Cobb cold air box for SRI

[Super Unique]

Anyone else equally excited about the cold air box for the cobb SRI? I found the following pic and think this would end the debate about sri vs mazdaspeed cold air intake and the hydrolock issues

Have no idea of price, but I gotta have one

 

[whitey4311]

LOL, so much for the "it doesnt make a difference theory". All that talk about no difference between a true CAI and sucking hot engine air now they MFR a box to keep hot air away?

I do think it looks very well done and cool. I just laughed at the whole debate over this and now to see the thought of them making this means there is truth to the benefit of a true CAI.

Isnt there a little piece of plastic on the grill that you can remove so that it feeds air right into that box? I saw on a How-To thread where a member cut out a piece of the grill meant for the regular 3 air box. It appears as if that box is directly behind it and would benefit best with that section cut out.

PS there is no hydro lock issues, I think that was made up to give the idea of a SRI an advantage point.

 

[Super Unique]

I was not involved in the previous slug fest debating pros and cons here. Something I can tell you that others did not, this cold air box for the cobb sri has been in development since they first conceived their intake. It's been on the drawing boards for a while now, and will be a final solution to the issues.

re: the thoughts of hydrolock, it largely depends upon your perspective of it. Where do you live? If your not exposed to frequent torrential downpours there is little to no chance of ever experiencing hydrolock. I live in central florida, some others in souther louisiana etc.. and we definitely have to worry about this issue. I regularly encounter standing water on the street up to a foot deep, sometimes even more. (during the summer rains) Now prudence would dictate turning around and going another way, but sometimes thats difficult when your in the middle of a huge amount of traffic and exiting would be difficult at best.

My previous vehicle was a jeep with a huge lift so I could laugh at the prospect of a foot of water, in fact the jeep could traverse 4 - 5 feet of water, try that in a mazda LOL

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9102826812545332041

 

[aaronc7]

except for the people who always chime in and say 'yeah it happened to me'

 

[Super Unique]

hydrolock is one of the leading causes of early jeep engine demise

I would not recommend driving your speed 3 into the hole in my video, but then again you wouldn't have made it onto the trail from the street without getting high-centered

(headbang)

 

[whitey4311]

Good points on location. Although if I lived in an area that forced me to traverse water I would not buy a low to the ground car, lol. Fun yes, but practical no.

Here in Cali I have no worries but there have been a few street floods that required me to turn around and find another route. I love this car but compared to the supercharged Tacoma I had it is annoying not being able to enter most drive ways etc.

I wish TRD still did superchargers because this is my first sporty car and as much as I love it I hate it often when going places. Having a sleeper 4x4 tacoma that blew away most sporty cars from 2000-2005 was a blast. I loved getting next to integras and hondas with them laughing at me. I would rev it just a bit before the blower would whistle then nail it with the 4x4 on. It was fun as s*** to see their faces after getting whooped by a 4x4 truck with brush guards on it, lol. Couldnt corner for s*** but the straight aways and up hills were fun.

About that SRI it looks like it is a great option for you guys but that hot engine bay air debate is void when they now start to think about ways to get colder air to it. The old theories were all wrong in my opinion and this new invention they are testing seems to support that.

 

[Super Unique]

About that SRI it looks like it is a great option for you guys but that hot engine bay air debate is void when they now start to think about ways to get colder air to it. The old theories were all wrong in my opinion and this new invention they are testing seems to support that.

Again, I repeat that Cobb planned from day 1 to also sell a cold air box for their intake. It is most assuredly not an after thought on their part.

 

[whitey4311]

That may be true but regarding the debate earlier it was not a point brought up. Most were trying to believe that there was no difference between hot engine air and cold ground air regarding performance.

The knowledge you presented today would have been a great point to end that debate. I wonder why they would even release the SRI with out the box?

 

[Super Unique]

That may be true but regarding the debate earlier it was not a point brought up. Most were trying to believe that there was no difference between hot engine air and cold ground air regarding performance.

