My CAI vs RAI experiance Options

[Bigmeanbulldog55]

I've had a few different systems or air intakes on my car throughout the years. And I just thought I would give a little write up on my experiance. Everyone seems to think that the CAI is the best. I thought this too. I've had a CAI on my car for quite awhile, and decided to go to RAI just to be doing. When I switched, I noticed a nice gain on the bottem. I'm not sure if I would get the same numbers up top as I would with a CAI, but the RAI showed good response. I didn't think that shortening the pipe would really help this out, but it really does. The pipe length is about 1/2 what it was with the CAI. I'm going to try and cut it and put the filter as close to the throttle body as possable to see how it responds. With all the air moving through the motor at speed, who is to say the RAI style wouldn't pick up some fresher air, or at least not as hot of air as it would if it was ran at a stand still.

This post has been edited by Bigmeanbulldog55: Oct 1, 2006 - 5:10 PM

[sinner96ST]

short ram on my 96 ST resulted in :

****ty gas mileage
loud, obnoxious sound after i got over the idea of having an intake
bogging down in hot weather

a CAI wouldn't really make any difference, either, in my opinion.

save up your $$$ and just turbo the motor.

i love seeing people on this site nickel & dime their way in to gaining 2-3hp at most and spending hundreds of dollars doing so. why bother even spending $30 on some 2" intake tube and a cone filter when the stock airbox does just fine? you're paying for noise, not performance.

turbo, swap, or spray. those are the three options. anything else will just leech money out of your wallet and make you *think* you've gained horsepower, when in fact, you've just gained a louder intake/exhaust note.