K&N Typhoon Short Ram Intake (Review of sorts)

[jasonwlin]

Hey guys, as I mentioned about 2-3 weeks ago, I was looking at cold air intakes, and decided on the short ram intake (SRI) from K&N. Anyway, here's a little review that I thought I might do for it, and anyone who might be interested could have a read or something. Thought I'd start a new thread because the other one was just about questions really.

Who to buy it from?

Pretty much anyone that sells it. But, I HIGHLY recommend 'worldwideperformance' on eBay (http://myworld.ebay.com/ebaymotors/worldwideperformance/?_trksid=p4340.l2559). They estimated 2 weeks delivery, but it came in 1, which was a nice surprise.

For those that are interested, I purchased one like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/K-N-Typhoon-Cold-Air-Intake-07-11-Toyota-Camry-3-5L-V6-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem2c597d08ecQQitemZ190479927532QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

How hard was it to install?

Not hard at all. It took about an hour and a half, and most of it was just getting the bolts to thread properly or finding the right nut/bolt/washer. But the threading bit was a bitch! By threading, I mean getting the nuts and bolts to fit in straight. Also, there was one small thing with the 'box' or casing, but I'll cover that in the next section.

Anything of concern?

Only about 3 things:

- When placing the box/casing in, it doesn't fit as well as I would have thought, in that the casing rubs up against the intake vent, did anyone else have this? (I'll photo it if I get a chance) This was by far one of the biggest time wasters, as I spent a good solid 15 minutes getting it to sit right, but after a bit of effort, it finally sat properly.

- After restarting the car, my trip computer has dramatically increased my fuel consumption counter (litres/100km, albeit this might be because I floored it everywhere to get that induction noise) and also, the range sky-rocketed from a predicted 500ish kms left to about 650km. Anyone know why this might be? I'm worried that I may have screwed up the sensors perhaps? Or the trip computer?

- I have like two mini-screws and two washers left and for the life of me, can't find where it goes haha. Everything is in securely, and I can't remember seeing them used, so yeah, not sure.

How has it been since you installed it?

So after installation, I checked and made sure everything was secure then started him up and let him run for about 10 minutes on idle (apparently to reset the ECU, and also gave me some time to clean up). Then I took him out for a spin, and it should be noted that the clouds cleared up and the sun shone through because I was back on the road (OK, so I lie, the sun was already out :P).

I started it off slowly, wanting to ease it in and check for any weird sounds or anything of that sort. After a good solid 2 minutes of no rattling or anything, I revved it a bit higher to check for more sounds (will go into a bit of detail about the sound below). Everything was sweet, so I floored it and the sound was beautiful! In the past when I floored it, you could hear the engine and it sort of purred loudly, now with the intake it, there's like a deep-ish loud intake sound (absolutely brilliant).

As far as I could tell, this is how it breaks down in my car...

- When I press the throttle so that the tachometer stays below 2500 rpm, there's next to no difference in sound (a good thing imo)

- When I press it a bit more, where the tachometer reaches about 3000 to 5000 rpm, you can hear a noticeable difference, where the sound is deeper and groan-ier, but still a 'whirring' noise

- Anywhere from 5000 rpm and up (full throttle), the sound of the intake is deep and loud. Not to the point where you can't talk/hear anything, but loud enough that would turn heads

Final thoughts

Anyone who is considering an intake kit for their car, I think most brands would sound much the same. But for the money I paid for this K&N and my experience with this, I'd stick with this brand until something majorly bad happens. Would I recommend this intake for anyone? YES! It may take you up to 2 hours to install, but the experience of getting to know your car is priceless imo, not to mention the sound you get.

Finally, special thanks to DJKOR, VF-X and Kenpo for their advice in the other thread (http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=31600)

Edited March 8, 2011 by jasonwlin

[u54mot]

- After restarting the car, my trip computer has dramatically increased my fuel consumption counter (litres/100km, albeit this might be because I floored it everywhere to get that induction noise) and also, the range sky-rocketed from a predicted 500ish kms left to about 650km. Anyone know why this might be? I'm worried that I may have screwed up the sensors perhaps? Or the trip computer?

The ECU would've reset itself after you installed the K&N SRI, hence fuel consumption would've reset as if you've just left the petrol station, and the Range resets to the default 650Km. The ECU will now start recalculating all the numbers and eventually be 'corrected'.

[Vijith555]

Thanks for the neat write up Jason. I was thinking of getting one of these one day but wasnt sure how it would turn out to be. Atleast now I know what its gonna be like installed :)

[jasonwlin]

The ECU would've reset itself after you installed the K&N SRI, hence fuel consumption would've reset as if you've just left the petrol station, and the Range resets to the default 650Km. The ECU will now start recalculating all the numbers and eventually be 'corrected'.

Ahh yeah, well I sort of suspected that, but nice to know that it's nothing sinister! Cheers!

Thanks for the neat write up Jason. I was thinking of getting one of these one day but wasnt sure how it would turn out to be. Atleast now I know what its gonna be like installed :)

Not a problem. It's worth every cent.

Edited March 8, 2011 by jasonwlin

[SCOOTA44]

well done on the review worth the effort,I have my own homemade intake which works ok, but might have to upgrade to the K&N

[Adamsy]

Do it Scott do it :P I’m still keen to put a Fujita CAI on mine but slightly turned off by where the filter sits, seems a little bit venerable to me.

[SCOOTA44]

Do it Scott do it :P I’m still keen to put a Fujita CAI on mine but slightly turned off by where the filter sits, seems a little bit venerable to me.

yes i think i must, just got to get the money together. bit tight at moment.

