cai ... a waste of money?

[d.n]

i was a the car wash with a mate, when he opened up his bonnet of a sportivo, and i saw his standard air box but it had some part of its hose cut off.

weird?

i asked him, why not get cai intake? he said, his mate put on one and dyno'd his car. 'apparently', you lose power.

WHAT THE!?

i also asked them what fuel they were running at the time, and if they had any other mods

mate #1: 04 stivo: standard box, with k&n filter and removed the 'restriction' in the piping ...dyno'd at 116 kw... with no additional mods (using bp 98)

mate #2: 05 stivo: TRD cai, with k&n poddy, with no additional mods, dyno'd at 112 kw (using mobil 98)

i know its not a big difference, but.. cai is not worth it? or it could be the petrol? is there something that mate #1 is hiding to get the additional power? i checked his car... looks all stock. (exhaust, headers.. etc!)

What do you guys think?

if you guys have dyno'd, list what mods you have (inc. brand) and we can compare... ive heard that its not always big money = big gain in power.

[RME1]

Perhaps your mates car with the no cai is set up for more response?

4kw difference is not that much in terms of on the road driving?

CAI on the track makes the throttle reponse a little lagging down low in the RPM group because the air takes a little bit longer to travel through.

Given that dyno's are a top end measurement, the ability of the CAI to 'suck in' cooler air away from the engine bay could prove that extra 4KW?

Some of the stivo track guys have a KN Filter with bunnings spec pipe getting air from where a cai would normally sit, with the formula of good throttle response down low and cooler air to the filter at speed.

Up to the owner really.

I think a KN Filter is about $120 vs a CAI setup which could range from $200 - 400. Anything over stock would be beneficial.

[eviltwin]

BP 98 is Mobil 98 , same petrol , same refinery. As far as the differences in power go it could be anything , if it was 10 or 15kw it would be more interesting , 4 is nothing!

[d.n]

was just thinking. would it be worth it to buy a cai for 200-400, if it would be cheaper for a k&n filter with provides a little bit more power?

even if its a slight gain of 4kw, its still a gain i guess.

since were on this topic. if the air takes a long time to travel up the pipe, would having a 'whales *****' change that? (wouldit be like a storage kind of thing?)

[matt_glad]

One could have had a dirty filter my CAI gets dirty quicker due to placement

Also oil type and plugs do make a difference

[eviltwin]

I built my own CAI and replaced the paper filter with a blitz one that cost me 20 bucks...

[d.n]

I built my own CAI and replaced the paper filter with a blitz one that cost me 20 bucks...

do you feel a difference?

is this in your stivo? if so, can you hear lift open up louder?

[sik]

k's on the clock?

[eviltwin]

it's a bit louder bit it's nothing like a TRD one as they run a pod , no idea about performance etc.

[123R-Prozak]

oil, plugs, driving habbits, gearbox oil, life of the car, history of the car, all do make a difference. dont think AT ALL every stock stivo built in 05 will have the same kw ATW now...

[hAmZ]

dynos can also vary greatly along with cars. if it was done on the same dyno, same day and condtions then it would be some what comparable.