Prelude fresh air intakes do they work?

I'm thinking of buying one of those freah air intakes for my 1991 Prelude
and wonder if anyone has knowledge about if they work at all?

 

I got a noticable increase in power with my Integra CAI.
Honda Tuning Magazine did testing of short rams,CAIs last year,both flow
bench and dyno on an RSX-S and the CAIs gave a 20 hp increase.

the intake NOISE level increaes dramatically,too.

 

The RSX did gain almost 20hp, however it is a special case, because the
stock intake was extremely restrictive. I haven't read the actual
article, but I think it was the base model, not the RXS-s. My 5th gen
Prelude would not benefit much from a CAI, since it doesn't increase the
power by more than 5hp.

The point is untill you dyno your car you won't know for certain how
much hp you gained from a CAI. In some cases the increased noise might
make the car feel faster, when in reality it may be almost the same.

Cosmin

 

I'm mainly looking for more miles per gallon than outright power.
Any noticable improvements found out there?

 

If you install a cai, your car will be less fuel efficient.

Cosmin

 

Oh please, do explain.

 

I believe you are right about the stock RSX.

What makes you think the Prelude's stock intake is not as restrictive as
the Integra's?

It might be even more restrictive;larger displacement of the 2.0 L Prelude
compared to the 1.8L of the GSR.

In referring to my noticeable increase in power,I refer to the seat-of-the-
pants feel of accelleration,not noise.

 

Then pay attention to tire inflation and driving style.
Feather-foot it.Narrower,harder tires get better mileage.

The intended use of CAIs are for more power,not fuel economy.

 

he has to mean the psycological experience of getting less gas mileage. You
know, the one where you bolt on HP and then you feel you have to drag race
from light to light. The constant mashing of the accelerator will surely
cause poor gas mileage!!!

 

Yes they definitely work, my boyfriend used to work in a performance shop.
The best is using a cold air intake, preferably by AEM. If not then just a
short ram intake will be good. Adds horsepower.

 

I put a short ram intake on my 2000 Civic SiR and didn't really notice much
other then major increase in noise... but i must say that I really like the
new sound, exspecially when VTEC kicks in. It scares the hell out of
people.

 

When Honda Tuning Magazine did flow bench and dyno tests on an RSX and
several short rams and 2 cold air intakes,they found the short rams to have
~5-7 hp increases,negligible torque increases,but both CAIs had 20 hp
increases,and slight torque increases.
Incoming air temp has a large effect on power.

 

that just makes me want a CAI now

 

I just noticed your reply to my post. I said a CAI would make the car
less fuel efficient because it allows more air into the engine. Since
the mixture ratio should be constant, it makes sense that there should
be more gas going into the engine as well. if only the air intake would
increase but the gas would stay the same the car would run lean.

If this reasoning is wrong, please correct me.

Cosmin

 

More air + more fuel= more power,thus less throttle needed.
You may get more volumetric efficiency,too.

This may be offset by the tendency to USE the extra power.(leadfoot effect)