RAI or CAI?

TheBryGuy

Member
:
'02 Protege5
I was curious. Would you get better HP with a ram air intake or a cold air intake of the P5? Anyone have any information on this or numbers? Thanks.
 
I think there are a couple of threads on this subject....if you search for "CAI SRI" you can find tons of info.

I prefer SRI. I have the K&N Typhoon which I experimented switching between SRI and CAI and noticed a lot more mid-range power with the SRI.
 
Where does the SRI get air from? It doesn't look like it would be that effective. It's just kind of out there in the engine bay pulling hot air.
 
Even with a cold air intake, the air is still hot when it reaches the engine. I have seen dynoes with the sri and cai and they are pretty much the same, the cai has a 1hp advantage over the sri at best. Plus, I don't think paying an extra 60 dollars on an injen cai is worth it over a aem sri.
 
SIBalla23 said:
Even with a cold air intake, the air is still hot when it reaches the engine. I have seen dynoes with the sri and cai and they are pretty much the same, the cai has a 1hp advantage over the sri at best. Plus, I don't think paying an extra 60 dollars on an injen cai is worth it over a aem sri.

Exactly. The piping is hot no matter what configuration you have. The air is not THAT hot on an SRI if the filter sits close to the fender (near the coolant tank)
 
The problem with a dyno of a CAI is the car is stationary...But anyway, it really doesn't matter on these cars. Though I did notice that I did not have my heatsoak issues while in traffic once I put the CAI on.
 
You also should keep in mind that most CAI's have more piping and more bends. The goal of effecient piping is to have the least amount of bends possible. So I would imagine that between the fact that the pipe heats up regardless of where the filter is and the extra bends in the pipe, the benefits of a CAI are more or less negated...especially if you live in a town that floods easily.
 
As you can tell, everyone has different opinions on it. I would just read up on both and make your decision from there. I'm from Arizona, so I'm like you, and don't have to worry about floods getting into the filter. Plus, with temperatures reaching 120 degrees, I told myself that the colder the air I could get (even if it's not going to be a whole lot cooler), the better. So I got a CAI with K&N filter
 
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