i just installed an aem cai and for some reason i feel like the response time when i press on the gas is slower. before the car would get up and go instantly when i touched the gas now its like it lags a sec and then goes. overall acceleration and hp increase is not noticable. why is this? did i install it right did i forget somethin? or is that how it is?

 

oh and by the way i also put a breather on the intake and pluged up the hose that used to go to the old intake. does that have anything to do with the slow response time and acceleration through the rpms?

 

i didn't install my AEM CAI, so i can't say what could be wrong...but i can tell you my TL didn't lag at all after installation...response was pretty much the same, with a deeper growl...and when the RPMs got higher, the car got louder and faster...

if i remember right, i read that the AEM CAI gives you more high-end torque and the Injen CAI gives you more low-end torque...

but yeah, i noticed a decent amount of speed and acceleration increase after installation...

 

thanks for your reply. that is the problem. my low end torque seems weaker and my high end torque seems stronger

 

how can i make my low-end torque stronger?

 

put an unorthodox racing pulley on there...frees up HP currently reserved for other areas of your car and puts it towards your wheels instead...you'll notice a nice gain from that...

 

thermoblock spacer- or the P2R intake spacer, both move the torque curve left and net about 5 HP
A lightweight crankshaft pulley will get the revs going quicker, getting you on the power band faster, and the lightweight- underdrive pulley frees up about 5-8 hp already in the engine, by lessening the speed of the AC and other spun parts- reducing drag.
Try an ECU reset for fun- might help

 

is it true that my car will accelerate faster if i turn the vsa off?

 

Why would you plug up the old hose from your old intake?

I beleive it is a vacuum hose that supplies another part of the motor with air - that's why it is there. I have a friend with a 99 TL, and he had pinched one of the vacuum hoses leading out of the CAI - he ran into a problem with the car right after that, loss of power and sluggish acceleration. We discovered the pinched hose and the problem solved, power gains back.

 

it was the breather hose. i put a breather filter on the intake instead of the hose and plugged up the hose

 

not really...what you're doing is turning off a monitoring system that watches over your traction...so turning it off means straight driving with no safety feature keeping an eye on your tires...it's what most of us turn off when racing (i always turn it off unless it's bad weather) so that we can just punch it and not worry about our VSA holding us back by adjusting the traction to a certain wheel...

 

yeah thats what i meant. if i turn the vsa nothing is holdin it back. i just tried it and the wheels peeled out. very nice!!!!!!!!! just what i wanted.
nowim satisfied. what next?
headers? exhaust?
what do u recomend?

 

pulley and thermoblock spacers...

if you wanna get expensive, quad exhaust and j-pipe...

 

iono bout the aem intake but the injen one i've got really makes my car jump much quickly than the stock one...not to mention the deeper growl...i think the injen has a deeper growl than aem (comparing my injen to kosstick's aem)...next you should get the j-pipe and then headers that'll probably give you about a 21-28 whp increase (headers-15-20whp; j-pipe-6-8whp?) just my

 

The TL has headers we can buy?

 

There are no "headers" on the 3rd gen TL. The exhaust manifold is part of the head.

 

No headers for the TL


But yeah JPipe should be good for low end torque

 

I figured we didn't have headers.. remembered reading it somewhere else.
thats why seeing post 14 confuzzled me.

 

i knew there were no headers for the type s, didn't know there weren't any for the TL....my bad

 

Where can you buy the thermo spacers and how much do they usually cost?

 

You can pretty much buy everything from the forum vendor, Josh(Excelerate).

 

I think this might be your problem, the hose should be vented, and the CAI should have the plug. The hose is the from the crankcase that sucks out pressure and gasses from the head (valve cover). Plug up the CAI and put the filter on the end of the hose and see if that does it for you. good luck.