Well... i met with a few car enthusiasts the other night. talked about my car... and they said i should get a cold air intake... or rather, make my intake like that. chop it and put a filter on the end.
this is for a 1988 crx si...
on a hatchback i once bought, the previous owner just took off the bottom portion of the air filter housing. so that it is open. there is a filter in there too... its like a pipe, with a box at the end, and a filter inside. is that just as good?

 

cold air intakes really dont give u alot of hp so if ur going to buy one dont spend to much money.

 

aem ones are good.

 

I modified mine like that. I got a larger diameter tube using the stock box, K&N filter with no resonator.

 

ebay short ram with a nice filter.

 

Tuned length/diameter intake is always the best answer, but for your puny motor you might want a long ram/cai intake. I'm sure the car would feel super sluggish with a a fat short ram on it.

 

Password JDM's all the way! Biggest diff at all power ranges!

I've had the cheap Autozone/Discount stuff and even a cheap ebay CAI. All made the same noise if not louder with the CAI, but minimal difference. The change was really in the throttle response and a little more torque feeling. Also depends on the outside air temp.