[Adamsy]

Do it Scott do it :P I’m still keen to put a Fujita CAI on mine but slightly turned off by where the filter sits, seems a little bit venerable to me.

yes i think i must, just got to get the money together. bit tight at moment.

Didn’t win the lotto last night then lol?

hay have had an idea put to me yesterday when we was fitting the oil cooler, we had half of the induction system pulled off, just the front "scoop" and lower pipe that goes to the resonator. Amway since the electronic butterfly in the main part of the induction just after the scoop but prior to the air filter assy only snaps open under hard engine loads and the engine is "sucking air" from the lower pipe the rest of the time it was suggested that you might get better or more air flow if that bottom pipe was reworked/rerouted to get its air from the lower bumper i guess a little bit like a CAI would. You fella's that have some experience with induction on Aurion tell me your thoughts; think it would do anything or just a waste of time lol? The way i see it is that it’s pretty much still getting a similar amount of air but just from two difference places???

[Steven]

Do it Scott do it :P I’m still keen to put a Fujita CAI on mine but slightly turned off by where the filter sits, seems a little bit venerable to me.

yes i think i must, just got to get the money together. bit tight at moment.

Didn’t win the lotto last night then lol?

hay have had an idea put to me yesterday when we was fitting the oil cooler, we had half of the induction system pulled off, just the front "scoop" and lower pipe that goes to the resonator. Amway since the electronic butterfly in the main part of the induction just after the scoop but prior to the air filter assy only snaps open under hard engine loads and the engine is "sucking air" from the lower pipe the rest of the time it was suggested that you might get better or more air flow if that bottom pipe was reworked/rerouted to get its air from the lower bumper i guess a little bit like a CAI would. You fella's that have some experience with induction on Aurion tell me your thoughts; think it would do anything or just a waste of time lol? The way i see it is that it’s pretty much still getting a similar amount of air but just from two difference places???

Many of us actually remove the lower pipe altogether for a slightly louder induction noise - it provides minimal power gain (if any)

the Aurion v6 appears to get better gains from exhaust upgrades as opposed to intake upgrades (not including forced induction obviously). I'm hoping to get some real world testing on my modified exhaust once it's back on the road early April.

[Adamsy]

Do it Scott do it :P I’m still keen to put a Fujita CAI on mine but slightly turned off by where the filter sits, seems a little bit venerable to me.

yes i think i must, just got to get the money together. bit tight at moment.

Didn’t win the lotto last night then lol?

hay have had an idea put to me yesterday when we was fitting the oil cooler, we had half of the induction system pulled off, just the front "scoop" and lower pipe that goes to the resonator. Amway since the electronic butterfly in the main part of the induction just after the scoop but prior to the air filter assy only snaps open under hard engine loads and the engine is "sucking air" from the lower pipe the rest of the time it was suggested that you might get better or more air flow if that bottom pipe was reworked/rerouted to get its air from the lower bumper i guess a little bit like a CAI would. You fella's that have some experience with induction on Aurion tell me your thoughts; think it would do anything or just a waste of time lol? The way i see it is that it’s pretty much still getting a similar amount of air but just from two difference places???

Many of us actually remove the lower pipe altogether for a slightly louder induction noise - it provides minimal power gain (if any)

the Aurion v6 appears to get better gains from exhaust upgrades as opposed to intake upgrades (not including forced induction obviously). I'm hoping to get some real world testing on my modified exhaust once it's back on the road early April.

Just out of interest, since the electronic butterfly doesn’t snap open until the engine really comes under load how does it breathe if you take the lower pipe out of the system? Between my mate and i we have enough pipe etc to try this system he suggested so just for sh!t giggle might give it a crack see what it does. But you do seem to be right, biggest gains seem to come from exhaust work which when you think about it makes sense, the induction side of things on Aurion isn’t a bad set up.

[SCOOTA44]

Finally ordered the K&N sri, just couldn't build one that would do the job. too many issues with ecu modding myself.

[SCOOTA44]

Have finally got the K&N SRI fitted, could not be happier with the result. there is better bottom end tourque than stock, the note is similar to my experiments, but no issues with the ECU. YAY!!!!!

[httttt]

Great review! Thanks.

How much interest is their in the K&N SRI Intake?

I wouldn't mind running a Group buy for we get say 3 or 4 people interested.

[-DAvo]

Id be in for it. Cheapest i can find it is 192aud plus a fair whack for postage.

[SCOOTA44]

Have finally got the K&N SRI fitted, could not be happier with the result. there is better bottom end tourque than stock, the note is similar to my experiments, but no issues with the ECU. YAY!!!!!

I got mine for $286.00 including postage, took 33 days to arrive, but worth the wait !

[jeffy]

Great review! Thanks.

How much interest is their in the K&N SRI Intake?

I wouldn't mind running a Group buy for we get say 3 or 4 people interested.

im in for a group buy, obvoiusly for my car though :]

[httttt]

Great review! Thanks.

How much interest is their in the K&N SRI Intake?

I wouldn't mind running a Group buy for we get say 3 or 4 people interested.

im in for a group buy, obvoiusly for my car though :]

Cool. I haven't got any prices back yet but I'm aiming for $260-280 landed to your door each.

Do you know the K&N part number?

[jeffy]

yessir

69-8609TTK

[httttt]

Great review! Thanks.

How much interest is their in the K&N SRI Intake?

I wouldn't mind running a Group buy for we get say 3 or 4 people interested.

This isn't worth the group buy as to get a good price you need to by from the US and shipping would be amalgamated for all items weight and size. Buying and paying for shipping for a single item is cheaper in the case of these large items from the US.

[jeffy]

Ohh i see coolio :)