The knowledge you presented today would have been a great point to end that debate. I wonder why they would even release the SRI with out the box?

As with any aftermarket producer, their resources are limited, and the demand extremely high when a new car model hits the street. If they waited for the airbox, they would loose a ton of early adopters to the competition.

 

[MS3077]

Super Unique, tell are good friend whitey4311 here how hard my car pulls despite it being 100 degrees with the Cobb SRI. He seems to think it doesn't do much for the performance of the car. The cold air box soon to be released is only going to make it a bit better than it already was. In my opinion it is and always has been a waste of money to buy a CAI with you can get the Cobb SRI for much less$$, easier to install, uninstall, similair HP/TQ, and the chances of hydro-lock are very slim

 

[Super Unique]

It's somewhat swinging back in the other direction. From what I know and understand the mazdaspeed intake was the ONLY solution to keeping warranty coverage without hassles, but they sort of threw that out the window with the stop sale and discontinuation of it.

So that leaves aftermarket as the only practical choice. In my personal opinion, given the choices I have seen so far, the cobb seems to cover the bases well. Their intake is inexpensive in comparison, and for those of us will to pony up for the cold air box when released, offers a complete solution.

 

[User Name]

How much is the box going to cost? That will close the price gap between the cobb intake and the cai's. Of course had the cobb intake air box combo been available earlier, I would have bought it without a second thought over my cp-e cai.

 

[Super Unique]

They have been reluctant to post a price and date for the air box. Supposedly it is very close to being released. Based on their other product prices, I would be surprised if it was less than $175.....

 

[5][Spyder]

Does the box use any type of routing or ducting to get coldair from that cut-out or from the fenderwell?

I agree with whitney however, and I have said stuff about it in other threads, also my huge whining section here:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123709321

Talking about how I've seen hotter IAT temperatures in this car, than pretty much any car I've ever looked at, seriously hot engine bay.

The point is, the release of the heat shield by a known hardcore tuning company, to accompany a product which they said a CAI was not needed for this application, further proves that a CAI is superior to a SRI even in this turbo application.....its true. You can realize it now, or you can realize this summer - if you log your IAT temperatures and look at them while driving its unbelievable how hot your Intake Air is after you've sat at a stoplight for only 1-2 minutes, or gone through a drive-thru Taco Bell or something - and then when driving 30mph afterwords, it takes 5 minutes, NOT 5 seconds to even get close to the ambient temp outside. It may be true what other articles have said about how once you get going the SRI intake temp get close to CAI, not with this car, the engine bay sealed very, very well, and it takes minutes to get that air in there, also where is the main source of air come from???? through the already BOILING hot radiator.

 

[Super Unique]

To be fair, the SRI works great as it stands now without the box. I would assume the box will help greatly with heatsoak situations.

One thing I have noticed while checking out the SRI on MS3077's car. His car pulled much harder when flogged. However, after a run we popped the hoods on both cars, my intercooler was MUCH cooler than his. So it's not always cut and dried with intercooled cars. If your intercooler has excess cooling capacity it could easily mask the effects of warmer air being drawn in from under the hood. There are a lot of different variables at play here certainly.

 

[5][Spyder]

To be fair, the SRI works great as it stands now without the box. I would assume the box will help greatly with heatsoak situations.

One thing I have noticed while checking out the SRI on MS3077's car. His car pulled much harder when flogged. However, after a run we popped the hoods on both cars, my intercooler was MUCH cooler than his. So it's not always cut and dried with intercooled cars. If your intercooler has excess cooling capacity it could easily mask the effects of warmer air being drawn in from under the hood. There are a lot of different variables at play here certainly.

Yes I 100% agree. And the truth is, for a cold start, and light warmup run(like dynos, etc) I would even go as far to say that the SRI has less restriction and probably makes more HP. But on the street, after stoplights, etc, and 30mph engaged playing/street races with a heatsoaked, hot ass engine bay - the CAI will be a huge advantage over the SRI.

