For those who want more power without a super loud aem style intake , is it really worth over $250 for the comptech ice box when you can just buy a K&N or comptech drop in filter and remove the 2 resonators on the factory system?

 

AEM intake def. is not super loud, u cant even notice it under normal driving...its really only noticeable during VTEC, and then, it sounds frickin sweet, verrrry powerful. I have a vid if u wanna host for me.

 

i have no clue how to host sorry id like to see and hear the AEM i dont want the car sounding like a civic weedwacker, a nice quiet engine that smokes the competition =)

 

I'm with I got the icebox, but i was already planning on spending around 250 and getting it. I like to think of it as a fart, silent but deadly. I wasn't really interested in making my car sound louder. My icebox came in yesterday, and i'm going to put it in this weekend.

My thing is this:

strapped for cash = AEM
not worried about the dough = Icebox

 

If you don't want it too loud just go with the Comptech. Before I got my Comptech exahust installed I could only hear it when I was at WOT. With the exhaust though the sound much meaner! A friend of mine at work with a 04 TL said it almost sounds like a V8 (after I blew past him at a stop light).

 

the question isnt whats better comptech or AEM. i know the comptech is quieter, my question is whats really so different about the ice box vs. putting a comptech or K&N drop in filter in the stock air box and just removing both resonators? wouldnt it be pretty much the same and save a lot of $$$??

 

Strapped for cash? Hardly. I bought my CAI way before Comptech even considered the ice box. And the sound of the CAI is intoxicating. The icebox sounds too stock (I guess that's ok if that's what you want).


I would say a better analogy is:

strapped for cash = OBX headers
not worried about the dough = Comptech headers

 

You'll barely hear the difference between an Icebox and the stock airbox. The AEM CAI has a sweet sound when you're in VTEC land. You won't hear much of a difference before the VTEC though. It has a deep roar, way deeper than the B-series engines. I got an AEM and i'm loving it! Only thing is that it whistles when the car idles... Oh well.

 

im talking performance wise wouldnt a drop in filter and removing resonators be the same as the ice box but at less than half the price?

 

I don't think you'd get much of a increase from the drop in filter and I think I saw on another thread that removing the resonators does not improve performance, just sound. I could be wrong though.

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ghlight=icebox

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ghlight=icebox

This is what i've found so far in my search AcuraTl203. It seems like when someones looking for performance comparisons the topics keeps switching to what kind of noise do you want. Well... hope you find what you need. I'll keep looking too because i want to know for myself.

 

wouldn u say OBX ceramic headers?

 

I did notice more power when I did that to my car - but the fact is, the stock intake box is not built for smooth air flow. removing the intake resonator does help some, but once it gets past the filter, then it gets all mixed up. I thought the same thing before, like I said, but once I put on a real intake (AEM V2), I finally realized that the stock airbox wasnt even worth messing with if you want more power.