ABTsportsline

not trying to stir up the bees nest by bringing up an old thread, but i saw the sticky in the forum and just HAD to comment on this...

I worked at several performance shops and at one time worked for Dynojet. Air intake systems can never be properly dyno'd on a chassis dyno. The aftermarket industry has been doing this for years, well, because numbers sell. The problem is, that most dyno runs performed to test intakes are performed improperly and thus, do not give you real world numbers. For instance, i have seen many a tuner shops test intakes by leaving the hood up and putting a fan in front of the car. This is an improper method and will not yield you correct results. I am assuming this is what was done for this test.

While i appreciate someone taking the time to perform this test, the results are biased towards the short-ram intakes. If the hood is open with a fan blowing on them, obviously they will get more air than the AEM and SPFR CAIs. The flipside is that the true CAIs do make the air travel farther before it hits the throttle body, which robs power. Due to the test conditions, the true CAIs are not going to be getting as much air as the short rams that are located on top of the engine under the open hood. You obviously have some long-ram CAIs that did "well" on this test - but as i said, the results are undefined as you have an improper test condition.

Test Distortion #2: The anemic fan blowing on the front of the car does in NO WAY simulate real-driving aerodynamics or tunnel forces. the fan at most may put out a 15 mph breeze, but cannot simulate 50-80 mph winds that the vehicle would experience at freeway speeds. Physics teaches us that the velocity of forced air on an engine will increase effective combustion exponentially - it is not linear. What does this mean? That means the harder the force of air, the power you gain rises on a graph exponentially. This is why turbos are so effective on the combustion engine.

What does this mean to our dyno test? that the intakes will actually read more effectively when the vehicle is in motion. Dyno-wise, the readings could either be shy in readings or generous. Unfortunately, the dynamometer is unbiased to this and thus will not yield us a standard corrective formula.

Overall, what am i trying to say?

That all the data is (for the most part) flawed, and should not be your sole judgement on which brand to buy. It is safe to guess that most of these intakes will only add 2-3 true horsepower to your motor. And as someone else said, a gain this small will not be noticeable. If you do this modification in conjunction with other modifications, then you will notice more of a difference. Some modifications are complimentary to the overall performance of the vehicle.

My advice: get the intake which you think looks best in your engine bay, is CARB approved, doesn't ruffle the dealer's feathers, and is the easiest on the wallet. You won't tell the difference between your buddies' AEM and your Injen on the butt dyno. really.

Good Luck
-ABT-

BlueBox

K&N Typhoon Intake Rocks. end of discussion.

Besk_one

man this thread just won't die...hahahahhaha!


personally the 1.42whp SFPR intake rocks mah socks


but on a more serrious note:

we're still in the process of setting up a scion evo bbq / dyno day... that's gonna be the final word, i can't wait - gonna be a load of fun i haven't forgotten about it, just gotta get everyone on the same page

- Brian

XBOXED

Looks like a Injen intake for me!!!!!!!

AKgoalie7

3-5 is noticable on a 100 hp engine? 5% is a lot... ??????

hahajoey

honestly, when i sat in brian's car.. it felt way more than
just 1hp(as the results yielded)..

but it was a defective intake(used in this dynorun)...

lets just keep it at just get what u want.
its no different than a civic or integra..
people just get what they want, and all the dyno results
range from 2-5 hp. just like any other intake for any other car..

but we CAN use some warfare.... its been so long

dinkjs

I am still disappointed no one dynoed the Blitz SUS intake...I feel left out

xBum

This is BS. You want to know the most, least, and average power made. Say one makes 1hp all the way down and then 4hp at peak. But another makes 4hp all around but only 1hp at peak. Which would you choose? I'd much rather have an itake with a higher average gain than one that only had a high peak gain.
Having done air filter comparisons for an old 300ZX, I can definately say that just showing peak numbers is about as useful as selling self-tanning lotion to people on the beach in the tropics.