 

[whitey4311]

The way I see it is that with common sense the CAI is still the best and least controversial. Dont drive in 1ft+ standing water and there is no chance of hydro lock, yet no matter how you look at it the intake air temps will always be lower then a SRI located in the engine bay.

You can make theories about a SRI being better or the same or having less risk to water uptake but seriously I would not call it a comparison to a true CAI. It is not a CAI it is simply a less restrictive choice compared to stock and if you have half the money you need to spend for a real CAI then its a good choice.

Or if you plan to drive your car in 1 ft of water it may be a good choice but even then everything under your car is submerged so I would worry about other components at that time. This would further suggest that the hydro lock theory is BS and thus taking one point away from calling a SRI better when considering water traversing, lol.

For me the CAI makes sense and can not be suggested nor theorized as being an equal to a design that draws hot engine bay heat. It simply doesnt and its design wont allow for it. The only draw back is this theorized hydro lock which I think makes no sense. If you had a Jeep then yes get a SRI to keep the intake up as high as possible but then again you are driving a car made for such punishment. Its not like those of you with a MS3 sporting a SRI can go in water and think it is still ok to do so. A few inches more and you will flood the inside of your car so I dont see the benefit of a SRI when considering the one "so called" draw back the CAI has.

 

[MS3077]

The way I see it is that with common sense the CAI is still the best and least controversial. Dont drive in 1ft+ standing water and there is no chance of hydro lock, yet no matter how you look at it the intake air temps will always be lower then a SRI located in the engine bay.

You can make theories about a SRI being better or the same or having less risk to water uptake but seriously I would not call it a comparison to a true CAI. It is not a CAI it is simply a less restrictive choice compared to stock and if you have half the money you need to spend for a real CAI then its a good choice.

Or if you plan to drive your car in 1 ft of water it may be a good choice but even then everything under your car is submerged so I would worry about other components at that time. This would further suggest that the hydro lock theory is BS and thus taking one point away from calling a SRI better when considering water traversing, lol.

For me the CAI makes sense and can not be suggested nor theorized as being an equal to a design that draws hot engine bay heat. It simply doesnt and its design wont allow for it. The only draw back is this theorized hydro lock which I think makes no sense. If you had a Jeep then yes get a SRI to keep the intake up as high as possible but then again you are driving a car made for such punishment. Its not like those of you with a MS3 sporting a SRI can go in water and think it is still ok to do so. A few inches more and you will flood the inside of your car so I dont see the benefit of a SRI when considering the one "so called" draw back the CAI has.

Yet there's been no test that I've seen or heard of that suggest that a CAI outproforms a SRI in this car, only theories that haven't been proven in real life situations.

 

[Super Unique]

Apples to apples, Mazdaspeed Cold air intake is no longer offered, so thats out. Now we whittle down the rest of the field as follows:

Cobb with forthcoming box - excellent all around choice

The rest: draws air from 4 to 5 inches from road ,and hard to install. Tube is commonly made of steel or other heat conducting metal. This also heats the air to a degree. Also, these supposed "cold air" intakes are drawing air from ABOVE the engine cover under the car, guess where the air in this semi sealed space has been all along? That's right, affected by engine heat, especially the exhaust and turbo. and pre heated by radiator as well

See how this subject can be debated endlessly?

 

[Super Unique]

Also, before someone tries to say that the "vents" along the front of the driver side tire fenderwell allow the intake to draw in cold air from outside, it will pull the closest air it can find, which is already in the pocket area under the regular underhood area. Also, once in motion, the air flowing around the car will cause a suction effect on said air vent, which will guarantee that cold intake doesn't get any cold air. The only viable source of cold air is the grill area, which is precisely where the radiator gets it's cold air, along with the intercooler and batterly cooler. And forthcoming cobb airbox...