I heard that a short ram lowers gas milage. I was thinking of getting this one BCP 90-93 Accord 2.2 2.2L Short Ram Air Intake + Filter | eBay before I heard that it lowers it. Does it really lower it. How much does it lower it by?

 

I've never had an intake lower gas mileage. It usually stays the same, or in my case you may see a slight increase. Mine has gone up about 2+mpg on average since my install. A problem you may run into, however, is enjoying the sound of the intake so much that you find yourself punching the accelerator more often to hear that roar, which will lower gas mileage However, if you leave your driving habits the same you shouldn't notice a decrease.

Before I got my AEM tube I was using a Spectre tube setup with a K&N filter. The only difference I notice now is a richer sound. So if you ask me, a tube is a tube is a tube and using an eBay brand tube won't hurt as long as it bolts up right!

At the same time, if you are going to get a nameless intake like that I would recommend you spring for a quality cone filter rather than the one that comes with it. K&N and AEM make good filters, they run around $65, Spectre's $25 filters are no good IMHO but that's up to you. A good filter can make all the difference in the world, a cheap one is usually just that: cheap. You'll get what you pay for, which will likely include poor build quality (inconsistent thickness in the media and so forth).

In the end it's all about personal preference and budget. Running the cheapo filter on there until you can get a decent K&N probably won't kill your car, but me? I'm too paranoid for that

 

Haha thats probably why I heard it lowered mileage. They wanted to hear it. Thanks!

 

No problem! The only benefit of name brand over eBay brand is reliability and fitment, and since an intake isn't a part that takes a lot of abuse (unless you're doing something horribly wrong), it should be fine. If you try to compare the intakes like the V2 that are heavily researched to eBay intakes that is where the eBay brands will fall short. In the end, what I like most about my AEM intake is 1) it's heavy duty 2) Sounds nicer and finally 3) It's red and it matches my car

Edit: Oh, I just remembered another thing that factored into my K&N>eBay brand filter decision; I've seen one literally melted by a hot engine bay. Bad stuff.

 

Well I have to disagree with you Peil. A intake tube is not just a intake tube. A ebay one will get you by for 40bux. But when you get into real intake such as AEM. They put countless hr.s into building the intake to crate the most power along with efficiently and the fitment is normally 100% on the dot. But if you take a no name intake vs. a name brand intake you will gain more in the high end every time. One of the civic forums by buddy is one they did this test on a dyno and I believe injen came out making the most amount of power throughout the entire power band. The non names (which every single one is not the same) where losseing low end and not making up for it up top.
For the everyday driver a ebay one is fine. But when you get into tuning. You want to fine tune every possible amount of power out of your engine. Sometimes the diff. brands can be the difference between 1-5hp. It just depends on how much time the company really put into designing the intake. All your name GOOD brand intakes are made to get the most out of that upgrade.
But I do agree on the driving habits. Also if you guys want to save even more gas look into hypermiling. Teaches you how to drive and save gas no matter what vehicle it is

 

Yeah that is why I excluded the heavily researched intakes like the V2 or Weapon-R's secret intake from the rest. But if you're going to just get a regular old 90 to 60 to 60 bent pipe, there's not a lot you can do for a pipe like that. If he's going to get into serious tuning I'd recommend something wholly different but it sounds like he'd just like to put an intake in for more or less the same reason I did; better look, better sound, better flow, and since I found it for half price new in box I couldn't pass it up. I went with AEM for reliability and I would recommend it to anyone who can afford it to save up for one or if you find one on sale ****** it up like I did.