ArinVolvo is right. Please show the dyno charts with lines.

Here is what I did with my test:
http://www.az-zbum.com/dyno.results.airfilter.na.shtml

Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but I just bought my xB and was wondering about the different intakes. Thank goodness for stickies, right?

Chimmy3

this thread can't die... its tied to a sticky... but you are right I would've like to see the graphs... unfortunately this was way way long ago...

I'm still wondering what happened to SPFR... did they die out b/c of this shoot out? it sure sounds like it ...
if they did, it is kinda sad

honestly no matter who runs the dyno or how tightly its run, there will always be problems correlating it to real world performance.
But as people have said... can real world performance be THAT drastically different especially over only a few HP? shrug

There is no way to really declare a winner off a single dyno run... unless that many many sample runs are taken (and the intakes are constantly being switched). I don't think anyone is quite that enterprising just to figure out which intake has an advantage over one.

The other way way to go about this is actually to get as much data as possible from as many different dyno runs and to see if a pattern emerges. Given a large enough sample size, dyno differences should filter themselves out, and a winner could probably be declared using statistical analysis (but it will really require a lot of people to be posting data)

from a single trial runs, the more important thing to find from the graphs is probably where you are likely to see the gains and if you lose performance anywhere (or if you are gaining at all).

xBum

He did a good job with taking three runs and being consistent with the tests and timing. That's about all you can hope for.

smokeydog001

I tried to get a CAI installed at the dealer when I bought my xA. Was told no and that it would void my warrenty. Is this BS or what?

hahajoey

ummm tell them the RS series COMES WITH AEM!

smokeydog001

Thanks, I just took delivery of my xA. Now the story is that they (CAIs) have been modified due to emmisions bs and will be available around the 1st of the year.

p2filz

i think you guys should try running a fujita and a k&n just to be fair

p2filz

not to mension all were cai except the injen that got the most power!

p2filz

im confused what is spfr?

pdrizzle

I just replaced the dealer AEM with the YDR (Injen clone) and I am pleased. The sound is very different and it feels more responsive. I recommend it.

nunspa

I was woundering any chance to also test the Weapon-R and Fujita F5 Air Intake Systems?

I picked up and installed the Fujita F5, and it feels like a nice boost in power, and I love the way my box sounds!

VdubbsXB

Just like to say as a by-stander, that a lot of info has been shown here and even more opinions have been displayed.

I for one would like to see the entire graph from startup to top speed for each CAI. If those were posted I could not view them as most all graphs that were posted showed as a square with a red x in the middle or could not be viewed from the linked website. Please PM them to me if possible.

For my driving style/habit, I want performace enhancements throughout the whole Idle to 4krpm range. Most of my hwy usage is in the 3K rpm area with little or no change in acceleration. I don't race as it is an xB and I am not interested in racing, it is just not for me. Now I do like pushing the abilities of me and the xB from time to time for my own amusement ONLY. But that cost fuel mileage and happens very little. I am still driving a fully stock power train and stock wheels/tires/suspension. (YUP, Boring)

I am interested in fuel economy gains that can be had by adding a CAI. I can't see gaining 5mpg, but 1-2 mpg is realistic and has been posted by a couple members here. Also price is a MAJOR concern from my standpoint as well. While $150 is not a lot of money to hand over to gain a little MPG, $350 would take forever to recoop with such a small gain.

Mind you, this is a view from my perspective and is in no way meant to influence someone else. I want my xB to be more efficient and to not sink money into it that can never be recooped in a reasonable amount of time.

Velheru

http://www.knfilters.com/news/news.aspx?ID=108 Testing on K&N's Dynojet 248 dynamometer revealed an average gain of 7 HP at the wheels! Performance results were consistent on multiple cars during repeated dyno runs, making K&N confident enough to offer guaranteed horsepower. Id like to see an individual test to see if the 7 at the wheels guarantee holds up....Im looking to buy one of these in a few weeks.