CAI vs SRI

n00dLeZ

Well-Known Member
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maybe i missed a thread that talks about the same thing, and im sorry if i did, but whats better for the 2012 si? i understand the basic concepts of CAI and SRI but which is better for our '12 SI? CAI or SRI? im looking into an intake as my first performance mod for my car but im not really sure which to go with. any helpful tips? thanks!
 
cold air intake will produce better results. I've yet to see a member independently dyno a short ram here. Previous generation civics saw better gains with the cold air. You're pulling air from outside the engine bay area with a cold air intake. Less heat soak from the engine area
 
yea thats basically what ive been told. its just i hate companies that advertise their gains, sometimes i just dont know if theyre lying or not even with dynos, they can be fake. but from what ive looked into, takeda sri "showed" better gains than injen cai. and also, for cai, bypass valve is recommended right? is that something id buy, or would i go to my auto shop and ask them to fit one on for me? what does that usually run? i think im leaning towards the injen cai right now
 
user dyno on the injen
http://9thcivic.com/forum/threads/d...injen-cold-air-intake-dyno-before-after.4467/

again, haven't seen a member dyno the takeda yet. I would not worry about a bypass. Unless you're driving through water over a foot deep, you're not going to be pulling water in. If you're really worried about it, you can put a hydroshield on it.
Injen_Hydroshield_PreFilters.jpg


injen said:
There is pre filter that will work which is p/n: X-1033BLK , we are currently designing one for the high flow filter specifically since they're new filters.
 
hmm i was talking to procivic through pm and he told me that the hydroshield isnt really helpful. his/her exact words were:
Also, the reason why we don't offer the HydroShield is because it restricts AirFlow and does not prevent hydrolock at all. It only prevents possible moisture droplets from getting the filter wet or damp. A wet or damp filter is not going to damage the engine on this car.
can you tell me more about the bypass, i just want to be extra extra extra safe, cause i cant afford to hydrolock especially when nothing covers that if its from the performance parts. and where i work, when it rains a lot, it floods, i was literally driving through a river last time, but of course if it ever happens again, ill drive off the road if i have to, im never going through a huge puddle again. lol >=O
 
hmm i was talking to procivic through pm and he told me that the hydroshield isnt really helpful. his/her exact words were:
Also, the reason why we don't offer the HydroShield is because it restricts AirFlow and does not prevent hydrolock at all. It only prevents possible moisture droplets from getting the filter wet or damp. A wet or damp filter is not going to damage the engine on this car.
can you tell me more about the bypass, i just want to be extra extra extra safe, cause i cant afford to hydrolock especially when nothing covers that if its from the performance parts. and where i work, when it rains a lot, it floods, i was literally driving through a river last time, but of course if it ever happens again, ill drive off the road if i have to, im never going through a huge puddle again. lol >=O

I have to disagree with pro civic. I have the injen hydro shield on my cai
And before installed the hydro shield I tested it completely submerged it with my hand inside and my hand did not get wet. Also run it under the sink and my hand did not get wet until I opened it all the way up and then a small amount of water seeped through. So I would say it stops more than a few droplets. As far as restricts air flow goes I havent noticed a difference since installing it.
 
aem bypass valve

air_bypass_valve.jpg


the injen intake is 1 piece of pipe, so there's not a place to put this.

411735_10150721384378361_783423360_9334690_17199740_o.jpg


bad video, but you can see a hydroshield under water here

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHC5hVi1Hro


again, if you're really worried, pick up a sri. It's not going to be a major difference.
 
Companies say that some SRIs have huge gains because they dyno the test cars with opened hoods while there's a fan blowing into it. It will be a different story if the hood was closed and if the car was ran for over 15 minutes.

Also, a hydroshield is useful for keeping water from getting into the filter, as well as dirt and other debris that build up and clog the filter.
 
do the res delete with a k&n drop in panel for now, $50 upgrade to a "ghetto CAI" imo.
might not have as clean/straight an airflow due to the ribs in the stock tubing, but honestly, not a HUGE difference at the moment i'd say
or pick up the K&N SRI box that is a heatshield sealed from the engine bay and uses the stock tube down below to draw air behind the bumper if you delete the res, or it uses the stock snorkel otherwise
 
i apologize first because there are many noob questions coming up after this, sorry!

i did the res delete but i didnt move any tubes, i just removed the whole thing. been too lazy to order the k&n panel, but im not sure if im getting it because itd be a waste of $40 if im gonna buy an injen CAI within the next week, which im leaning towards. but this leads me to quite a few follow up questions that im hoping you guys can help me with. btw ive learned so much in the little time ive been in this forum. 9thcivic is my bible. lol anyway back to the questions. im leaning towards buying the injen cai, but as i saw in another thread, i didnt know that if you plan on getting a turbo for your car that youd have to get rid of the cai because of fitment issues or something. is that correct? now this brings up several follow up questions. if you get a turbo kit and have to get rid of your cai, what do you pair it with? do you get an SRI? do you go back to stock? do you have to custom an intake or something? also, do you think its worth it to get a cai as a" for now" type of thing until i decide to get a turbo kit for Ruby (my car)? the reason i ask is because, turbo is WAYYYYYYY down the line for me. most likely at least 2 years, unless i somehow magically stumble upon a pot of gold or find a higher paying job (in case anyone hiring sees this! =]) . is it worth it to just go for the basics (intake, exhaust, header, other misc.) for now until that moment i decide to get the turbo and just part out the parts i dont need anymore? basically turbo is a defintie but its just definitely going to be wayyyyy wayyy down the line, i can not stress this more.

and now that im leaning towards the injen cai (i think its sounds beast from the video that other member posted), i have a question about the res delete that i did. what do i do with it if i get the injen cai? do i put it back? do i leave it as is? do i play around with the tubing as it seems some ppl did? does the same go for the SRI? also, i dont really want to get a complete set of parts from just one company (unless theyre free of course haha ill do anything for free stuff!), but is it better lets say i get an injen cai, and i decide to get the full race catback system and future header, would it be better to get the full race catback system, future header, and full race cai that theyre working on? nothings wrong with mix and match is there? truth be told i wanted to get the injen cai and ultimate racing catback, but seems that full race is coming with the header soon so id probably end up just getting the full system from them, as well as if i get their setup id be a shoein for the turbo kit in the distant DISTANT future.

thanks in advance for all the advice!!!
 
