Comparison - Injen Short Ram PLUS Extension

I am having a hard time trying to decide which intake is best for my 96
Civic. I live in Canada and we got some bad winters so I'm looking at
the Injen IS Short Ram and getting the CAI extension for it which I can
use during the summer and take off in the winter. I'm not planning to
go racing (yet), I just want to have better acceleration and power in
the low to mid-range area. How does would this setup (the short ram
with the CAI extension on) compare to the AEM CAI or the Injen RD CAI
in terms of power. Would it be better if I just get the AEM CAI with
the bypass? I heard that Injen is better than AEM in terms of power but
is that the Injen RD and not the IS?
Thanks a lot!

-dre

 

I have the AEM short ram on mine and am quite pleased with it. It's loud
as hell when Vtec kicks in, louder then the exhaust. I had a regular CAI
at one point but, the risks of trashing the motor while driving in the
rain made me too nervous. You get into a heavy rain and your butt puckers
every time you get near a puddle. Every splash could be your last.

As for power gain, you're not going to notice any. It'll sound faster
but, measurement wise, it's probably unnoticable. What engine do you
have?

You know that underhood temps while moving down the road are about the
same as ambient. This means both the short RAM and CAI draw in about the
same temp air when you're moving down the road. When you're sitting still
it might be cooler but, even that's hard to say unless the CAI is
insulated all the to the throttle body.

 

Hey thanks for your reply.
I have a Civic LX, so it's a 1.6L SOHC, it's not a VTEC.
I got a reply from some guy telling me that on a stock engine, intakes
(SRI or CAI) will actually lower HP. Too bad I already got a good deal
on an Injen SRI.
My car won't be stock for long anyway the way I'm spending money on it.
Slowly but surely it'll be faster.

 

Andre- I have the same car you do. Don't waste your money trying to make
it faster. If you want to do anything to it, I recommend suspension. It
will handle very well with the right parts. The D16(your engine) DOES
NOT respond to bolt ons AT ALL. You will regret putting any money into
the engine. Unless you are rich or something and you're going to
rebuild and turbo it, don't do anything.

Here's an ideal suspension setup:

15 inch lightweight wheels such as Rota.
some good tires like Falken Azenis or something.
Koni yellows and H&R Sport or some good coilovers like Omni power(entry
level) NOT APC, dropzone, etc.
A good rear sway bar like ITR 22mm(with bracing) or a smaller one like
15-19mm.
Front chassis under brace.
There are other things as well, but with those mods the car will out
handle alot of higher level cars.

If you really want to do engine mods, then here are some pretty cheap
ones. Keep in mind all this will only net you about 30hp at the most.
Y8 (Civic EX) intake manifold and larger throttle body
EX header, and aftermarket High flow cat. ]
A good, quiet exhaust like Apex WS2 or RSR ExMag.( Trust me a loud
exhaust gets very annoying, and doesnt add any power)

Sorry for the long post, but I dont want you to go through what I did,
the frustration of money spent for nothing.

 

Yeah, I agree with you. Typical bolt on engine parts make next to no
difference in power. If I was going to hop up a D16, the cheapest way to
do it and make real power would be a turbo kit. A turbo kit is cheaper
than an engine swap.

I like the looks of the short RAM just as I like the looks my AEM fuel
rail and fuel pressure regulator. I consider them more "engine dressup"
than performance parts.

 

and there we have it. increased risk of engine damage, reduced engine
life due to increased contaminant ingestion, and zero payback? doesn't
seem like a good idea to me. add to that the fact that by excluding the
*resonator* [it's not there just to quiet the system], some rev ranges
are not getting their required "dynamic supercharge", and you have a
really bad idea imo.

 

In my case there is no stock air cleaner that will mate up to my 98 hatch
with the B18C5 so, the short RAM's what you make do with. It's pretty
too. I'm also not convinced that the stock paper element is any better
than my oil impregnated K&N. I'll probably be in the same boat when I buy
a K20A next year.

If the original poster wants to make power, one of the best way's is to
swap an Integra LS motor in. All the swap parts you need are available
from Honda. You don't actually need that much if you're handy. Rear motor
bracket mount needs to change You'll need a Civic SI driver's side mount
bracket.

