So I was trying to get at the front of the right front fender to bang out a dent in the body work and I "discovered" the stock air intake. OMG, how does that thing flow any air at all? First, it draws air form inside the engine compartment from behind the ABS reservoir and pump. So the ABS is seriously blocking the opening. Then the air is routed into a plastic bulb that takes an immediate 90 degree turn and leads into a two chamber box in the fender well. Then the exit tube takes another 90 degree turn heading back to the engine compartment to where it enters into the bottom of the air filter box. Then the path takes yet a third 90 degree turn. Between the hot air, the restrictions, the turns, the chambers... It seems like a good CAI should really add some gains to this car. Am I right?

 

Are you questioning the design of this fine piece of japanese manufacturing?? j/k Yes, you are right, by freeing up the airflow with a CAI, you will notice a difference. that's why CAI net the most hp compared to SRI's

 

its air. air can get just about anywhere.

its stock, so of course it's going to not be as good as a performance oriented air intake.

 

True, but air flow dynamics typically show that a straight line is better than a curved one, cold air is better than hot air and an open intake is better than a restricted one. The stock system seems to violate all three of those fundamentals. Is there a style or system that shows better gains than the others? Are any dangerous (hydro-lock)?

 

Since CAI place the filter low to the ground, the possibility of hydro-lock exists. There are valves that can be placed inline, that can reduce the posibility. Once your car is in motion, the air temps entering the intake, whether a CAI or a SRI, will start to have less of a temp variance. The real key to CAI, is the length of the piping which tends to lead to more top end power and torque thru the miracle of air velocity. This is all my opinion and can be stricken down easily I am sure by the more knowledged among us. I actually converted my CAI to a SRI because of the wet conditions here in FL. I noticed quicker throttle response, but a mild drop in power near redline.

As for the stock air intake system, it is primarily designed to quiet down the noise level and also draws some cool air from up front via an air duct. I think it is slightly over-engineered, but serves its purpose.

 

What is SRI?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Legal Bill &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What is SRI?</TD></TR></TABLE>
I think that's a Short Ram Intake. Just a fancy term for a regular intake (not cold air).

 

Haha. Stock airbox works just fine. It provides enough air for your LS motor to breath properly. If it didn't work, Acura would't have put it there. SRI and CAI intake don't gain as much horse as you might think.

 

Really? Has anyone on here done any dynomometer testing?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Legal Bill &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Really? Has anyone on here done any dynomometer testing?</TD></TR></TABLE>

A lot of people have...

even with intake/header/exhaust you only gain like 5-10 whp or so..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by numbnuts22715 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">its air. air can get just about anywhere.

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yeah especially when there is the vacuum from the engine sucking up the air.

Changing the intake might get you 2-3 hp, MAYBE 5 on a good day, and every dyno would report different numbers.

 

AEM V2 reports some very high gains. I'd like to see independant verification of the numbers I have seen on The Tire Rack web site. Total numbers are not really important to me. I focus on the before and after delta.