Filter vs. Intake
 

I just got my 02 SS, and am trying to decide between just buying the cheap K&N Filter or dropping some money down on an intake system. I had a K&N FIPK on my 93 Z28 and loved it, made a cool sound, and you fealt a definite difference in performance, I supposed I picked up 10-15 horses or so. I'm not too familiar on Monte's so I was wondering how much power you should expect from an intake. And if it's really worth the money, I mean if I can pick up 5 horses off a filter, and 7 off an intake I'm obviously just going to buy the filter.

Basically is it worth spending 150+ on an intake, instead of just replacing the paper filter with a K&N? If so, what intakes are you guys recommending based on bang for your buck, and the best avaliable. I know this topic has been beaten to death, but I'm asking a different question then I've seen from my searches.

Thanks in Advance :-)

RE: Filter vs. Intake
 

The airbox is highly restrictive to say the least...

Pull your air box apart and you will see what I mean. I, along with others here have gutted our factory airboxes to get more airflow without spending an arm and a leg for a CAI kit that makes one heck of a difference in both sound and performance.

That being said, the K&N kit is pretty nice and will net you about the same gains as the gutted airbox.

RE: Filter vs. Intake
 

well alone its not really worth it, but it looks better than stock, and if add a bunch of other parts it will help out.

RE: Filter vs. Intake
 

most pre-made kits are just medaocer.... they may give a little bit of power your best bet for power is to make your own. not only will you see more power, but save $$$ too. my WWW has a good bit of pics and writups on cold air intakes that i have done to my car. a true cold air intake like a FWI will give you the most power.... there is still talk going around about a ram air intake.... but from research, you wont seem more then 1 psi from a ram air... and that is hardly worth the time, money, or risk of water injestion! there is little substitution for a good cold air intake... even the SC and turbo guys recognize the benifit of a CAI

RE: Filter vs. Intake
 

Has anyone seen/heard of those electric motor powered squirl cages pumping up airflow to the intake?


In theory, seems like it should work...

Streetfire had/has a video where they dynoed a ricer with a leaf blower attached to the intake that appeared to make a difference in HP. Keep in mind that I did say that this was done on a ricer car and very well could have been a bunch of BS...

RE: Filter vs. Intake
 

yep seen the video myself. the problem is the blower was powered by an AC outlet on the wall! so if you happend to power it from the car there would be addtional load on the alt. also check the dyno graph it does gain more power down low, but it kills the top end cause the blower still cant provide enough flow at high RPM. if there was a cheep way to make boost, it would have circled thru all the comunities by now. i am open to new ideas, but if it is cheep and claims big gains... its prob fake.

RE: Filter vs. Intake
 

I'm with z34 phoenix here. The Electric superchargers/turbos/gas savers that you see on ebay are just junk. They actually slow down the airflow going in. The best thing you can do is CAI,FWI, or gutted airbox. Then pick up a turbo for a NA engine - yes it costs, but the HP/$ ratio and reliability is worth it.