What kind of intake should I get? Cold air, or short ram? What brand Injen or AEM? I live in NJ, no risk of heavy flooding in my area..thanx

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MRD

 

Get AEM CAI, thats what i'm getting.

 

Too noisy for me! I think the Racing beat intake in my Miata sounds better(sweeter sounding) than the Intake on a TL..
Ed

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Acura-TL.com - Forum Moderator

'99 TL Satin Silver/Ebony, Non/Nav, Comptech lowered, Comptech Air Filter Element, Inspire Tails, AEM Brake Pads all around, Comptech Axle Back Exhaust, "Guy Smiley" doll on the dash as my Co-driver...

Pics of my TL
Pics of my Miata! Wadya think?

 

First off, there are features that an aftermarket intake has that improves horsepower. One is the piping. The other is the filter.

Well desgined piping will let the air flow into the engine smoother. Smoother air flow will help engine burn fuel better.

A less-restrictive filter is designed to give your engine more horsepower by flowing more air in. More air necessary isn't good unless it's cold as you will see later when I talk about short ram.

A drop-in air filter will give you less restriction than that of the stock filter. This is a good thing as less restrictin means more air flow to the engine, giving it more horsepower. Nonetheless, it is still taking air from the resonator (sorta like another filter), located inside the bumper.

An intake system hanging in the engine bay (ie. short ram) is designed to give you a bit less restriction than the dop-in filter by taking air thru the cone type filter that allows the air to be sucked in throughout the cone (360 degrees). But the downside is that the air inside the engine bay is quite hot. Colder air burns fuel better than hot air. There have been cases where people lost horsepower using cone-type filters since it is sucking in hot air.

Cold air intake. As the name suggests, this intake system is designed to take in cold air with less restrictive filter (usually a cone type). The filter actually sits where the "resonator" that I mentioned before. Thus the restriction is reduced by twice as much. Downside... it's loud as hell.

Lastly, all intakes give you minimum power improvement. But to get the most out of an intake system, it better be sucking in cold air with less restriction. It appears many people like AEM CAI.

Hope this helps.



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Y2K SiLVeR TL, non-navi
Factory style full body kit + spoiler
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H&R OEM Springs
PIAA 1700x w/ Inspire Foglight switch
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38% window tint all around
Valentine 1 w/ concealed display

 

louder is better!!! go with the AEM CAI, it has been tested at a high HP gain on most cars, plus you have the option of the Bypass valve (which I reccomend) if you want. its your $ though...

 

I was under the impression that the CAi is just as loud as the short ram?

CAI is better, though I worry about the filter getting wet and dirty. The filter sits under the fender where the resonator box is on a stock TL. When I took out my resonator box it was filthy down there... very dirty. Not a good place to put a filter IMO... although, since there is no seal along the edge of the hood (only the front), even a short ram is going to get water on it...

I ahve an AEM CAI thats running as a short ram... this summer I'll see how the CAI does.