Will Bradley

Hey everyone, looking on installing a cold air or short ram intake for my rdx. does anyone know the most affordable option or the best setup? does the intake make a difference in the cars preformance?

csargemg

The factory intake!

People make 700+ horsepower on 3" intakes. The factory intake is fine. The problem is that short ram or other intakes introduce turbulence that results in a worse-running engine, thanks to changes in the airflow over the MAF sensor. That's because the engine's computer is constantly adjusting fuel trim to make up for the now ragged airflow that it gets. Even when it's mostly tuned out, the factory stuff flows smoother air.

There is a CP-E intake that introduces a mechanical tune, makes it louder, and might trick the engine into adding about 10-15 more horsepower by use of a slightly higher flowing housing for the MAF sensor. It'll also make the car run more ragged, because it has rougher airflow over the MAF sensor.

What is your goal in installing a modification? If you want a little extra power and pep for driving around, Flashpro is the place to start and really is all you need.

If you're hoping to get a big noticeable improvement over a tuning software and solution, you're going to run into wanting to upgrade the turbo in some fashion. No ifs, ands, or buts, the stock turbo cannot push enough air into the 2.3 engine to support more than 270ish horsepower, or only a little above stock, anyway, when running on pump gas.

In short, you get better results doing sort of the same thing electronically with the Flashpro. And you get a new hobby, if you want it. There are dealer flashpros now where you can get a reflash for only a couple hundred bucks, I think.

PM me if you'd like to give me a call and ask more questions.