Which do you think is better for a daily driver? I bought a cold air intake a while ago and I was wondering if I should even use the endpipe that makes a cold air intake by going down below, or just leave it as a short ram. People complain about the CAI sucking up water, but it doesn't seem like that would be a problem if you still have your wheel well lining.

If I go with the CAI, I won't be able to see the filter at all, it'll be harder to change, and it'll probably get dirtier. It also seems like the airflow would be better up on top where it's not as enclosed, right? Do you know how much cooler the air is in the lower spot, and is it worth it to put it down there?

 

Well I'm gonna say CAI, even though my filter fell off for god knows how long without me noticing . If you have a bypass valve it should be no problem. Even if you don't, you'd have to go through a very deep puddle to ingest water.

 

Every comparison i've ever seen shows more power (slightly more but still more) from the CAI. I've had a CAI on my car for over a year... and through all the heavy rain and big time snow we got here in dc i never had a problem. I've never done a pull but when its 60-70 degrees outside the cai feels like it adds a ton of power... basically any time its cold. The filter is more of a pain to clean unless you just leave your wheel lining out... which i do but they dont recommend (AEM). The wheel lining isnt that hard to take off anyway... at least not in my crx, i dont know how they are in a hatch. some cars i think respond better to the cai then others... but if the hatch is anything like the crx you'll see more power from the cai cause it wont suck half the hot air. also, you only have to clean it every 15k miles or so... so every 4 or 5 oil changes you take the joker out and dip and spray it... its not that hard.

 

Well I wanted to leave my wheel lining in. Won't it help keep the filter cleaner and dryer than without it? The only thing is, I'll have to take the front bumper off just to clean the filter.

And I still think that since the CAI would be more enclosed (with the wheel lining), that the short ram would be able to take in air more easily. Can someone tell me what they think about this?

 

why would you take the front bumper off just to clean it? I didn't take the bumper off even in installation just the wheel well cover and the wheel... I can get to it, clean it and replace everything in 15 min at most and that ain't NO TIME for something you do every 10,000 miles at MOST.

The intake would have to be entirely under water for your engine to suck up water that's a huge freaking puddle that you would have to be dumb to drive through. if your car is lowered a lot it becomes more of a problem but then again if your car is that low you probably are more concerned with the sound of the intake rather than the performance..

 

Why wouldn't you just tell me how you get to it? My bumper is off right now so I can't be sure, but I thought the lining and plastic underneath was on there pretty good when the bumper's on.

 

I just made my own today, i bought a 3" short ram tube, and then bought a 4" 2.5" extention and painted them with ceramic paint... I connected the extention to the throttle body with the rubber clamps, then connected the short ram to the extention...Then moved the battery over maybe 2"s so i could fit it between without relocating my battery.... So basically my filter is lower then where my stock filter would be.... So yah just make your choice on what you want... I went with short because the difference is minumal, and because im not sure if im going to swap or turbo... plus with the fear of the hydro... I just decided to go diy short ram...


Modified by MrSpiLLz at 7:56 AM 5/4/2003

 

get an iceman cut it short, plumb cold air from the bottum of your bumper through a peice of flexopipe and measure it so that the filter sits right where the cold air comes in. works like a champ.

 

Couple questions I still need answered, even if they're dumb... How do you change the filter for the CAI with the bumper on? And PLEASE tell me- isn't the short ram able to take air in quicker, since the CAI would be more enclosed (with the wheel lining)?

 

changing the filter with a cold air is a little more time consuming than a short ram, although not too much harder. you'll just have to take off the inner wheel well. to do that, theres just little plastic clips that you pull out, although sometimes they can be a bitch to get at.

 

Well, I made a CAI but I had the filter "higher" up. As soon as I drove w/it I noticed a difference from my hot air intake.

 

Took stock filter out, took part of my Ludes stock intake and put it on after the cleaner box, it has a 90 degree bend and goes through a small hole between fender and bumper. sticks out prob 2 inches and I noticed a difference in power with it installed.

 

What Ive noticed gives the most power throughout the powerband is the stock box with a nice K&N drop-in. Then just remove all the tubing after the airbox.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ef ***** &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What Ive noticed gives the most power throughout the powerband is the stock box with a nice K&N drop-in. Then just remove all the tubing after the airbox.</TD></TR></TABLE>

So you have a short ram.

 

no thats a factory cai. drop in filters will always************* out flow cone filters. its physics.

cais make more top end power while killing some throttle responce. short rams are the opposite

it is VERY easy to suck up water w/a cai. my dust shield had a hole in it, went thru a car wash came damn near hydro locking the engine 2 blocks after the carwash(its obviouse when your sucking up water it sounds weird as hell) get a bypass valve

 

i run a short ram and it seems ok. I mostly run short ram because my wheel lining is half ripped and it rains a alot where I live. I have been meaning to make a cai out of the stock air box but my stock intake moves and pulls off the airbox due to the fact I think i have worn motor mounts

 

what about that new V2 intake??

 

Your sucking in heat off the engine and exhaust header, going with a short ram. Which in turn is costing hp, due to the higher intake temps...

 

MMsportsRexSi said that he can really notice a difference with his cold air intake when it is cold outside, I notice a difference with my short ram intake also, it is still i big difference.

 

You don't need to pull the fender liner or bumper to change the filter. On the bottom of the splashguard there's a single spreader clip that holds the bottom of the fender liner up. If you remove that single clip then you can bend your fenderliner out of the way and there's more than enough room to get your filter out. I just did this about 3 days ago .

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 88_SC_CRX_Si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Your sucking in heat off the engine and exhaust header, going with a short ram. Which in turn is costing hp, due to the higher intake temps...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not so true with a ED maybe On a EG..On our year civics we were lucky to have the battery act as sort of a heat shield for a short ram. Yes it still sucking in hot air but not realy as bad as you make it sound

 

hey raene, thanks for tellin me how to do that.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FullMetalJacket &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Not so true with a ED maybe On a EG..On our year civics we were lucky to have the battery act as sort of a heat shield for a short ram. Yes it still sucking in hot air but not realy as bad as you make it sound</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's what I was thinking... I decided that I'm probably gonna go with the short ram for now.

I haven't gotten an answer to this yet, but I would still like to know if it's easier for the intake to pull in air up top, since the filter would be surrounded down below by the bumper, splash guard, and fender lining. Is that true?

 

personally, its not worth the risk of the life of your motor to gain a couple HP. i like the fact that the short ram is one less thing to worry about going wrong.

 

water in your engine isnt as harmful as people think.......ever heard of carbon blasts? old school mechanics actually used to, and probably still do, rev the engine to about 4 grand, hold it there, then dump a glass of water down the carb.....supposed to get rid of carbon build up or something......not sure if it works......

 

I've got a short ram and I added custom piping that's at the bumper turn signal and goes up through that hole and is right at my filter. I like the short ram better IMO.