I've already talked to a couple guys about this but I just want more opinions from the masses that have any of these kits. I've read countless threads but none of them compare all three and none of them have actual proof as to which one is better. People will argue which one is better for various reasons but no one can provide numbers. Horsepower I realise will be very close between all three. In this thread i'm actually looking for opinions on how much of the road crap will get at say the fenderwell one vs. the CAI box and open air intake, as well as how much IAT between the three will actually make the difference and which ones will grab and bring in the most air (The fenderwell and box seem like their tight spaces wouldn't allow for the amount of the air the k&n would).

Also i'm not sure on what to beleive as far as cold air actually being better. I've seen truck forums where they compare open style k&n's to closed style volants and even though the k&n was 1 degree hotter IAT than the volant it still applied a lot higher manifold pressure than the closed style which ultimately translated to higher horsepower. Feel free to get a good debate going lol. I like to see evidence when people make arguments and that is the one thing I haven't been able to find anywhere is evidence despite peoples claims.

I also want to start this thread for all the people who are **** like me and want to compare every option before they buy something lol.

I must admit i'm leaning towards the fenderwell or k&N since one is $100 and the other is $230 compared to $285 for the CAI kit.

 

i wouldnt get the k&n again. its the one that i have. its not worth the money they charge for it, and the rubber seal thats on the heat shield eventually falls off. i wouldve voted for make your own, but it wasnt an option. the cai one is way overpriced for what it is. so if you have to buy one i guess get the intense one.

 

I'd say get the CAI and then fab up some Ram Air headlights. Gives you cold air and it will have plenty of air moving into the box. Also it is pricey but looks the best IMO.

Also my cone in the CAI stays pretty clean as opposed to when I had the stock filter that would suck up leaves and whatnot. Can't speak about the other intakes though.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I actually found a other thread that is old but at least compares the k&n and CAI. When I get to my laptop I'll post the link. I don't know how I never found it before.

 

I have the CAI in my car, and while it is pricey, it does look the best. Personally I think a home made one looks kind of cheesy. I wouldn't know how to compare the performance because its the only intake I have had other than the stock air box. The car certainly feels more alive but I have never bothered dynoing the the thing. It also still looks brand new after a couple thousand miles.

If you but it through Lew it is around 270 with free shipping, so its a bit cheaper. I also think there is a member on here selling his for pretty cheap.

 

Here's the thread I was talking about. Like I said, no idea how it never came up in the searches before but here it is: https://ls1tech.com/forums/ls4-perfo...ai-intake.html

That's making me want to go with the k&n just for the power difference. It actually goes right in line with what they found over on the truck forums. What i'll probably do though is get that heat insulation he's talking about so there isn't as much heat soak. Autoanything.com seems really cheap for k&n's. When you keep revisiting the site there will be random "14% off codes for this time only" and stuff so I can get a k&n for like 217 lol.

 

This was written in 2007. The CAI intake does not use the stock tubing. This review is out of date.

 

I noticed the 2007 part lol but I thought it was still valid since the pictures on the CAI look like it does use the stock tubing still. The picture with the kit contents shows only a small little elbow that it comes with vs. the longer tube that the k&n comes with.

 

I don't know what it used to be like but I do know it still uses the stock MAF sensor. That's it though.

 

I think in the thread he's refering to the kit still using that ribbed tube that goes into the throttle body. It's not long enough to fit a full tube but it seems like the K&N and the CAI both come with the same little elbow and use the MAF housing. What does the CAI kit do about the PCM and TCM as well as the crank case hose though?

 

lower temp = denser air meaning more of it can be shoved into the hole. More air in means more air out and the more air you move the more power you can make. If IATs didn't matter there would be no need for intercoolers on boosted applications. The performance resulting in air density is long been proven when you look at cars that run at sea level vs high altitude tracks.

 

You're still capped by the stock mass air flow sensor and stock diameter tubing and let's review another important fact unless your spark vs. Iat table is tweaked you're not going to make a decent gain with just the intake. IMO just make you're own man. Its cheap and effective

 

I did a lot of research when I was looking to get my cold air intake. There were a few factors that made me go with the cold air inductions. The K&N intake figures come from non real world conditions (dyno with the hood open, industrial fan blowing, etc) and the CAI is dynoed with the hood close and closer to real world conditions. Also the K&N is not blocked off from the heat coming from the engine where as the CAI is. The K&N is more like a hot air intake. Based on the information I found when searching the real world gains from the K&N will be around 5-10HP where the CAI will be around 10-15HP.

 

Ya that's why i'm still hung up lol. On one hand I do agree with the cooler air factor that denser provides more air and more power. The other hand though is to do with the airflow itself. Both sides have argued time and time again about air flow vs. just colder air. I'll try and find the thread where somebody dyno'd under the identical conditions on the trucks. (Yes it's a different application but the intake styles in question are the same)

What he found was that yes the closed box style is cooler air but by only 1 degree when it's actually hitting the MAF. The airflow and manifold pressure itself however was much greater with the open style than the closed style so more air was actually going into the throttle body despite the increase in temperature. Somebody correct me but that is the reason forced induction works so well correct? Because of the huge volume of air that's going into the engine and with a super charger they wouldn't have an intercooler to cool the air. With that someone can argue more air matters more than cooler air.... what do you guys think?

People have also said you can just buy that heat insulation stuff for a few bucks and stick it on the k&n shield and it dropped their temps. I don't know what I want to do yet. Regardless I will be getting a Lew tune so I may get a better deal with the CAI kit as he as already told me or if I want to save a few more bucks I may go with the k&n and the tune I would think would help with the timing and fuel mixture as far as IAT go.

I don't know. I'm glad everybodies got input on this though.... it's definitly getting me thinking lol. Regardless though that link I posted is the only person that's felt a difference between the two. I tried contacting CAI about not having a tube included back when that thread was posted but Bill says it's always came with one so I dunno what that guys talking about in that thread.

 

The PCM and TCM are both mounted nicely inside the box.

 

Alright, that's good. Makes me more easy about the CAI lol.

 

Actually what I should ask everybody is whether or not they felt any difference at all whether it be from the CAI or the K&N or whatever....

When I did my K&N on my truck I felt some more pep. Did anybody get that from the CAI kit? Obviously custom tuning will maximize gains but I mean right outta the box.

 

I was running a 3-4inch adapter after the maf then 4' to the k&n it "felt" a lot better but the gains were probably negligible

 

Ya i'm thinking gains are going to be minimal but it'd still be nice to feel a little something. Mainly I just want the intake to compliment the exhaust and the tune lol.

 

I put my CAI on before I did my exhaust when I still had the walker quiet flow mufflers on. I noticed a quite a bit of difference after putting the CAI on with the quiet mufflers. Noise wise (not at idle though) and power wise.