cold air intake myth busted

mylovehx

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That's what I figured. Good find!
 


emerican

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^ idk who but i remember someone else doing a comparison like this not sure but pretty sure it was before this one.
 


RonJ

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Hey, a stunning 1.7% gain by hanging a long cold air intake out the headlight hole. Very worthwhile, and also a nice fashion statement.
 

CHILD

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a stock intake that draws air from outside of the engine bay, versus a pipe that draws air from outside of the engine bay. very thorough test. lol
 

TokyoSkies

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I remember an oldschool mechanic telling me this, and breaking it all down (essentially the way these guys did) for me when I was like 16.
 

civexspeedy

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They're using a flex pipe... Probably not a big deal but who knows, maybe a 2% gain rather than a 1.7% with a smooth pipe.

A 1.7% gain does not sound like a lot, but if you're racing it can mean everything. I ran at a National Tour event the other weekend and saw someone win their class by .002seconds. That's unbelievably close, and I've seen people win by .001sec. So that close of a gap in time could easily be the difference between a cold air intake or a short ram or stock. It's why people do some crazy things for 1-3 extra whp. Those guys you see at a drag strip with the headlight gone and w/e, hopefully really racing and not doing bs test & tune stuff, are probably don't that to squeeze out every bit of time on the clock.

For a street application, no, you won't see a difference and it doesn't matter. Just enjoy it because it makes your car a tiny bit louder lol.

And they didn't really bust a myth. The disproved a claim of a 20% gain which companies use as a marketing technique. They actually proved that a cold air intake does give you a gain. Albeit small, but a gain nonetheless.
 
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RonJ

Banned
civexspeedy said:
They actually proved that a cold air intake does give you a gain. Albeit small, but a gain nonetheless.
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^But only in one odd situation. In other cases, there was no gain or even a loss.

In my opinion, the take home lessen is that, unless you are a serious competitive racer, don't waste your time or money. And even if you are a serious competitive racer, expect very little.
 

Failsafe88

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ronj said:
^but only in one odd situation. In other cases, there was no gain or even a loss.

In my opinion, the take home lessen is that, unless you are a serious competitive racer, don't waste your time or money. And even if you are a serious competitive racer, expect very little.
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x2
 

xxBLOOD88SHOTxx

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Dyno numbers dont mean s*** to me anyway.

If they took it to the track and picked up anything, then I would be impressed.

I love the youtube comments "I picked up 15hp on my crown vic this test is BS" .....looks to me that your vic had a s*** heap intake from the factory, or you had a 175k filter on it and you put a brand new setup on it. Idiots.

And the other "of course it didnt make any more power it isn't tuned, you have to have the car tuned for a CAI" well no s*** it will make more with a tune, you modify the fuel and timing maps IT BETTER MAKE MORE POWER. Hell an all stock GTS-T will pick up a decent amount with a good tune and 100% stock everything else.
 

civexspeedy

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RonJ said:
^But only in one odd situation. In other cases, there was no gain or even a loss.

In my opinion, the take home lessen is that, unless you are a serious competitive racer, don't waste your time or money. And even if you are a serious competitive racer, expect very little.
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One odd situation? I believe you are gettig confused with their tests on air filters. Simple drop in filters showed varying results, which is not surprising at all.

They tested and saw gains with the cai. This has been tested and proven out of the ass with so many cars and the majority of cars will see a gain when adding a cai. A 20% gain? Hell no, but a gain nonetheless.

Since this is a Civic forum, I know for sure esp with the 4th, 5th and 6th gens personally that you WILL see a gain going from stock to a cai. Why? Because the stock intake is restrictive, has a resonator and the inlet sucks in air right off of the exhaust manifold. Aftermarket cai's are far less restrictive and suck in air far away from any heat source. Knowing that an engine performs better when it sucks in cold air it comes down to common sense that relocating the intake to bring in colder air will improve performance. And there are probably countless dyno results that can back that up.

Again, I'm not saying that some kid should slap on a cai for his car and claim it gave him 10whp. The gains are minimal, but they are there.
 

CHILD

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I'd also consider the hp and torque curve. Peak HP isn't always the most important thing. Intake diameters and lengths can change how broad or narrow the powerband is and still end up with relatively the same peak power. Being a civic site and the vast majority of people having the original sohc motors, results will tend to be minimal
 

RonJ

Banned
civexspeedy said:
One odd situation? I believe you are gettig confused with their tests on air filters. Simple drop in filters showed varying results, which is not surprising at all.
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Yeah, I misunderstood that the first tests were comparing filters.

Again, I'm not saying that some kid should slap on a cai for his car and claim it gave him 10whp. The gains are minimal, but they are there.
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I agree. But the gains are not only minimal but also largely imperceptible for the vast majority of set ups discussed on forums like this one.
 
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