Team-BHP - Is Cold Air Intake actually worth the money?

Quote:

Originally Posted by barua (Post 2562466)

automech , mumbai is suggesting a Piper cross universal conical @ 5k including installation for my lancer petrol 2003 ..as per them, not much difference during the day but good boost during cool evenings.... worth the spend?

If the conical is setup as a short ram it will be sufficient..
At lower speeds the under hood temp will be high but once the car moves there will be enough air blowing to nearly equalise the inside and outside air temp... there will not be much difference between the outside and the underhood temperature once car moves at speed.
U can open the hood of ur car and check for your self ..its not airtight.
A CAI would be better off at lower speeds as it sucks air from outside through a longer intake pipe routed to outside.
But once the car gains speed then the CAI is not much use as the diff between the outside and inside will be nearly equal and now you are stuck with a longer intake pipe to breath through, longer pipe means the throttle response wont be so sharp as compared to a short ram.
Also the design of the hood and the engine layout , position of the conical filter also are factors which determine how much the diff there would be between the outside and underhood. If done properly short ram with conical will be good.
Im just concerned about how much filteration the Piper cross provides? Is it meant for Indian conditions ? IMHO our roads are very dusty and need dusty offroad type of filters, if you go for specialised track/circuit/racing type of air filters ..not sure if they can handle the crap our dusty conditions can create..

Realistic expectation should be sharper throttle response and nice throaty intake growl over stock air box..and probably some more torque..
This again would depend on the state of the tune and specific engien type ..e.g for a low bhp, economy engine ,purpose built for mileage with 2 valves etc wouldn't respond well to extra air as compared to an aggressively tuned engine with an ecu designed to extarct the maximum power from the given parameters , e.g a 4 valve mpfi aimed at power and not mileage etc.
Basically you are getting more airflow for a given throttle plate angle over the stock intake system with less restrictions for a rpm range.

Spent close to 10k for a conical green cotton filter with CAI. All it did was suck in lots of dust into the engine and kept tripping the air sensor in my magnum and car would go into limp mode it got so bad i had to clean the filter once in 10 days. after 2 months of use i went back to the stock air filter
according to me CAI with these conical air filters is a total waste and moreover would also harm your car engine in our indian conditions with lots of dust and dirt on the roads

CAI and a FFE are hand in glove from what I have experienced.
There is a rise in the rate in the air taken in , there should be rise in the rate of exhaust gases been released at the same time for the actual power to be generated faster. With just a CAI, and the stock exhaust, it is as good as no CAI.

A well tuned FFE without CAI may make a change that can be felt.

I have driven a car with just CAI and it was just the intake roar. With a CAI and FFE, that is a bump in power for sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by d3mon (Post 2969067)

A K&N filter or a cold air intake will make absolutely no noticeable or measurable difference. Please save your money and spend it on something else that is proven to work!

Watch this video, you'll have no doubts about this once you're done!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCi2yo4UqPI

I have to disagree on this one. Those guys have tried the CAI/ SRI on what is already a high performance car. These cars are VERY fine tuned from the factory for eeking out every last bit of horse power they possibly can. It's like putting a pod filter on a Ferrari & expecting results.

Our econo boxes are VERY far away from being even close to the tuning this car received from the factory. You will DEFINATELY get an increase in power on normal road vehicles.

That being said, the quality of the filters on the CAI/ SRI makes a BIG difference. All filters are NOT created equal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1self (Post 2971116)

1) Please find me one instance of someone with hard, dyno measured improvements with just a CAI. Also, I'd argue that if the high performance cars can't make use of these CAIs, our cars with their puny engines are the worst candidates to make use of these.

2) Replacing the air filter alone cannot give you more power than running a car without an air filter. There are similar dyno videos showing absolutely no difference without a filter as compared with a filter. So as long as your filter is clean, you will not be able to tell the difference.

My Laura Tsi is making around 300hp with a bigger turbo, intercooler and the works but I am still using the stock air filter and intake.
I have discussed this at length with Peter Chacko from Pete's (they are dealers of carbonio CAI's) as well with guys from JBS design UK (one of the best tuners for VAG cars) and everyone felt that CAI's doesn't make worthwhile a difference. Probably won't even feel any difference. Maybe a 1-2 hp increase at the very limit of your power band. Its definitely doesn't justify the cost involved. If you want to do it for the sound then its a different thing but performance wise its next to nothing.
They felt its better if I changed/cleaned my stock air filter every 5K kms or so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by d3mon (Post 2971131)

1) Please find me one instance of someone with hard, dyno measured improvements with just a CAI. Also, I'd argue that if the high performance cars can't make use of these CAIs, our cars with their puny engines are the worst candidates to make use of these.

GTO's Civic with K&N Typhoon and dyno chart.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...ir-intake.html

117 stock
121.5 with automech cat delete header
125.5 with K&N typhoon (best run 126.7). 4 horses increase after revising the intake.

A tuned air intake revision will increase some horses on its own with or without a header. A simple universal bolt on thingy may or may not increase the power, depends on the car and the installation (read as plumbing). With enough trial on a dyno or on the road and with necessary changes in the plumbing and positioning will yield some benefits even with a universal filter.

Those who are looking at installations like the one demonstrated in that video and expecting gains will be disappointed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sankar (Post 2971468)

Hey Sankar, a 4BHP increase is certainly something that is measurable, but my only concern with those figures is that they weren't back to back runs with and without the CAI installed. I'm sure as you already know, there are a bunch of other factors like the air temperature, the quality of the fuel, the filter condition in the last run etc etc that may have been different b/w the 2 times that GTO took his Civic to the dyno. GTO, if you're reading, please comment on if there's anything obviously different b/w those 2 runs :)

And really, my biggest beef with CAIs is the bang for buck. If I add a little more money to the cost of a CAI, I might as well get myself a remap, which will give me a guaranteed power boost of at least 15%, as compared to the puny 3% (if you're lucky) that you get with a CAI.