Infidel Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Based on experience with other cars, and the suction I felt in the little airbox snorkel, I felt that my Subaru would run better with a less restricted airway. Normally I just drill a bunch of holes in the bottom of the airbox and drop in a K&N panel filter, which has always worked well. However, the Suby is a little more complicated, and I didn't want to irreversibly screw up the airbox, so I bought a short runner intake. Based on browsing NASIOC, I knew that my options were ill fitting ebay crap or really expensive stuff that actually fits. Being on the tight budget I am, and being somewhat handy, I figured that at least the cheap ebay intake would get me the difficult part, the bent elbow. In actuality I had to buy an adapter plate for the MAF, chop a good 6" off the intake tube (taking a nipple for a vacuum fitting with it), buy another silicone connector, do some stupid crap with vacuum lines. Ultimately I'm happy with the performance gain. It has the same problem everyone on NASIOC mentioned, very low rpms at idle, have to nurse the throttle at start-up until the computer figures out the right air metering, but it runs good after that. The cheap supplied filter will be swapped for a quality K&N soon. All in all I spent maybe $65 on it, using some ingenuity and spare parts I had around. Also in the picture is the cheap ebay strut bar, these things fit and work great, not sure why everyone pays through the nose for the name brand stuff. Mounted upside down due to the hood scoop covers sticking down into the engine bay. I've got some annoying handling issues I'm trying to correct, so a cheap strut brace is just one more step towards the solution, I hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Who did you get it from. Have you reste the computer to help it relearn things? nipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 K&N's (along with other oiled cloth type filters) can cause oil contamination of the MAF wires. It's better to just use the paper element filters (which filter better anyway) that do not have oil on them. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durania Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 I put an AEM one on my Tacoma and couldn't tell a difference. Caused a check engine light when the oil built up on the MAF wires. Not going to install another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86BRATMAN Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Put one of those on a 95 legacy I had, sounded cool... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manarius Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 I think really the only benefit here is the baffle delete that occurred. That is to say, in the stock intake air line, it's not exactly the best curvature or smooth surface. This intake definitely does a better job in that regard. I would much rather to have seen the box be kept, but the metal intake line put in. The stock airbox flows quite nicely and actually gets cold air. This "CAI" actually sucks in hot air from the engine bay... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98obster Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 ...This "CAI" actually sucks in hot air from the engine bay... so if one puts in a "cai" then they should at least fabricate a shroud to separate it from the engine? curious, is there actually any benefit of a cai of the OP without modifying the exhaust? to me this looks like a fairly decent setup. would it be prudent to put more space between the filter and the MAF? so what is the big difference between the Rallispec type stuff and the Ebay (redline motorsport) suppliers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manarius Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 so if one puts in a "cai" then they should at least fabricate a shroud to separate it from the engine? curious, is there actually any benefit of a cai of the OP without modifying the exhaust? to me this looks like a fairly decent setup. would it be prudent to put more space between the filter and the MAF? so what is the big difference between the Rallispec type stuff and the Ebay (redline motorsport) suppliers? Yes. There should be a shroud put in so that you aren't sucking in warm engine air. Maybe some sort of ram-air intake that sucks in straight from where the grille is? Is there some gain? Well, the car will be louder. Some people say there's gain - I don't know if I necessarily agree with that. I think if there is any, it would be minimal at best. Exhaust work would definitely be needed to make the CAI worth your time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman2 Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 I will agree without some exhaust modification you probably will not see much noticable gain besides noise increase. You could try a 2" Magnaflow muffler which are top notch without the raspy sound of some. There is no reason to seperate the filter from the engine bay. Once the vehicle gets moving it well keep the hot air pushed out. Makes no difference at idle if you are pulling in the hotter air. I have seen tested performed with temp sensors on a F150 that have shown this. I think somewhere around 15 mph and up was all it took. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 strut bar? check warm air intake? check throttle body spacer? not yet painted brake calipers? not sure, but by the way of things they must be coming soon. Those are not "vacuum fittings" those are PCV lines. The stock air intake tube has metered holes that those hook up to, so you're PCV system probably isn't working as it should now. I don't normally rain on people's parades, but someone who throws a strut bar on to attempt to correct "annoying handling issues" is going about it all wrong. If you're going to do booty fab, at least do it right: Yes, that is a hand made hood scoop over the plywood airbox with pipe insulation to seal it to the hood. Cone air filter too. The spray can racing stripes are extra. So is the outback strut lift and 17" wheels. When the car looks so hack people can tell you just don't give a F any more and are just having fun, then it's OK. But when you do mod's like that and present it like you actually think it helps the car, you have a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infidel Posted January 2, 2008 Author Share Posted January 2, 2008 Although it felt nice while driving, was never really happy with the way the car idled after installation, so it's back to the OEM system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratman2 Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 Well if nothing else you see why the good intake systems for a Subaru cost so much money. They already engineered out the quirks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keltik Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 strut bar? checkwarm air intake? check throttle body spacer? not yet painted brake calipers? not sure, but by the way of things they must be coming soon........ When the car looks so hack people can tell you just don't give a F any more and are just having fun, then it's OK. But when you do mod's like that and present it like you actually think it helps the car, you have a problem. Could i Nominate this post for a gold award? And give 91Loyale a rock on for saying what most of us were only thinking. But yeah, cone air filter = death I forgot where i read it - somewhere on miatanet i think. An ex navy engineer hooked up several cone filters to his miata and did air filtration tests and dyno tests. He found that cone filters dont give you any more than one HP gain and they trash MAF sensors whilst causing incresed engine/turbo wear from all the crap they ARENT filtering from the airflow. Only reason you get such a big power increase on the butt dyno, is because the car sounds like a ricer and you removed the horrible restrictive snorkus thingy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infidel Posted January 12, 2008 Author Share Posted January 12, 2008 Odd that things I added to the car for improved performance, while not changing the appearance at all, are considered rice (and the car is a bone stock 99 OBS (rice?)). Yet, a totally non-functional hood scoop is stuck on there by Subaru. Not to mention the parts were removed pretty quick when I didn't feel any improvement etc., that's generally not a trait of ricers. Is it because I didn't spend several hundred on an intake? Subaru fanbois are no different than fanbois of other marques. Fortunately I'm unconcerned about the opinions of the teen Subaru crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keltik Posted January 12, 2008 Share Posted January 12, 2008 Yet, a totally non-functional hood scoop is stuck on there by Subaru. Non-functional!!!??? Its totally functional!! It makes the car look WAY cooler! that's generally not a trait of ricers. Nope it isnt - but fitting a strut brace and cone filter is. Especially without other mods to make them worthwhile. (stiffer sway bars, turbo, cold air induction .etc) Is it because I didn't spend several hundred on an intake? No, its because you fitted a strut brace and a cone air filter. Instead of getting a wheel alignment to diagnose the handling issues. Subaru fanbois are no different than fanbois of other marques. Fortunately I'm unconcerned about the opinions of the teen Subaru crowd. Were a bit different - we willingly choose to support a non-mainstream car manufacturer just because they do things differently (pillarless doors, boxer engines and AWD). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted January 12, 2008 Share Posted January 12, 2008 Subaru fanbois is that french? dont hate on the guy, but give him the facts. but then again i get tired of all these "tuner message boards" that are all hype about "what kind of(random acronym) should i get" and yet the technical discussion sections are empty. and of ourse, lame driving u-tube videos you know, there is more to be appreciated by those of us who learned how to drive in real cars and before the likes of gran turismo and fast and furious although i see there is an increase of noobie hate going on around here..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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