Who has a Cold Air Intake installed? Opinions?

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xBa380

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How many of you guys here have a CAI on your vehicle? How do you like them?

I just bought one for my 2008 xB (AEM CAI w/ Dry Filter) and will be able to install it next Tuesday
grin2.gif


The only thing that worries me, is that there seems to be a lot of talk about hydrolocking on the research I have done, but in the end it seems that those people just drive through way too deep of puddles... CAI or not. What are your thoughts on this whole topic? Obviously, common sense says to be careful with flood-type conditions, but what about water-spray from following behind people on the freeway and such when its raining? Any real danger with that? It seems if anything, the filter may get a fine mist or something but nothing too dramatic. At least for me, the xB has splash-shields under the vehicle and in the wheel-well to protect from water, and the filter once installed will sit about 15" or so from the ground, above the splash shield. I think it would be fine, no?

Just looking forward to hearing what you guys feel/think about CAI systems.
 
I had a CAI on an 03 Corolla five speed. The performance gains were slight but worth the price of admission. Deep water was not a concern unless you drove like a fool. On that car the intake was high enough not to be a concern but that can vary by make of car and intake. After that I went with short ram intakes simply due to the ease of cleaning the filter, most CAI's are a real pain in the buns to do regular maintenance.
 
There's a bypass drain/filter you can install that will not let the water get to the engine.

I'd stay out of water over a couple of inches deep. The splash from other vehicles should be no problem.
 
Don't drive through deep puddles and you'll be fine.

For most cars without more modifications, the main increase is the noise at high RPM's. I kinda like it as long as it's not too loud.
 
Yeah, this is the only engine modification I want/plan to do engine wise. AEM seems to be the most-liked intake for the xB, but most don't get it due to price over some other ones. I have heard some sound clips and it sounds great. I look forward to the higher-rpm increase in power ( intake was independently dyno'd at +10whp and 10ft/lb torque increase). But I know I will feel little difference I am sure. It will look great in the engine bay anyway... haha

Appreciate the input about the water issue, I figured as long as I use common sense it will be fine, I avoid any puddle possible anyway!
 
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I've got a Vararam cold air intake on my Corvette, and the scoops for it are beside the fog lights and sit very low to the ground, but yet I've had no issues at all even driving in very heavy rain. I wouldn't be foolish enough to drive it through very deep standing water though. But then again why would anyone do that in the first place? If there is very heavy flooding in your area you shouldn't be driving your car through it, I never understand why people attempt to do that (only to get stuck).
 
If you have a CAI, you have a modification. If you have a big huge puddle to drive through, then unhook part of the CAI(if it's a 2 piece design) and drive through. Dirty air is better than no engine.
 
I too have a 08 xb but I won't install a CAI because it's too risky IMO. The other day we had very heavy rains and I went over many unexpected DEEP puddles. Had I had the CAI installed I probably would have hydro locked the motor.
 
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That is interesting, because of how high the intake really is. Unless you have the splash shield removed, slammed the car down to ride 1 or 2" above the payment, water would basically have to be high enough to come up to the lower door line before the filter would be touched. Had to be one serious puddle, one that I would of found a way around!

Cleveland does not really see crazy rains, and when it does the sewers do a good job with it. May be a little standing water but no more then 1 or 2" deep at most, which would be fine.
 
CAI, Short ram, ect. . can on a lot of applications cause you to lose a few HP.

Most of the time it does nothing.

Something to research before you drop $150+

Just my .2 cents. . . .
 
In terms of the AEM intake, 10+ HP and 10ft/lbs torque increase. Independent dyno results before/after install... (And then they did more modifications and did dyno's after each as well, the CAI increased the most by far. Headers, exhaust, etc... Only increased 1-2hp). This is NOT from AEM.

impp_0810_08_z+2008_scion_xb+aem_intake_dyno.jpg
 
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Originally Posted By: xBa380
In terms of the AEM intake, 10+ HP and 10ft/lbs torque increase. Independent dyno results before/after install... (And then they did more modifications and did dyno's after each as well, the CAI increased the most by far. Headers, exhaust, etc... Only increased 1-2hp). This is NOT from AEM.


What was the state of the old filter? How many runs did they do before they found a graph with a big enough variation? Did the dyno the car hot for the before number or was it cooled down as well? Those are just some of the questions I want to ask when I see power gains like those because I've been to test/tune days and you never see jumps like that in person.
 
Personally unless your running a modded car a CAI does nothing. Untuned it really does nothing, might increase the mpg a little. On my Jeep I installed a 2.5 inch catback and a K&N filter. Gas mileage went from 17 mpg to 19 mpg. Hand calculated over a 2400 mile trip. Recently I've been getting 20 mpg. But I give the credit to summer blend gas.
 
Originally Posted By: xBa380
That is where I found it from, they ran two or three other dyno's after and it was in the same general area, so I doubt it was a "fluke" if you want to call it that.

Even if the increase was not that significant, that is not the only reason I went for the CAI.


I never said it was a fluke. Variations from run to run are expected, sometimes as much as 4-5hp. If you strap on a warm car with a dirty filter and then change the filter while it cools down of course you'll see a higher number when you run the new setup. Do another 3-5 pulls so you can pick the highest peak number to show with that lower "stock" number and you just made spending money on a whole intake seem justified.

I'm not saying thats what happened in this case but K&N has been caught doing that so if they're doing it you know that other intake companies and their "independent" test shops might be doing it as well.
 
Originally Posted By: Dyoel182
Originally Posted By: xBa380
In terms of the AEM intake, 10+ HP and 10ft/lbs torque increase. Independent dyno results before/after install... (And then they did more modifications and did dyno's after each as well, the CAI increased the most by far. Headers, exhaust, etc... Only increased 1-2hp). This is NOT from AEM.


What was the state of the old filter? How many runs did they do before they found a graph with a big enough variation? Did the dyno the car hot for the before number or was it cooled down as well? Those are just some of the questions I want to ask when I see power gains like those because I've been to test/tune days and you never see jumps like that in person.



+1


Originally Posted By: sparkplug
Personally unless your running a modded car a CAI does nothing. Untuned it really does nothing, might increase the mpg a little. On my Jeep I installed a 2.5 inch catback and a K&N filter. Gas mileage went from 17 mpg to 19 mpg. Hand calculated over a 2400 mile trip. Recently I've been getting 20 mpg. But I give the credit to summer blend gas.


+1

A LOT of money is spent on R+D on the air intake and airbox of todays cars.
If the car maker could get better power and MPG all of the time from just using bent pipe and a universal cone filter, they whould have gone with it.

I am not saying a CAI will not work on every application. But to be real, I stick with tryed and true OEM system.
 
Quote:

I'm not saying thats what happened in this case but K&N has been caught doing that so if they're doing it you know that other intake companies and their "independent" test shops might be doing it as well.


Thing is, this was not for any company or anything, just this person or whatever doing modifications and recording any changes. It was not through AEM or anything, just something I stumbled across.
 
Originally Posted By: xBa380
Quote:

I'm not saying thats what happened in this case but K&N has been caught doing that so if they're doing it you know that other intake companies and their "independent" test shops might be doing it as well.


Thing is, this was not for any company or anything, just this person or whatever doing modifications and recording any changes. It was not through AEM or anything, just something I stumbled across.


Unless there was a brand new stock filter on the car for the before test, and the oil, block, trans, diff, ect. . . were all at the same temp for all the tests, his test is really not to meaningfull.

You can run the same car on the same dino over and over again and not get the same reading. The endless list of Variables keep changing.
Even if it was all 100% real and true. That is still only one persons outcome.
 
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