Very interested in Vishnu ECU reflash! Talked to them on 12/27 and was told all mods OK, except after-market intakes [cold or otherwise]. Offered to drive to P-Town and be dynoed. Told: "All intakes do more harm than good, no intakes period'. I have one mod,{beside Greddy exhaust}, and, as luck would have it, it's an AEM cool air intake. Very happy with it! Cool,dense air, laminar flow, 7HP vs. stock thru powerband; what's not to like? Why the caveat on intakes? Intuition screams; "Lack of empirical data with assorted after-market intakes vs. other mods{up-pipes, down-pipes, exhausts.etc.} Is this the case, or are there real, valid detractions re: intakes? Shiv. would welcome your input. any anyone else's? Respect Vishnu, and really hope this is'nt bourne out of economic expedience. Respectively submitted, Collins

 

scoobiesnacks, I did get one opinion two days ago on a prior thread I posted. As to answering the question, no, it really didn't. Would really like to get a cogent explanation from Vishnu, if possible. Thanks, Collins

 

If intakes are so harmful, then explain why the top tuner WRXs in Japan and Australia are all using pod intakes? I agree that cold air intake is a waste, but a good pod filter like a Blitz SUS or a MRT Ram Pod is not a waste of money, and can provide some gains.

 

Some people think Intakes look great.
Others like the noise they make -- A stock WRX grunts more and you can hear the stock BOV.

With Turbos, intakes aren't as critical for resonance charging (like non-forced induction). I have an AEM Cold air on '02 WRX and am thinking about re-installing the stock air box.

Tweaking my UTEC will out-do any power the intake can make

 

I am going to guess that the reason Shiv is stating no intakes is because the MAF sensor housing on the intakes is not exactly the same size as the stock housing. This skews the MAF readings across the board. He also understands that an intake is not needed and will not give you any power over a stock airbox. In short, Shiv can gaurentee a better running car that is consistant while making more power with the stock box in place.

The reason intakes make power on the WRX in certain cases is because the MAF housing is larger and this tells the ECU you are flowing less air. As a result the ECU injects a bit less fuel and your AF's lean out. Since the WRX's stock ECU is very rich in the 10 to 1 or even 9 to 1 range at WOT even a small change toward the leaning out the AF makes power.

As "thebob" pointed out below. That power you gained can be had with the stock intake if you had some form of engine management to tune the car. This is what Shiv is doing with the Chip (among many other things) but alot of the power comes from a leaner optimized AF curve.

I know you like your intake and thats cool man.. Run it. But the facts are that I have run in the 11's with a stock airbox and I have run low 12's with no nitrous making 400+hp all on a stock airbox. I have run the AEM intake and made no more power and my times did not drop. I am currently listed as #2 on the 1/4 mile registry and #3 on the 1/4 mile registry for nitrous and turbo.

After hearing Nathan at Turboxs say "most of the high hp cars we tune happen to have a stock airbox" only confirms that.

Back when I ran the AEM Shiv flew out and tuned my car and told me point blank to remove it back then and that was over a year ago.

hope this explains things.

Clark

 

Thank you very much for this info. It all makes sense, even with my limited tuner knowledge. Really wanted to believe that intake was OK for Shiv's reflash, but hopes have now really waned. Naturally, I junked my stock intake. Never thought I'd need it again. Oh Well, guess I'll plant myself in the customer lounge of local Suby dealership, do my best imitation of an AEM rep, and bilk, I meant swap, for stock intake from new rex owner. As I mentioned before, would like to start Shiv's performance upgrade path. Again, thanks for your info. Collins

 

No problem man. I think you made a wise choice. Post an add in the wanted forums for a stock airbox and snorkel. Offer a trade in the buy classifieds for your AEM. Someone probably wants it. They work ok if you have something that is tuned for them so they are not useless.. Just not going to help...

Clark