i'm not planning on doing a major mods to my car for a while, but i was debating between an intake, or just a filter upgrade. should i just get a K&N (if there is a better one, let me know) filter element, or should i go the route of a short ram intake?

rob

If your not going to be doing any other mods for while then just get a K&N drop in filter.

No reason in getting a CAI or short ram because you'd also have to get some kind of engine management so they don't lean out the car.

Originally posted by ugly


No reason in getting a CAI or short ram because you'd also have to get some kind of engine management so they don't lean out the car.

Not really true. Not all intakes lean the mixture out. The APS/Cobb intake is intentionally beefed up, and they note that you need a unichip to use the intake. The other common CAI's are the Injen and the AEM. These have infrequently caused people to get Lean Run Condition CEL's. And because I can't explain as well as this guy, I'll just quote him.

Originally posted by Conduit

Your "lean condition" is misleading and seems to imply that you are running the car lean in such a way to damage it by using an intake. That is complete pocky. The car might briefly run leaner under closed loop conditions, and I mean briefly, and it may leaner in open loop conditions by a small margin, but these cars run rich to the tune of 8:1-8.5:1 open loop with increased boost on stock turbos.


I will concur with ugly about not getting an intake, atleast not a CAI, only on a bang for buck basis though. On an otherwise stock WRX, you won't see nearly the gains you'd expect for $200. For $140, you will get decent gains(I did atleast) from intercooler hoses, plus increased reliability. Or $100-$175 can get you a lightweight or lightweight AND underdriven pulleys. I have a lightened only crank pully, and I felt gains across the board in every gear, and the motor revved more freely. For free, and only if you are confident in your honing/grinding/dremeling skills, you can knife-edge your throttle plate and throttle body lip, and feel decent(for a free mod) gains. I did this too, and the car breathed better in the upper rpms. Didn't seem to run out of breath. For ~$180, you can get an HKS downpipe, and see great gains, especially considering the price. You will have to sacrafice one cat, and you will probably get a Cat Inefficiency CEL, but you can get a fix for $20, or $5 in parts at radio shack. Or $150 you can get a 3rd cat eliminator, and see good gains, especially in torque.

I guess it would be prudent to tell you I do indeed have an intake, a Greddy Airinx shortram. I did get better throttle response and this too helped the car breath up top. What I see as the biggest benefit of this intake, and probably most other shortrams, is the increase in fun noises. I vowed I would never buy a BOV because I could hear my stock one so clearly. Turbo spool is much more obvious.

So, if nothing else, get a K&N, or better, a Unifilter dropin, and hack the bottom of your airbox off.

Tim

Just remove your silencer and you're set. An intake is just a visual mod in a WRX.

Didn't Shiv conduct a number of tests with and without the silencer and determine that a removed silencer results in more noise and a nominal reduction of horsepower?

Oh, and intake increases boost, too. Isn't that a good thing in conjunction with a boost controller and turboback exh?

Just remove the silencer and drop in a K & N

~v6

i removed the silencer already, but i don't think i've lost any horsepower due to it. i think i'm doin pretty good by running 14.4's in the 1/4 mile with a stock wagon. i think i'll just go with a filter and maybe some pulleys. that whole throtle grinding sounds a bit too risky for my unsteady hand.


thanx for the feedback
rob

Just go with a drop in... Either the K&N or the Green Filter (used on the Peugot WRC cars)

I went from consistant 14.4's to 13.6's with an MBC, air filter and silencer mod.

Best bang for the buck mods you can do.

Do a little research on the do's and donts of having an MBC and it will be as reliable as any other setup imho.

~v6

what kind of MBC do you have?

rob

Originally posted by djwrx
Not really true. Not all intakes lean the mixture out.
Tim I agree. I actually have an AEM CAI and have noticed a few small gains, and never had any problems with it.

V6turboTA


did you leave the boost solenoid conected an installed the mbc in the line off the compresor?, many guys disconnect the solenoid but I don't feel like is safe...
how much boost did you set it at ?

Originally posted by ugly

Originally posted by djwrx
Not really true. Not all intakes lean the mixture out.
Tim

I agree. I actually have an AEM CAI and have noticed a few small gains, and never had any problems with it.

That is true... the only one I've heard of this situation was the version 1 of the Blitz SUS (fixed a long time ago)... I noticed when I added a short ram I had to turn down my boost a couple of pounds... but my spool-up took longer... so not sure if it gains that much... sounds cool and looks cool though.

get a cold air intake. makes your car sound cool and thats about it. dont expect mind blowing power from any small mods, but they are good to have with larger mods.

If it's a WRX, there's no need for an intake. It's been dyno proven that there will be little to no power increase from between an intake, and removing your stock silencer.

If you do not intend to go far with the mods stick in a K+N Pannel filter and retain the stock "silencer" which in fact is a resonator box.
Fitting an APS cold air kit and relying on the ECU and MAF Sensor cost me an engine inside 10 mls. At the time I had made no attempt and had no means of A/F adjustment. I compounded the situation by removing the bumble bee mesh in front of the MAF unit in the belief it would improve air flow which it certainly did.

(No.2 piston picked up the bore) Subsequently I fitted a Link and junked the MAF Sensor for good so this is no longer an issue.

Originally posted by Lobster Man
If it's a WRX, there's no need for an intake. It's been dyno proven that there will be little to no power increase from between an intake, and removing your stock silencer.
That's what I've heard too, but technically how come? I never understood why. Can you enlighten me LobsterMan? (btw you ever watch Spongbob Squarepants? There's a bodybuilding lobster in a speedo on the show :D )

I say get a drop in K&N, remove the silencer, keep the front air snorkel, and replace the accordian(spl?) right after the air mass sensor with that aluminum pipe from Zerosports. There is no need for a fancy-dancy intake system on a turbo car. Watch Best motoring's test of the Mine's R34 Skyline with the STOCK intake. Dori-san was scared to drive it.:D

-scu