edgalang

Yep...I've made my decision. I'M SICK of my Injen CAI. As of today the cumulative negatives just outweighed the optomistic possitives.



Negative Reasons:

#1 I hate having to jack up the car and go underneath it to check the filter under the bumper.

#2 The more times I clean/reoil it, the worse my underbody clips get. Now I have a total of 3 missing (each costing a little more than $2 a piece.)

#3 The finish of the CAI gets worse over time. Mine had scratches all over it so I decided to paint it...but that just got f*cked up as of yesterday...AAARGG!

#4 Reason why I have to check the CAI more often is that the filter itself gets wet...ALOT. So, although it may not injest water (hydrolock), but every puddle/car wash removes some of the oil that the filter medium itself was meant to hold. So in theory, you can drive around with a superior filter that can't filter anything because it's not oiled properly.



Positives:

More HP & better sound (although "better" is subjective).



Soooo...where does that leave me? I have an out of the box CAI that I used for over 30k miles that looks butt ugly that decided to put the stock airbox (without resonator) back in. I figure if I put a drop-in instead, I would avoid all 4 reasons above.

Bah...I should of thought about this sooner. But yeah, take it from someone who's been through the experience...I would never buy a CAI kit again simply because it is the most pain-in-the-ass power mod.

P.S.

Thanks to hzm82 for doing the pre-shopping homework for finding us the cheapest source of K&N drop-ins.

Oh..and before you make any comments regarding intakes...remember...I'm only bashing the CAIs...since short rams and iceboxs dont qualify as one.

yield2s

sound wise how much diff is the "poorman icebox" compared w/CAI

edgalang

price wise? a "poorman's icebox" is $40 shipped. Performance wise? Only time will tell since I just ordered it today.

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

Poorman's icebox don't do jack for performance.. and it's VERY sketchy as to whether it really does influence your mpg...

edgalang

Not arguing that it does...but I'm just sick of the maintenance you have to put in a CAI. Its "cool" factor has worn out I guess. I should of bought the icebox to begin with...but unfortunately, I'm in no position to do so and the icebox was not available 2 years ago when modding my car was still "in".

yield2s

.

fsttyms1

i have THE POOR MANS ICEBOX.. BUT i not only removed the resonator i cut the bottom of the air box out! it lows alot more air in and the sound is very simular to a cai. oh yea i have a K&N flter also.

EddieXo

hey ed waht are you planing to do with the cai? e-mail me.. hungryxo@sbcglobal.net

edgalang

Well...I was planning on cleaning it up, recoat it with black paint, and find a local user who would want to put it on their car for a burger and fries on the next meet. :clown:

vperkins2

LOL! You tellin' me I'm supposed to clean that thing?!

V.

aclonghorn

Hey, I'm selling a poor man's Icebox, so if anyone wants one, I can sell it to you for dirt cheap. Just PM me.

Mr Hyde

An Icebox definitely qualifies as a CAI, and I went from a year with The Comptech drop in & no resonator to The Icebox, and there definitely is a big enough difference to feel.

Going from stock to the Drop in, I never really noticed a difference in pull.

P.S. the reasons you listed are exactly why I went with the icebox. Those are the same issues I had with my AEM on My accord, and the Icebox solves every single one, especially #4 which scared me the most. Also I like teh Icebox sound vs other CAI's which are too loud for my tastes with this car.

benzo555

I replaced my stock filter with a highflow K&N as well. I also took the resonator out and took the lil air intake thingy from the engine bay and shoved it upside down to where the air goes in the filter.

Makes a great improvement on the butt dyno over stock. I rode on a buddies' CL with the icebox and cant justify to spend over $250 for an icebox.

edgalang

The reason why I don't put the 2 in the same category is that the Icebox filter is not in the same location...whereas AEM and Injen is.

So in future references...when we discuss the topic of "intakes", we should be more specific.

CAI (filter in bumper area)
Short RAM (Exposed filter in engine area)
Icebox (some sort of enclosed short ram)

I do agree that the icebox is the way to go...all I was doing was ranting about how I no longer agree with a CAI design. None of the problems of a standard CAI applies to the icebox, therefore an icebox is a category all in itself.

Mr Hyde

I gotcha, not putting you down or picking a fight, but I would still consider the Icebox a CAI (Cold Air Intakes for the newbies) since being a CAI means it draws in cold air only, and thats what the icebox does, but with a different design. A design I think is superior to the others out there for every single reason you listed, plus the fact that its quieter than other conventional CAI's