cold air intake
Super Moderator
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,070
From: Southern New Hampshire
That and many newer cars only show those gains for a short period of time until the OBD-II system adjusts.
And as far as an intake goes, generally they don't make much power until you've done other mods to take advantage of the extra airflow.
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 731
From: New York
Ooh these are so simple yet fun.
Heres a good article
AutoSpeed - Siting Cold Air Intakes
A few years ago I started with a cheap DIY RAM intake, my first mod. Went to the store and bought that universal aluminum pipe and a k&n cone filter.
It sounded nice. But as I learned more I started to mess around with it.
(I'm about to start a thread with a related topic)
I'd say not to waste your money on one just yet (based on seeing that you're asking this question)
High end ones will show gains in many cars. But they cost a lot.
You can get some cheap piping and a good filter like AEM and see what it does. I ended up retrofitting a short length of pipe and a cone filter to my stock pipe to preserve my IAR. I have the filter where the stock one was, next to the battery. But instead of the airbox I have a pipe running from the high pressure part of my bumper up to the contained area. Its shielded from the engine air but is short enough to produce mid range power. So at speed I have a constant flow of ambient, high pressure air for the engine to gorge on.
A few things to remember
Heres a good article
AutoSpeed - Siting Cold Air Intakes
A few years ago I started with a cheap DIY RAM intake, my first mod. Went to the store and bought that universal aluminum pipe and a k&n cone filter.
It sounded nice. But as I learned more I started to mess around with it.
(I'm about to start a thread with a related topic)
I'd say not to waste your money on one just yet (based on seeing that you're asking this question)
High end ones will show gains in many cars. But they cost a lot.
You can get some cheap piping and a good filter like AEM and see what it does. I ended up retrofitting a short length of pipe and a cone filter to my stock pipe to preserve my IAR. I have the filter where the stock one was, next to the battery. But instead of the airbox I have a pipe running from the high pressure part of my bumper up to the contained area. Its shielded from the engine air but is short enough to produce mid range power. So at speed I have a constant flow of ambient, high pressure air for the engine to gorge on.
A few things to remember
- Longer the pipe, the more low end torque. And vis versa. Short pipe high RPM. This is due to your engines volumetric efficiency and air flow velocities.
- Location matters. Many will place their CAI by the wheel well. This can be a low pressure area which will not produce optimum performance. Others place a RAM intake in the hot engine bay without sealing it off. This actually causes less power.
- Smooth transitions. Velocity stacks are very useful. Some cone filters you will see have them, others don't. On top of that, any turbulence created by rough breaks or transitions in the piping to throttle body will also cause a less than ideal result.
- Shipo has a point too. I can always depend on him to find the holes in these mods :P Your engine will see the cold air coming in, add more gas but then the o2 sensors will soon negate the gains. However, cold air and smoother air is all the same, you will still see gains if the factory intake was designed for economy.
Last edited by RobinsonRicer; Jan 21, 2014 at 12:39 PM.
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 11
how do you recet the ecu on my model?
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 11
Ooh these are so simple yet fun.
Heres a good article
AutoSpeed - Siting Cold Air Intakes
You can get some cheap piping and a good filter like AEM and see what it does. I ended up retrofitting a short length of pipe and a cone filter to my stock pipe to preserve my IAR. I have the filter where the stock one was, next to the battery. But instead of the airbox I have a pipe running from the high pressure part of my bumper up to the contained area. Its shielded from the engine air but is short enough to produce mid range power. So at speed I have a constant flow of ambient, high pressure air for the engine to gorge on.
A few things to remember
Heres a good article
AutoSpeed - Siting Cold Air Intakes
You can get some cheap piping and a good filter like AEM and see what it does. I ended up retrofitting a short length of pipe and a cone filter to my stock pipe to preserve my IAR. I have the filter where the stock one was, next to the battery. But instead of the airbox I have a pipe running from the high pressure part of my bumper up to the contained area. Its shielded from the engine air but is short enough to produce mid range power. So at speed I have a constant flow of ambient, high pressure air for the engine to gorge on.
A few things to remember
- Longer the pipe, the more low end torque. And vis versa. Short pipe high RPM. This is due to your engines volumetric efficiency and air flow velocities.
- Location matters. Many will place their CAI by the wheel well. This can be a low pressure area which will not produce optimum performance. Others place a RAM intake in the hot engine bay without sealing it off. This actually causes less power.
what would be the best location then?
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 731
From: New York
ECU is reset by pulling a specific fuse or disconnecting the battery for half an hour. All it does is resets the long term fuel trim (o2 sensor readings over a period of time used to influence the amount of fuel injected based on the immediate o2 sensor readings).
So at the point where the LTFT is 0% you will get a lower air fuel ratio and more gain from a mod because the ECU has not yet learned to lean the car out to its factory standards based on long term driving conditions.
As for my statement...
There's not much room for deviation in the 2012 engine bay. You can bring it to the length of the stock filter. What you may want to do it duct the air box to a high pressure area instead and keep the stock filter.
However, if you want to have a smoother pipe and deep sound from the intake you can replace the stock intake pipe with an aftermarket one.
http://www.knfilters.com/images/press/691211ttk.jpg
Thats a k&n set up. Problem I see here is that although it has a barrier from the engine, there is no ambient air inlet. So hot engine air will still enter.
I'm having trouble finding anything under $200. You can buy a 3" dia aluminum u bend and some couplers and cut and mate them to create what you want.
Or spend the $200 and get an aftermarket one. But that comes down to $50-100 per HP gain. Not very much IMO.
Try this article too
AutoSpeed - Ram-Air Revelations
So at the point where the LTFT is 0% you will get a lower air fuel ratio and more gain from a mod because the ECU has not yet learned to lean the car out to its factory standards based on long term driving conditions.
As for my statement...
There's not much room for deviation in the 2012 engine bay. You can bring it to the length of the stock filter. What you may want to do it duct the air box to a high pressure area instead and keep the stock filter.
However, if you want to have a smoother pipe and deep sound from the intake you can replace the stock intake pipe with an aftermarket one.
http://www.knfilters.com/images/press/691211ttk.jpg
Thats a k&n set up. Problem I see here is that although it has a barrier from the engine, there is no ambient air inlet. So hot engine air will still enter.
I'm having trouble finding anything under $200. You can buy a 3" dia aluminum u bend and some couplers and cut and mate them to create what you want.
Or spend the $200 and get an aftermarket one. But that comes down to $50-100 per HP gain. Not very much IMO.
Try this article too
AutoSpeed - Ram-Air Revelations