corsair13

Hi all,

I have read the reviews on cold air intakes, and still have a couple of questions.
Do any of you out there have any REAL-WORLD experiences with cold air intakes in the rain with Xb's?

I am still deciding between K&N, Injen, & AEM. Anyone with these intakes please let me know about the rain?

I suspect that the AEM will perform better vs the rain, (because it's Toyota approved?) and that the Injen looks the coolest because it's polished, and finally I beleive that K&N has the best performance on a dyno becasue i can actually find those numbers!

Appreciate any input folks!

Thanks,
Coop

llamuh

as far as which brand will perform better, they all perform about the same. you wont see that much of a hp gain from an intake, its more of a necessary component in a 'system' meaning you need it to see gains if you were to add a header or exhaust. theyre all dependant on each other to produce their gains.

as far as rain, at stock height i cant see where there would be a problem with CAI. i dont own an xB so i cant say this from experience. i can, however, say that hydrolock is a problem that does exist in general. most people play it off and say not to worry about it. well thats how i thought about it but i ended up sucking up water on my integra and snapped a rod, sent one rod out of the oil pan, and one rod tried to go through the cylinder wall. luckily insurance covered it under comp.

hope this helps ;)

KYBoy

i had an injen on my old corlla, the filter was under the driver side headlight, it had a down angle so even if water came up it would not make it to the engine, i never had any problems, and drove in the rain fine. most companys have some kinda of system of preventing hydrolock

TJandBOXCARWILLIE

No problem with mine, that I can tell, from the rain. I have an AEM one, and live in SOUTH FLORIDA, where it rains from time to time...
I thought about that as well, before I got mine. And, like you, I figured the AEM one was the way to go, since it's TOYOTA approved.
Hope that helps.

hotbox05

i have thje cold air l type aem and have no probs. even if i opened up the fog light blank for more air the filter hangs down so not much water would get in .

llamuh

the filter on my CAI (AEM) was down under my headlight just behind the blinker and also angled down. intakes create a stronger vacuum than i thought. anyways yeah you could always get a bypass valve. i ended up going with the AEM V2 myself. its somewhat of a blend between a short ram and CAI. it has different piping sizes and its supposed to get more air through harmonics somehow. im sure its all just a gimmic but oh well was worth a try.

TJandBOXCARWILLIE

Oh, and I just thought of this: I run my car through a car wash that sprays under the car, and no problems with that. I figure, if a direct spray that hits under there has no ill effect, then rain should not have any.

Now, if you go through a really deep puddle,(we get these puddles down here that can be quite deep, that's why I say that), then you might run into a snag.
Have not done that yet, so I don't know. Hope I don't. Has anyone done that?

Souljah347

you can always get the k&n CAI, and put an aem bypass in so you won't hydrolock. i haven't done it, but i can't see why it wouldn't work. if i'm wrong i'm sure someone will say something or blast me for it

hotbox05

the aem with the bypass can only be bought through dealerships. they are not sold aftermarket. the only ones sold aftermarket are the "l" pipe style aem c.a.i.

TJandBOXCARWILLIE

Good thing that I got mine at the dealer then. :D

corsair13

Thanks for the replys!
What a great rescource!

I am leaning towards the dealer's AEM intake at the moment. I like the fact that the intake has better hydrolock prevention built-in and that it is dealer approved. I plan on installing a Magnaflow cat-back at the same time.
Thanks again,
Coop

dskize1

dont buy it from the dealer. you are gonna get screwed. i got mine on ebay and installed it myself. easy self doing mod.. JMO

turbocivic

if you're not slammed on the ground, I wouldn't worry about sucking up water. If that's an issue, put a short ram on it...

wyldkard

I got the Injen short ram. I haven't had any problems with it in the rain. I've driven in some really bad rain storms and driven through some flooded areas and never had a problem. Hopes this helps in your decision making process.

-Z

TJandBOXCARWILLIE

By keeping it dealer installed, you don't mess with the warranteeeee.

That was a big deal to me, seeing as I don't want to screw that up. Hope you enjoy it.!

parkyboi

i haven't seen any xBs having problems with their cai but a friend of mine drives a wrx and almost had his car hyrdolocked. i dunno how a car can "almost" hydrolock, but his radiator was also smoking because too much water got in. just drive carefully in the rain, and don't go for a swim in your car, like my friend basically did.

hotbox05

the dealer option intake has a smaller hp gain than the aem L pipe intake, too long , too many curves , and the bypass hurts performance. and as far as warranty they can only void it if they can PROVE that the installed part caused damage. which
1. and intake cannot damage a car and
2. they couldnt prove it if it did!

TJandBOXCARWILLIE

Don't think I can agree with all of that.

I know that my Box gets better performance then it did, and my dealer told me that if I had got a aftermarket one installed, it would indeed void the warranty on the car. Who knows if that is pure BS; I'm just repeating what they said.

hotbox05

oh it's bs they like to throw hogwash around , and i'm not saying that the aem snail intake is worse thatn stock but it does yield a lower hp gain versus the L pipe aem .

wyldkard

I have the Injen Short Ram. I bought it online from ptuning.com. I had it installed by my friend who is a Scion Certified Technician. We installed it in one of the bays at Scion of Irving. Along with my DC Strut Bar and Tanabe DF210's. Thanks Scott. :D

It's good to have connections. If you're that worried about it, keep your old intake box and put it back on before taking it in. Simple as that.

-Z