As a side note, you know that K&N is doing away with the oil impregnated
filters? People were putting on the K&N's and destroying their Mass
Airflow Sensors (MAF) by having too much oil on the filter. Oil and MAF's
don't mix apparently.

Luckily, I don't think any honda uses a MAF.

 

ho hum. check out tegger's faq's on air filters. read something like
the bosch automotive handbook for reasons on why keeping the resonator
is a good thing. should be in your local library.

does that affect air filtration???

depends on type of air flow sensor. if it's heated wire/element, it's
dust accumulation because k&n's don't filter very effectively. if it's
sprung butterfly [bosch] type, it'll make no difference. and it's got
nothing to do with oil - heated wire/element types are over-heated at
either startup or shutdown to burn organics off. can't burn off the
silica-type dust accumulations tho.

i think you mean amf, not maf. amf is air-mass flow. honda uses map, a
manifold air pressure sensor and measures differential between that and
another sensor in the passenger compartment. a lousy filter will make
no difference until the manifold sensor hole gets clogged, but the
engine will be dead long before that occurs.

 

No, I mean MAF, you know heated platinum wire and all? Maybe you're
thinking about the air flow meters they used on Miata's and some other
cars. I know honda's are speed/density. MAF sensors are destroyed if you
get oil on them. Since K&N's require oil, people were/are damaging MAF
sensors when they installed the K&N's.

Read the article, interesting enough. Unless I missed it they didn't
describe how they prepped the K&N. I'm willing to believe though that the
K&N doesn't filter as well as the paper element. So, if I only get 80K on
the motor instead of 120k, well that's the cost I guess. Won't be my car
(or that motor) at that point so, I'll let the next guy worry about it.

 

Thanks alphalanos for this reply. Definitely gave me something to think
about. More constructive than any other post I've received.

I was thinking about the wheels already and surprisingly I was looking
at Rota as well, the Subzeros. You recommended the 15, why not the 16?
too heavy I'm guessin? As for the coilovers, how low do you recommended
that I go? just the sport level? the one that lowers 1.7" and 1.5" in
front or something.

I'll start looking at performance exhausts as well. Unfortunately I
already got an Injen SRI, maybe I'll just put it on for looks.

Thanks again.

-dre

 

Basically any engine change you make, other than going force induction,
turbo or super, will only be cosmetic at best. You may get more
horsepower or you may hurt your horsepower. Some changes will reduce the
weight of the car, like switching to a header. Do you think you can
actually feel 8-10 HP? I'm not sure sure I can.

Look at the Kosei K-1's. They're a nice light wheel. Rota's a nice too
though. Buddy has them on his hatch.

Do you care about how the car rides? The taller the wheel, the thinner
the tire so, you have reduced ride quality. On my 15's I use a 50 series
tire (205x50R15) . Still rides pretty well and the sidewalls are stiffer.
On a 16 or 17, you're getting might thin. I believe the 17's require a 35
series tire profile which is damn thin.

If you intend to upgrade your brakes some day though, most aftermarket
brakes, like Brembo's or Baer require 17" wheels to clear the calipers.
My brakes which are Integra brakes on my civic are not big enough for
track use. With R compound tires, I couldn't lock them up if my life
depended on it (no ABS).

For coilovers, one of the most common setups is, Ground Control springs
and perches mated to Koni yellow shocks. You can set the drop to anything
you want because each coilover is adjustable. I'm dropped so the tires
are just about at fender level. I don't want to compromise suspension
travel. If you start riding the bump stops on fast corners, the car gets
pretty twitchy. Nice thing about the GC setup is you can tailor the
spring rates to whatever you want up to about 550 lbs/in (Koni limit).

 

Thanks for your reply Dufus,

I am thinking about changing my stock shocks because they're getting
squeaky, I dunno if it's the shocks or the springs. I'll definitely
looking into the Ground Control/Koni combo. What do you think about
Kyb/Tokico shocks, and Omni Power springs/Eibach? I'm just trying to
consider other good combinations. What do you recommend for a camber
kit? Thanks.