Advantages of aftermarket intake

Beansley

Senior Member
First Name
Ben
Joined
Dec 17, 2018
Threads
5
Messages
199
Reaction score
145
Location
Ohio
Vehicle(s)
2018 Civic Hatchback Sport Touring
Country flag
Hi all

I've been stalking and asking a lot of questions lately. Been having fun doing small easy upgrades and maybe having too much fun.

I think the next easier upgrade I am thinking about getting is an CAI. Specifically the 27won. From my understanding seems like the safest bet without worrying about hydrolocking etc. My car is street parked so water is a concern sometimes.

My main question is, for someone who is not racing their car, doesn't monitor anything, keeps up with regular maintenance, is there anything I have to worry about, monitor? Is there any advantages or disadvantages in getting one or would be sticking to what I have be a better option for me?

I just have a Greddy Sp supreme exhaust and a ktuner at 21 psi.

Thanks!
Sponsored

 

ZephyrFlash

Senior Member
First Name
Mark
Joined
Oct 17, 2017
Threads
5
Messages
230
Reaction score
208
Location
Portland
Vehicle(s)
2017 Honda Civic Coupe Touring
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
Hi all

I've been stalking and asking a lot of questions lately. Been having fun doing small easy upgrades and maybe having too much fun.

I think the next easier upgrade I am thinking about getting is an CAI. Specifically the 27won. From my understanding seems like the safest bet without worrying about hydrolocking etc. My car is street parked so water is a concern sometimes.

My main question is, for someone who is not racing their car, doesn't monitor anything, keeps up with regular maintenance, is there anything I have to worry about, monitor? Is there any advantages or disadvantages in getting one or would be sticking to what I have be a better option for me?

I just have a Greddy Sp supreme exhaust and a ktuner at 21 psi.

Thanks!
I've got the 27Won Intake and I love it - nothing really that you'll need to worry about. The great thing with 27Won's Intake is that when you do need to do any filter maintenance it's right there at the top and easily accessible.

It's drop in too so no need to tune your car after you install.

Hope this helps!
 

fenix-silver

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2018
Threads
27
Messages
1,184
Reaction score
968
Location
Central PA
Vehicle(s)
2019 Si
Country flag
Regardless of which intake you go with, you should monitor your long-term fuel trim to make sure it is still around 0%. If it swings wildly + or -, either the MAF needs rescaled (unlikely w/ a well designed intake) or you have an intake leak somewhere.
 
OP
OP
Beansley

Beansley

Senior Member
First Name
Ben
Joined
Dec 17, 2018
Threads
5
Messages
199
Reaction score
145
Location
Ohio
Vehicle(s)
2018 Civic Hatchback Sport Touring
Country flag
Regardless of which intake you go with, you should monitor your long-term fuel trim to make sure it is still around 0%. If it swings wildly + or -, either the MAF needs rescaled (unlikely w/ a well designed intake) or you have an intake leak somewhere.
Pardon my ignorance but even a quick googling doesn't give me easily accessible results. How would I easily monitor my fuel trim?
 

Hollywoo0220

Customer Service oriented (most of the time) :-)
First Name
RJ
Joined
Feb 10, 2019
Threads
5
Messages
744
Reaction score
524
Location
WA
Vehicle(s)
Dihatsu Charade, BMW, Various Hondas, Focus ST, and VW GTI
Country flag
Drop in a High Flow air filter and keep the stock box - spend that CAI $ on an upgraded IC. The Mishimoto is $200 more than the intake.....you will benefit far more from that than a swooshy sound.

27May’19
Actually, if you went to edgeautosport.com and took advantage of their 10% Memorial Day sale - you would be only $124 more for a sweet IC + FREE SHIPPING.
 
Last edited:


gtman

Senior Member
First Name
Mitch
Joined
Oct 27, 2015
Threads
328
Messages
16,671
Reaction score
24,356
Location
USA
Website
www.civicx.com
Vehicle(s)
2017 Cosmic Blue EX-L Sedan
Vehicle Showcase
2
Regardless of which intake you go with, you sshould monitor your long-term fuel trim to make sure it is still around 0%. If it swings wildly + or -, either the MAF needs rescaled (unlikely w/ a w edesigned intake) or you have an intake leak somewhere.
In a perfect world, 0 is the ideal, no doubt. But in reality, + or - 3% is more than acceptable.

