Sorry if this has been discussed already, but I couldn't find anything in these forums on this subject. Thinking about upgrading my stock intake on my IX, but also wondering about heat issues under the hood:

1. heat soak on the metal piping for a short ram cone intake. Stock piping is plastic, which conducts less heat. Is hard metal piping better, even though it conducts heat?
2. lots of hot air being sucked into the cone intake, as opposed to the little cold air being sucked through a crack under the hood for the stock intake. Which way is better?

I was thinking, the only way to resolve this question is to put on an intake without any other mods, and do a before and after dyno pull. Has this been done? Everywhere I look, dyno pulls are always done after multiple mods, so it's hard to say which mod did what. It would be great if someone (a magazine maybe) put in a whole set of mods, but did a dyno pull after each individual step. Probably too much time, hassle, and expense for a private individual to do, but that's what we pay money to read in the mags, right?

 

the reason people dont do a dyno pull right after they install an intake is because you need to get tuned for it, so they wait till after they put on a bunch of mods at once to get a tune so they dont have to keep getting tuned.

and everyone on the forum is gonna tell u to keep the stock airbox and put in a drop-in filter. i prefer the cone intake and went straight to that so that i wouldnt have to buy a filter and then a whole other intake after that. its ur preference, but dont drive the car with a new intake and no tune

 

You couldn't find anything on this topic???? It's the 2nd most discussed topic on the whole forum right behind ricer BOVs.

The solid MAF pipe doesn't help, and an intake throws off the MAF readings quite a bit. It can be tuned out and can make a little power, but it's somewhat negated by sucking in hot air all the time.

 

Not sure if it will make the car faster on the road, but you will get higher dyno numbers with an intake after you get tuned for it. As far as sound, I hate intake sound and that is the only reason I do not have one yet.

You might also want to search for stock box mod - it gives an insight to temp / pressure differences measured by some members when you modify the stock box with an additional air inlet on the side or top.

To cut it short - if you dont mind spending the money and do not mind intake sound, I would just say go for it - however install it right before you get a tune. Otherwise, it might cause your car to run lean

 

i would put a filter and adapter in place of the box...

thats what i did... got it from ams it was 50-60 dont remember

 

I have the Vibrant cone air filter + MAF adapter, which was dyno tested before and after by itself (by SlowBoy Racing) to show gains of 9whp/5wtq. No idle problems either; it's like $60...

provides all the "whoosh" you could hope for...

 

4 Wheel Slide, that's a nice trap speed you got there...

Still stock turbo + alky?

 

+1 on this, i installed and ran a 1k miles with no probs.

 

ok, so what I'm reading is that the cone vs stock intake is pretty much a wash, due to the hot air negating most of the power gains from higher air flow. But one exception could be the Vibrant cone filter & MAF adapter, which provides 9whp gain. I'm not sure if 9 whp is worth it to me, so I'm going to mull it over some more. I'm assuming that most of the stage 1 power gains that people get come from a new TBE?

Here is a side issue. While inspecting the airway into the stock airbox, I noticed there is foam-rubber weatherstripping on the underside of the hood lid. I'm guessing it's there to keep out water, but I've also noticed that the weatherstripping almost completely blocks the air inlet on the stock intake when the hood is closed. What I have done is cut away an 8 inch section of the weatherstripping that blocks the inlet. The air path still goes through a narrow crack underneath the hood, but at least even that part of it is not blocked off by weatherstripping. It could be my imagination, but the car now seems to have more power at the higher rpm's. Has anyone noticed this too? And will I have water problems when I drive in heavy rain, or any other problems from cutting away that foam?

 

It's already been done with Stage 1 mods on the Evo IX by Mike Huml? of SlowBoy Racing.

The 3" downpipe and test pipe made most of the power (besides the tune) of the Stage 1 mods; next was the cone filter with 9whp. Last was upgrading the stock catback (This was the first upgraded exhaust part that they tested) = 3whp/3wtq. I always find it funny when people want to go out and spend over a $1000 on the damn catback, but wait to upgrade the downpipe or test pipe...

There are a couple guys on here well into the 11's on stock turbo with the stock catback still on...

 

I used the BR intake & filter. I retained the stock airbox snorkel and a piece of 3" dryer ducting to route cold air into the filter. I used a black vinyl square duct vent , cut to fit over the intake & filter(even comes with a rubber seal around the opening to seal against the intake pipe), I fabricated a side flap that seals against the battery, hot air is now a thing of the past!
It cost me less than $15.00. I used black zip ties to secure everything nicely. I now have cold air drawing in from the stock cold air location and also from the lower left grill area. Works great & well worth it, IMO.

 

+1

 

I highly doubt that a decent catback will give 3hp when an intake can give 9hp. But if you really believe it, go ahead and leave the stock catback on and put an intake

 

I've been torn over this as well, guess I'll look into stock air box mods.

 

I too can't decide if I should switch to a vibrant cone filter and maf adaptor. Only $40 for both. It retains the stock snorkel so tuning shouldn't be hard.