself.

-Low end response/torque, SRI will have a better low end throttle response compare to CAI.

-SRI will have a cleaner filtering element because it's sitting in the engine bay instead of hanging all the way down and under like CAI. SRI's intake will stay cleaner and dry'er which mean your filter could use longer(or recharge less, if you have K&N filter)

-SRI will not suck in water and hydrolock(read: seizing your motor)

-Although recommended but with a SRI you can just install the intake without taking out the resonator. All the newer accord will need bumper removal, which could become a problem for newbie.


Note: here some third grade math
Here is two possible situation that i made up, assuming you might get pull over for whatever the reason thru out the course of your intake ownership(tint, h22, rice burner exhaust, the two packs of captain morgan, being asian while drive a black honda, speeding or just a bad encounter with Mr.Dick the police)


used AEM CAI $80
AEM K&N Filter $0-35(0 assuming it came with the intake)
Pull over by cop $0
selling your AEM CAI $-80
-----------------------
<U>Total money spend $0</U>


New Ebay intake $35
AEM K&N Filter $35
Pull over by cop $125
Fix it/Ref. fee $10
selling your Ebay intake $- 15-20(if you could get it off your hand at all, the buyer probably do it just for the AEM/K&N filter)
-----------------------
<U>Total money spend $190-195 that is excluding the time and effort to install back oem air cleaner for inspection/smong/ticket time</U>


3)D@mn you iam7head, all you told us is bad news
Oh, wait before you spam me with internet p0rn or ding-dong enlargement ads, here some solutions for both of the problem.


For Cold Air Intake Hydrolock
it could happen, it doesn't take a lake to get water damage to your motor, i know a friend got water in his motor and i have to rescue his honduh ****. it just take a right amount of water and right timing, boom you just bent some valve, knocked your timing off and now your car drive like a sac of *****.

AEM found out this problem soon enough so they developed the Water bypass valve, they demonstrated the effectiveness by sticking the end of an intake into a fish tank. and yes it was done with a running NSX. The downside about Bypass valve is that it takes a tad of power. There's knock off version in ebay as well.

For SRI that want colder air without getting CAI
Most of the heated air is from your motor/exhaust manifold and radiator inside your engine bay, the best way to draw cooler air is the separate the outside air from the heated inside air. A custom heat shield would offer you the advantage of SRI without worrying about hydrolock. The heat shield on ebay is pretty much useless, you need to make one with exact hole and rubber gasket that seals most of the inside air.

Here's a link to someone that did the mod, it works well for him(well, autocross champ ) all credit to the one-eyed monster

http://syclone.motocrew.com/CG5/heatshield.htm

4)What is the differences between filter?

here some quick fact about most of the popular filter on the market today.
there's a filtering vs. air flow test done in bobtheoilguy.com

<U>A)-AEM(old version) and K&N filter</U>

The about them

-they are rechargeable, guarantee for life

-they perform well in filter and air flow test.

The about them

-if you read the fine print, they only could be recharge 25 time, this is bad news if you have cold air intake.

-They get bend out of shape and broken mesh if you have something siting close to it.

-if you over-oil your filter, you could kill your air flow sensor. not so much of a deal with honda, but mustang guy know their MAF sensor and K&N don't mix well.

<U>B)AEM Dry-Syn filter</U>

The about them

-AEM claim they perform just as well as the old version.

-no need to reoil, which take away the over-oil issue.

-Cage construction, ribs that reinforce the shape of the filter so it will not collapse as easy as the old version.

The about them

-they bump up the price a tad, and only size available is cone style intake, no drop in yet or carb'ed version(for hot rod, etc)



<U>C)HKS Super Mega Flow/Greddy blue foam filter</U>

The about them

-Excellent air flow, which is a essential part if you have force induction.

-cheap filter replacement, you only replace the filtering element not the housing, green filter cost like 20 dollar.

The about them

-very poor in filtering but again, it's design to use used inside the engine bay, not as CAI filter.

-They only last 6000 mile according to HKS, that's two oil change every one filter. The foam is non-serviceable


<U>D)Apex'i</U>

The about them

-They outperform AEM/K&N in both filtering and air flow, excellent design.

The about them

-at 69-100 dollar per filter, they are non-serviceable and cannot be reuse.

-very limited size and mount.


<U>E)OBX, Tenzo-R, Blitz SS mesh, ebay, APC, ETC</U>

The about them

-if they come with the intake, it's free and it's wasteful not to use it i guess. my advice if you want to use it is that change it more often, if you plan to keep your motor running clean.(if you have a 200K beater then, good for you )
or you could sell it on ebay so it would be someone else's problem.

The about them

most of them wouldn't filter sh-t, for example the SS metal mesh blitz filter is expensive and it only filter out rock size of Texas(okay, i am exaggerating but you get the point, right?). All of them is non-serviceable, wash it dry it or blow compressed air into it and all you do it closing all the pour and holes.


Spelling, typo and engrish ownz me i know

[Search words: AEM CAI SRI BLITZ EBAY INTAKE VS. DRY SYN. K&N APEX'I V2 COLD AIR SHORT RAM BETTER RECHARGE KIT GREDDY]


Modified by iam7head at 11:01 AM 3/2/2006

 

nice write up, very informative. would you mind adding the bit about the heat shield and how to construct one effectively?

 

Very nice write up

I feel this should definately be a sticky.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HandoEX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Very nice write up

I feel this should definately be a sticky.</TD></TR></TABLE>

move to basic guide

 

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fw190bvi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">move to basic guide</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FallenAngelHIM &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nice write up, very informative. would you mind adding the bit about the heat shield and how to construct one effectively?</TD></TR></TABLE>

revised

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fw190bvi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

move to basic guide</TD></TR></TABLE>

that would be nice but stickie would be better because it would show up when anyone run a search

 

great write up, but you need to proofread 1 more time, not for spelling, that i dont care,

but in your comparison you would mix up your use of RAI and CAI, and it would sound confusing.

 

nice write up, contains a lot of good information.

 

I like the comment about getting pulled over for being Asian and driving a black Honda lol.
I drove a kitted black eclipse before my Honda and got pulled over 5 times, but never recieved a ticket.