Pardon my ignorance but even a quick googling doesn't give me easily accessible results. How would I easily monitor my fuel trim?
A tuning device like Hondata or Ktuner gives you easy access to those numbers. For basic info on fuel trims, here's a great article by 27Won:

https://www.27won.com/blog/yeah-but-what-are-your-fuel-trims
 
OP
OP
Beansley

Beansley

Senior Member
First Name
Ben
Joined
Dec 17, 2018
Threads
5
Messages
199
Reaction score
145
Location
Ohio
Vehicle(s)
2018 Civic Hatchback Sport Touring
Country flag
Drop in a High Flow air filter and keep the stock box - spend that CAI $ on an upgraded IC. The Mishimoto is $200 more than the intake.....you will benefit far more from that than a swooshy sound.
What kind of advantages does a IC offer? Also can you recommend a good drop in filter?

Thanks all!
 

r.camlin

Senior Member
First Name
Rob
Joined
Apr 26, 2019
Threads
40
Messages
397
Reaction score
243
Location
New Jersey
Vehicle(s)
2019 Civic Hatchback Sport
Country flag
What kind of advantages does a IC offer? Also can you recommend a good drop in filter?

Thanks all!
The intercooler is what cools the charged air after the turbo. That's the air that's actually getting to your engine.

Getting cold air or more flow into the turbo is nice. Colder, more oxygen rich air will never be a bad thing. But no matter what, the air post-turbo will be hot as a result of the compression it experiences from the turbo. So you will still need an efficient and effective way to cool that charged air (again) before it gets to the engine, which is where an intercooler comes into play. Some aftermarket intercoilers may be better at cooling the charged air than the stock intercooler. The colder you can get the air at any step in its journey, the better. Cold air = denser, more oxygen rich, more efficient, more capable of yielding power gain, healthier for the car.

Also I've heard great things about the PRL stage 1 intake setup, which is just a drop in filter and better tube.
 

Hollywoo0220

Customer Service oriented (most of the time) :-)
First Name
RJ
Joined
Feb 10, 2019
Threads
5
Messages
744
Reaction score
524
Location
WA
Vehicle(s)
Dihatsu Charade, BMW, Various Hondas, Focus ST, and VW GTI
Country flag
What kind of advantages does a IC offer? Also can you recommend a good drop in filter?

Thanks all!
A simple K&N would work just fine. If you are overly concerned about oiled filters, just spray some compressed air through it or leave it out in the sun for a 1/2 day.
r.camlin (previous post) pretty much discussed the advantages of an Intercooler upgrade. I believe you are utilizing one of the tuning hardware available? If so, and you are running the higher PSI maps - then you certainly will benefit from better IAT2 temps and have strong/steady combustion while at play.
 

FLOPPER

Senior Member
First Name
Thomas
Joined
Jan 27, 2018
Threads
2
Messages
160
Reaction score
102
Location
DFW
Vehicle(s)
2017 Civic LX 6MT
Country flag
The AFE dry flow filter is really good and you don't have to worry about potential issues with oil.

If you're looking to do a small upgrade that lowers intake temps at a fraction of the price of an intake, get a honeycomb grille.

If you want an easy upgrade that's not "small" in the results department--get a flex fuel kit. The bang for the buck is astounding.
 


Ack Jr.

Member
First Name
James
Joined
Sep 21, 2016
Threads
0
Messages
43
Reaction score
14
Location
Centreville, VA
Vehicle(s)
2018 Civic SPORT CVT
Country flag
I got the stage1 PRL setup. It's a great option for the price and obvious facts that the intake isn't going to give you THAT significant a gain. I got a noticeable boost in throttle response and I can hear the engine and turbo just a tiny bit more. A K&N drop-in would probably be just as effective. It's got a grumble that isn't obnoxious but I do love a good intake growl so I get if that's a big selling point for you.
 

Benster

Senior Member
First Name
Ben
Joined
Mar 20, 2019
Threads
5
Messages
699
Reaction score
403
Location
Nova Scotia, Canada
Vehicle(s)
2019 Civic HB Sport 6MT
Country flag
an intake will help a bit, but 3-8hp won't be felt by itself. I got myself the PRL stage 1 combo except I went with an AEM filter since it's a dryflow, don't like the possibility of getting oil on the MAF over time. It does sound a bit better and you hear the turbo spool up. For the 70$ it cost it was worth it to me.