A turbo kit will have it's own intake pipe. And you'll have to remove the whole intake system to install a CAI. If you like having one brand for the I/H/E, then stick with it. But it doesn't really matter.
 
^^ what dar dar has said. No problem with mix/match brands of various parts. Since the turbo option is way down the line, there is nothing wrong with going for thee injen now. Nothing needs done with the resonator delete you did. You just have to remove the battery/tray to install the injen. As for the k&n short ram - here are the instructions in PDF
http://www.knfilters.com/instructions/69-1019_inst.pdf
 
do the res delete with a k&n drop in panel for now, $50 upgrade to a "ghetto CAI" imo.
might not have as clean/straight an airflow due to the ribs in the stock tubing, but honestly, not a HUGE difference at the moment i'd say
or pick up the K&N SRI box that is a heatshield sealed from the engine bay and uses the stock tube down below to draw air behind the bumper if you delete the res, or it uses the stock snorkel otherwise
I tend to agree with mongoose221. From what I have seen the K&N SRI looks like it's designed to use the stock air intake which draws cooler air from outside the engine bay. I also like the fact that the K&N has a filter that is easy to access when it's time to service it. The res delete would make the intake breath easier and would probably give you some more gains however they would be minor.
It looks like the stock setup is Hondas attempt at a simple CAI with a serviceable filter and the K&N is a similar setup that breaths better. I'm not so sure I would want to go through the hassle of installing the CAI unless the gains were significantly more than the SRI.
 
Man,OhMan.. help me out guys!! So my. Delema is the new K&n sri, and the new Takeda Momentum... so to me they Both look like the fit right on to the fact. Set up.. so would that eliminate hydroblock for the Takeda???? And the k&n not only pulls from above but it also hooks up to the fact. Set up. So woul that prevent it from being Heat soke and gain more power than other designed sri's??? What to get, what to do?? And I'm not one who really cares about the sound so don't judge by that.... so the new K&n is almost like the takeda??? Only draws in more air? Is the takeda pulling in that much cooler air with the new set up of k&n? What is better for my performance?? Please send your thoughts on the two!
 
where the K&N is sealed off, it seems to block heat from the engine bay, and draw from below, while the takeda is a sealed box.
it seems that the K&N may get some air from above the cowl as well, i haven't checked to see how sealed that area is yet.
overall i think they are a wash, but the K&N sounds great, while i haven't heard the takeda sound yet, and even though you said
that sound isn't necessarily a priority for you, so it may or may not be a factor.
all in all, i feel performance may be fairly close to identical on both, and personally i would do a resonator delete for the K&N and the takeda regardless
 
thanks.. hmm makes me kinda lean on the k&n since its a good bit cheaper. Both a Wash? But if I keep fixing it up..then it should be a factor down the line correct? I wasn't to sure on the res. Delete in fear of it pulling in a lot of water..it floods sometimes here and gotta drive through some big ponds sometimes..LOL... OTHER THAN that its been kinda hard on deciding the next part..I as going o with a throttle body but k&n said they werenot. designed to use it and could not perform to it'd fullpotential.. so I was guessing a cat back...or a chip..that Hondata flash pro sounded nice too. Thanks for ya time!
 
Man,OhMan.. help me out guys!! So my. Delema is the new K&n sri, and the new Takeda Momentum... so to me they Both look like the fit right on to the fact. Set up.. so would that eliminate hydroblock for the Takeda???? And the k&n not only pulls from above but it also hooks up to the fact. Set up. So woul that prevent it from being Heat soke and gain more power than other designed sri's??? What to get, what to do?? And I'm not one who really cares about the sound so don't judge by that.... so the new K&n is almost like the takeda??? Only draws in more air? Is the takeda pulling in that much cooler air with the new set up of k&n? What is better for my performance?? Please send your thoughts on the two!
where the K&N is sealed off, it seems to block heat from the engine bay, and draw from below, while the takeda is a sealed box.
it seems that the K&N may get some air from above the cowl as well, i haven't checked to see how sealed that area is yet.
overall i think they are a wash, but the K&N sounds great, while i haven't heard the takeda sound yet, and even though you said
that sound isn't necessarily a priority for you, so it may or may not be a factor.
all in all, i feel performance may be fairly close to identical on both, and personally i would do a resonator delete for the K&N and the takeda regardless
For me I'm also taking into consideration the fact that K&N is a big player in the performance intake world as well as they have been around for a long time and have obviously proven themselves. They have the resources to do the R&D. That's not to say that they are the be-all and end-all. I would go with whatever you feel most comfortable with after doing your research.
 
that's definitely another thing to think about jonny, the fact that K&N's been around forever, it's a good thing to look at, but design is design, and they are basically the same, though one is open one is closed, so I assume the K&N will be louder, i'm thinking i'd take the K&N too if it were me
 
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