I made a thread on this earlier, wondering if I should install or not. I killed that thread to replace it with this one since I decided to go ahead.

I picked the intake up from MAP, great prices, fast shipping, arrived at my door in two days. I have a pretty high opinion of AEM, but was unsure if it would be a worthwhile upgrade at my power level: BBX Lite and supporting mods.


Here it is unboxed. I'm pretty happy with most everything, but had a what the heck moment when I saw the turbo inlet pipe. At first, I thought it was a stock piece. I started questioning if I even wanted to go ahead with the intake at this point, but figured I could pull out my stock box with K&N drop in and do a nice comparison.


I do think the inlet pipe is a little bit better than stock. It's shorter for one thing, and the diameter doesn't neck down in a couple spots like the stocker.


In the middle of the install, our 6 year old daughter decided to tell our 3 year old son to sit in his stroller and pulled the sun shade over his face. I couldn't help but snap a pic and include it in the write up.


New MAF pipe. I'm not too thrilled with the surface finish at the top of the mount, I almost thought it wouldn't sit in there flush, but it was fine once tightened down. It seems strange that AEM would replace the MAF pipe when it's the exact same diameter as stock, but it has more to do with fitment needs accomodated by its greater length. **Edit, just learned it's slightly larger than stock.

Most everything came together well, and good fitment was a result of orientation before buttoning everything down. The supplied instructions were _EXCELLENT_. They were step-by-step detailed with pictures and made everything drama free.


The one part of the install that wasn't great was how the snorkel fits into the AEM box. It's not tight at all like the stock opening, and wiggles around like crazy until everything is buttoned down. It doesn't effect performance, as the filter just sits in the box, and the snorkel feeds like stock. The play the snorkel has ended up working out, because it's tab would contact the cone filter if it were all the way inside. Some orientation might have worked that out a bit, but there was still no way for a nice, flush fitment like stock.

My tuner is Bryan (Razorlab), and he sent me a scaled and tweaked map specifically for the AEM to get started. He's a ninja, and it's pretty darn close on his first attempt. Drivability is fine, but my wideband and Evoscan aren't playing nice yet, I can see the readings on the WB's readout, but they aren't reporting to the logger. I need to get that sorted out, so there is more to come soon.

I have mixed feelings, but am interested for results to see how it compares to stock. Thanks for reading!

 

Nicely done, man! Plz let us know the hp and torq difference between this AEM and stock box with drop-in, thx!!

 

Shouldn't the turbo inlet pipe be a hard pipe? This is a huge reason why I'm on the fence about the AEM intake, does having a stock like pipe restrict performance?

 

it's nowhere NEAR as restrictive as the stock piece. it has ridges, yes, but not fully lined along it like the stock piece

I would have preferred a hard-pipe, but as-is, can handle anything a stock turbo can throw at it

the inlet design might have something to do with it's CARB legal-ness. I don't live in Cali so I have no idea what that entitles/requires

it's a damn good intake, which I emphasized plenty in the last thread and in my build thread (sig below), and best option for SST equipped Evo's for sure

 

According to Bryan, the MAF pipe diameter is slightly larger than stock. Sorry about that mistake. Corrected above.

 

I'm just wondering if a hardpipe will offer more of a performance benefit, something like the ETS setup. I don't doubt that the AEM is less restrictive than the stock pipe, just wondering about the hardpipe that's all. The AEM does seem to be a really good setup, i'll probably just flip a coin or something lol...thanks for the input

 

like I said, a hardpipe would of course be better. the only reason I can think of that AEM didn't use one is their unique CARB legality - which seems to be a big deal in Cali

but if you're comparing the AEM to the ETS, it's absolutely no contest - AEM.

 

I can't see your pics because of our work filter, but by snorkel, you mean the fake ram air thing in front of the air box? If it wiggles it's because you didn't pull off the foam piece around the stock air box. It's almost like a piece of weather stripping.

 

My stock box was plastic to plastic where the snorkel (yes, the fake ram scoop) went into the box. I'll look again more closely when I get home this afternoon. Thanks.

 

I installed this AEM intake about a month or so ago and for the money I'd say it's one of the better intakes on the market. Noize was spot on about it's flaws such as the MAF housing not fitting snug and the snorkel wiggle which I have to check as well since I probably didn't remove the foam either. I also replaced the AEM turbo inlet with the Perrin inlet tube since I had one laying around.

I also custom cut a piece of lexan to replace the filter cover like Zwampy did on his X:

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...e-my-spin.html

 

Hey Hudson,

AWDTerror is exactly right about the foam. I pulled mine and reinstalled on the snorkel itself, and it fits great.

I can't really comment on if it made power gains or not, because using virtual dyno with different roads and different weather conditions makes it a total crap shoot.

Still tuning and testing something unrelated.

 

PS- I want a lexan lid like crazy!

 

lol me too, but I'm too lazy/paranoid that I'd **** it up and not make it 100% flush and it would just have a tiny opening to pull hot engine-bay air

 

Awesome! Thanks for the heads-up.

It was very simple. I took the metal cover and traced it onto a piece of lexan and carefully cut it out with a chop saw. Then I wet sanded the edges until the fit was spot on and then drilled and recessed the holes. The whole process took me about 45 minutes and it adds a unique touch to the engine bay.

+1 to Zwampy for the idea.

 

I was a bit concerned as well but I kept an eye on my gauges and for the week I've had it on there have been no ill effects whatsoever.

The lexan I used was about double the thickness of the metal cover and so you're able to torque the five cover bolts down rather well and get a nice tight seal.