Your car being street parked shouldn't matter unless you get flash floods when your engine is running. The filter will be 8-10" above ground, inside your fender, you'd have to drive idle in a water hole to hydrolock it. Not saying it never happened to people, but really you have to almost do it on purpose. A solution to this would be to buy a filter outerwear, costs 15-20$ and it repels water until your filter is fully submerged. I had one on my quad and got the filter 80% under water and the engine was still running, never got water in the intake. If you got an american car and the money to buy 27 won's intake, go for the PRL CAI with race maf, at least you'll get some gains your butt will feel.

The intercooler will cool the intake air a bit more, but its main purpose is to keep it cool for longer, like if you're doing a lot of spirited driving or track your car, the stock intercooler will heat soak very quickly. Look at the PRL intercooler and all the research they did, you can see the difference in the back to back dyno runs.

Another mod that is not as easy to do but that is worth it if you want more power is a dp/fp combo to add to your exhaust. PRL shows 30-40 whp gains with a tune(the 21 psi map) and better spooling times too.
 

Benster

Senior Member
First Name
Ben
Joined
Mar 20, 2019
Threads
5
Messages
699
Reaction score
403
Location
Nova Scotia, Canada
Vehicle(s)
2019 Civic HB Sport 6MT
Country flag
^^^ this agreed 100%

there are no advantages to an aftermarket intake, other then the sound it makes,

air can't flow through the cylinder head any faster,

and it can't get out through the exhaust any faster either,

the stock air box is designed very well, and provides very good flow

not true, some intakes actually provide very decent gains, mostly due to cooler air temps and more air in the case of the PRL CAI with race maf. The stock air box is designed decently but it can always be better, it's mostly built to keep debris and sound out, as shown by replacing the accordeon hose with a silicone one and gaining 2-3hp with that and a higher flow filter.

The exhaust is big enough to push 50-80 more hp before becoming restrictive and the engine, well, just shove more boost through it. Turbo engines aren't as affected by poor head designs as NA cars are.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Myx

Myx

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Threads
79
Messages
2,166
Reaction score
2,042
Location
Delaware
Vehicle(s)
2018 Honda Civic EX (Hatchback/CVT)
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
Lots of mixed views in this thread. I love this stuff. :)

I have nothing to add. Seen this kinda debate for what seems like hundreds of times. Lost count of different homemade intakes I've tested at the dragstrip (On N/A vehicles). Still interesting to see the views on aftermarket modifications though. :p
 
OP
OP
Beansley

Beansley

Senior Member
First Name
Ben
Joined
Dec 17, 2018
Threads
5
Messages
199
Reaction score
145
Location
Ohio
Vehicle(s)
2018 Civic Hatchback Sport Touring
Country flag
an intake will help a bit, but 3-8hp won't be felt by itself. I got myself the PRL stage 1 combo except I went with an AEM filter since it's a dryflow, don't like the possibility of getting oil on the MAF over time. It does sound a bit better and you hear the turbo spool up. For the 70$ it cost it was worth it to me.

Your car being street parked shouldn't matter unless you get flash floods when your engine is running. The filter will be 8-10" above ground, inside your fender, you'd have to drive idle in a water hole to hydrolock it. Not saying it never happened to people, but really you have to almost do it on purpose. A solution to this would be to buy a filter outerwear, costs 15-20$ and it repels water until your filter is fully submerged. I had one on my quad and got the filter 80% under water and the engine was still running, never got water in the intake. If you got an american car and the money to buy 27 won's intake, go for the PRL CAI with race maf, at least you'll get some gains your butt will feel.

The intercooler will cool the intake air a bit more, but its main purpose is to keep it cool for longer, like if you're doing a lot of spirited driving or track your car, the stock intercooler will heat soak very quickly. Look at the PRL intercooler and all the research they did, you can see the difference in the back to back dyno runs.

Another mod that is not as easy to do but that is worth it if you want more power is a dp/fp combo to add to your exhaust. PRL shows 30-40 whp gains with a tune(the 21 psi map) and better spooling times too.
I think I may get the "stage 1" which is just the replacement hose/different filter. I don't have to worry about hydrolocking unless I were to change my intake completely, right?
Sponsored

 


 


Top