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Cold Air Intake Worth It

AXO

AXO

Go Kart Champion
I know different vendors claim huge gains by installing their Cold Air Intakes.

My question: Has anyone conducted a comparison with real life dyno results?

I would suspect by installing a CAI by it's self, you would loose HorsePower and Torque.

I can't imagine that any of these Cold Air Intakes would have better results then just installing a Free Flowing dropin Filter in your stock airbox.
 
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M

mark986

Ready to race!
A intake alone won't show significant improvements to HP and Torque. You will notice a slight difference. Bigger gains will be noticed combined with a tune or downpipe. There are plenty of options for you to choose from in terms of intakes. Search the forums and you will see. APR is on the higher scale of price due to it being carbon fiber, great quality and their R&D.
 
M

mk6fan

Ready to race!
In my opinion... No, unless you're going with a full setup (tune, dp, etc.).

Best bang for buck is still Stage 1.
 
Uberryan

Uberryan

Banned
Like above, short answer no, long detailed answer... ehh maybe.
 
BigRobSA

BigRobSA

Ready to race!
No, not on stock tune. Although on a tuned vehicle, I saw the dyno results (before/after) of installing a Forge TwinTake: +16hp, I forget the tq. But Forge was claiming +17, so it basically duplicates their findings.
 
Modshack1

Modshack1

Go Kart Champion
AXO said:
I can't imagine that any of these Cold Air Intakes would have better results then just installing a Free Flowing dropin Filter.
Click to expand...


On the contrary, one of the biggest jobs of the stock airbox is noise control. The convoluted shape and the air path through the box will not be helped by the very slight reduction in flow between a stock and aftermarket drop in.

The biggest restriction is in the design. The air has to change directions 6 times before it gets to the MAF. Most aftermarket CAI or systems reduce this to one (or NONE as in my VTDA). Efficiency, smoothness and potential for restriction and turbulence are ALL improved with most systems. How much horsepower any make can be argued but most all will show some improvements there.
 
T

TheCastle

Ready to race!
AXO said:
I know different vendors claim huge gains by installing their Cold Air Intake.

My question has anyone conducted a comparison with true dyno results?

I would suspect installing a CAI by it's self you would loose HorsePower and Torque. I can't imagine that any of these Cold Air Intakes would have better results then just installing a Free Flowing dropin Filter.
Click to expand...

If your talking about a tuned Stage 1 CAR The only comparison I've seen was on an FSI car which showed about 4 hp. http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?3437465 Though the carbonio flows significantly better than the stock intake, as far as i can tell the stock intake isn't really much of a restriction for the K03 turbo. After the tune what limits performance is the flow rate/efficiency of the K03 turbo not intake.

Here is another comparison http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4437882



Bottom line, is that an intake won't do very much for this car. The stock airbox with the stock turbo isn't that restrictive. Replacing the airbox will net you a few extra HP, but you have to decide if 3-6 wheel hp is worth $285.

Stage II again will net a few more HP about 15 hp with intake for $1200, not much of an upgrade. The best bang for the buck of course is Stage I.
 
R

Red2011GTI

Go Kart Champion
Like everyone else has said go Sage I first. I added the intake first because the tune was not available yet and there was very little if any difference on the stock tune.
 
AXO

AXO

Go Kart Champion
I was always under the impression that a sealed airbox will pressurizes at top speed creating more HP/TQ. These open type air intakes can't pressurize.

I know that Turbo motors create alot of heat which would create hotter air intake ambient temperatures. I just cant understand how Vendors are able to get away with advertising these false HP and TQ gains. 10HP/10TQ gain from just a CAI is outragous!

Nowhere in their advertisements does it state that these gains are along with an aftermarket exhaust and a tune.

What kind of gains does just a Stage 1 tune give you?
 
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Modshack1

Modshack1

Go Kart Champion
AXO said:
I was always under the impression that a sealed airbox will pressurizes at top speed creating more HP/TQ. These open type air intakes can't pressurize.
Click to expand...

The stock airbox is not pressurized... The grill vent passes air right through the vent box. It's open to the rear. Air is sucked up from this stream into the system. I've built both pressurized and non-pressurized intakes. The ram effect is really negligible and while it may reduce restrictions inherent in a particular design slightly, it's not enough (by my measurements) to actually make any significant (if any) difference.

On HP, manufacturers make claims. Some may be legit, some not.

On stage 1 hp, check each of the tuners sites for their individual claims. Figure 50hp or so as an average. This is mostly accomplished with boost pressure increases, and the necessary fuel and timing changes to accommodate this.
 
T

TheCastle

Ready to race!
Pretty much, think of things this way, there is a good thread on this topic....

ECU tune will give you the most performance bang for the buck. For $599 On sale you will gain a real ~ 40-50 crank HP, and 60-80lb-ft of torque.

Next up is going to a K04 turbo, even with stock in take and exhaust for $2499 you will be pushing about 335crank hp and 300+lb/ft.

http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28933

Basically either tune it or, upgrade the turbo and tune it. The intake's and exhausts due more for looks and sound than any real difference in performance. Its not till you go to a bigger turbo that the intake and exhaust start to make much of a difference.

There is also some possibility that the upgraded intakes will shorten engine life as they typically increase air flow by decreasing the pressure drop across the filter. There are two ways to decrease pressure drop, reduce filtration or increase surface area of the filters. Most of the aftermarket cone filters have far fewer pleats than the stock air filter, indicating though not proven by my measurements a reduced surface area. So the aftermarket filters most likely reduce pressure drops by decreasing filtration, that is allowing smaller particales to pass through unfiltered due to larger holes in the filter media. So unless your going with a bigger turbo, I say go with a tune, and skip an intake.
 
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