I’m looking for suggestions on what kind of intake I should get for my 2006 Acura TL, 3.2L V6 engine, everything stock

 

Ebay Cold air intake. Choose your favorite color tip and $30 later, vroom!!

 

This is how I've always preferred to do it! Is it really better than going AEM or Injen?

 

It’s probably not better, but it can’t be that much worse. It’s a shaped aluminum tube with a cone filter. Where’s the magic?

The magic is keeping $170+ to get a tint job with.

 

But I have heard that the J-Series does benefit from an intake, but @justnspace did say that the cheapest and smartest option is to just pull out the intake resonator and let air flow straight into the bottom of the airbox.

 

In my early twenties I would remove the bottom portion of the airbox and hot glue the OEM filter to the OEM ‘short ram’ arm.

I called it a “ghetto short ram”.

It sounded better, was almost as functional as an aftermarket option. It only costs x2 glue sticks.

 

Leave your car alone, it came from the factory with a cold air intake AND the OEM style filter provides superior filtration.

 

According to a few YouTube clips that tested OEM filters compared to aftermarket filters, the OEM filter was shown to provide better filtration with no measurable power difference to aftermarket filters or CAI's

Better filtration naturally means more resistance to air flow simply due to more filter media. But the presumption with these experiments is that the surface area of OEM filters is sufficient to still allow plenty of air through without causing a bottleneck. The videos on YouTube were done with a Mazda Miata and a Subaru STI but it's likely that the TL is the same. They used cheapo eBay filters, K&N filters and auto store filters like Napa and Autozone. The auto store filters did ok as well, about the same as OEM. But they're designed to be pretty close to OEM already so that's not really a surprise. What was surprising was how much crap the K&N let through. Even with proper oiling, they let through quite a bit. Measurements were done visually as well as by weight via a balance measuring out to 0.xxx g. to measure particulate matter that passed through the filter. If you don't care about a bit of crap getting through, and potentially affecting the motor oil, oil rings or valves, then go for it. But there doesn't seem to be as much value in it as a CAI might be for other cars.

I had a CAI on my 3G but it was never measurable on my highly calibrated and scientific butt-dyno

 

Ebay CAI ones are just copies of the AEM CAI for the accord as they measure at 3in diameter pipe. AEM TL ones are slightly bigger at 3.25in. Is it worth the $200 for one? not really, ebay ones work fine, I would suggest a better filter tho. It has been dyno proven a 4in intake with the J37 intake manifold upgrade does net more power over smaller intakes...

 

The J37 intake being the key here; that's where most of the power gains are from, the aftermarket intake, meh, not so much; that and aftermarket intakes will most likely reduce mid-range torque.

 

Already been dyno charts showing the custom 4in makes additional power on the j37 itm/tb swap.

 

and makes reduced torque in the mid-range; sorry, that is not a win.

 

Do the J37 throttle body, then...

 

Why?

 

A member here did this to his TL years ago and claimed it helped get more air in helping out the low/midrange torque...

 

Not even remotely likely. People make all sorts of stupid claims. Think about it this way, if all Honda had to do was to change the throttle body to improve power and torque, trust me, they'd do it in a heart beat. The fact is, Honda spends billions of dollars on their engine programs and they have some of the absolutely best and brightest engineers in the world, and if an extra one Yen would improve "low/midrange torque", they would have done it.

 

Ok... You're probably right... So, does that mean that the TL is running at it's absalute best unmodified and no bolt on would help it in the slightest bit?

 

It all depends...

If you are spending 90% of your time on a race track and don't care about low and mid range torque, then modifications are certainly in order, however, if your TL is a daily driver and seldom, if ever, sees a track, then short of a swap to a 3.5 from an Odyssey or a forced induction setup, there really isn't much you can do for low and mid range power.

 

I have heard a j-pipe will help the mid-range a bit...

 

You may have heard it, but physics says otherwise; folks spend money and then like to make lots of claims to justify whats they spent.

 

I guess we need 60' times then...

 

Mid-range yes, low end there isn't any change. Very noticeable from 3000-5000 rpm on my Accord and it isn't your ears fooling you because it isn't any louder. But right out of the hole, only thing that really helped was 16 lb RSX wheels that were 9 lb less each per wheel than my original ones were. But don't think they'd clear the brakes on a TL. Like already mentioned, if you want torque the 3.5 Odyssey motor is the way to go. If my Accord ever need an engine (still doesn't use oil in between 7500 mile synthetic oil changes at 254k miles) that's the route I'm going.

 

If you do feel the need to get an intake, the AEM v2 is fine, just don't expect big gains since the TL already has a decent air intake system. K&N for example claims a 7 hp increase on the TL with a 3.2 and 10 hp on the Accord with a 3.0 even though its the exact same intake. Take manufacturer dynos for what its worth but even they are claiming less gains on a larger engine with the TL vs the Accord which gives you a good idea of how well Acura set up the OEM system.

 

Hmmm, 7hp at redline in exchange for a dramatic reduction in filtration efficiency; no thanks.

 

Depends on the filter of course-sadly, K&N filters aren't on par with OEM in regards to filtration. The design of an aftermarket intake should lend itself to at least some hp increase due to a more direct path from the filter to the engine and assuming you can keep heat away from the intake. And again, that's a manufacturer's dyno so who know what the truth actually is.

Factory intakes aren't designed necessarily with maximum horsepower in mind. They have to compromise between that and quietness because most people don't want to hear their engines. And like you said, most gains are at higher rpm where the average driver rarely rev their engines to.

 

Having worked as a consulting engineer for three different auto manufacturers, I would say the Urban Legend which states, "Factory intakes aren't designed necessarily with maximum horsepower in mind. They have to compromise between that and quietness because most people don't want to hear their engines." is only partially true, and primarily promulgated by the aftermarket intake companies. In my experience, their primary design metrics are 1) mid-range torque (achieved by peak resonance in the intake during mid-range operations), 2) low noise, and 3) high-end power. Fortunately, engineering in the resonance and low noise aren't mutually exclusive engineering issues, however, #1 and/or #2 in combination with #3 can be very much a challenge unless the manufacturer wants to build two complete separate intake paths.