Another new intake: Injen (12hp/19tq increase)

[r0n]

Installed the intake yesterday. Really straight forward and took 20 min or so. Immediately noticed low end increase, as I take the same turn every morning and with the same throttle. This morning I had a holy crap moment as I sped off faster than intended.

When I first saw the pic I said to myself that pipe is going to get really hot and going to need some kind of heat wrap. I guess you found that out. I would have done the same thing and probably go a step further by having it ceramic coated.

Btw good to hear there's a noticeable difference.

[oc cc]

This thread did not help my confusion at all..... so DOES it provide increased power? Or is all we have to go by just butt dynos?

[Okan509]

I love how this thread is filled with dick jokes...

[Okan509]

http://www.autoanything.com/Popups/V...ProductID=2576

[Stuke'ite]

I did a lot with intakes in my Mitsi days. As my car went from a stock 195 hp to 400 AWHP I made many intake changes and tests. All I can say is, at some point above stock, ANY stock intake will be restrictive enough to not enable to turbo to spool, bite into the air, and actually suck it into the engine the air it needs as freely as it needs it. Do a milkshake test next time you are at McDonalds. Buy a yummy milkshake, and grab a swizzle stick (coffee stir-stick for this of you with lower IQ's)(JOKE), put it in the milkshake (taking the top off is probably easier) and take a big, phat suck! What do you get, nada! Now put your McDonalds Straw in the shake and take the same big phat suck, what do you get? Brain freeze! Why, the vacuum you are creating by sucking (turbo spooling) requires more shake flow than your intake (swizzle stick) can accommodate.

At what point does our Audi need a bigger straw? I am not sure. In my Mitsi days we noticed 2 things when we actually hit the point of needing more pre-turbo intake flow. The turbo spooled faster (need a boost gauge and video camera or a data logger that can watch boost to measure), and we saw top end power did not tail off as much (need a dyno to test this). The funny think was watching the MAF was not a really good, clear indicator, though we all thought it should be. I also noticed once that changing my intake meant I needed to change the fuel parameters to maintain the same AFR in the top end and as the turbo spooled up (don't ask how I saw this if you think this thread I am writing is long and useless and boring, as explaining that would take even more time.)

As for heat soak from the piping to the air......if you take into consideration the air velocity moving through that pipe and the surface area (amount of contact the air mass has with the walls of the pipe as it flows through) the heat soak effect is MINIMAL (wrapped or not). Plus, remember as soon as it goes through that pipe the air hits our little hair dryer of a turbo and gets super heated anyway (even the KO4 is a hair dryer, just one for CA Blondes vs Boot Camp Marines). The biggest and best way to cool that air is to do some kind of improved intercooler, as the few degrees it may pick up in the intake are immaterial in the big scheme of things. Now if, for example, the stock intake drew air from INSIDE the engine compartment, then in hot weather you might see a 50-100 degree drop in intake temps with a CAI, which would be material.

Remember too the piping from the turbo to the manifold is like a very long straw. Here too gains can be had as HP increases. Going from 1.95" stock Mitsi to 2.25" before the FMIC and 2.5" after made a huge difference on my car, even at relatively low HP over stock. Experiment with this, take that McDonalds straw, slide another one on top so its now twice as long and take that same big suck.....its harder to get your prize (or the straw collapses).

IMHO, based on the little I know about our cars, I would think if you are going to stage 2 APR Tunes w/full exhausts or above you should defiantly get some kind of CAI AND new intercooler piping (esp replace the stock, plastic sound chamber thingy post turbo), AND FMIC.

The real bottom line, if you get it and feel a difference then enjoy it! If you get it and don't feel anything.....return it.

OK off my soap box.......guess I had too much coffee this morning! :)

[brinesi]

Sound clip, please?

[STA4]

After reviewing the airflow and dyno charts of various systems, I've decided that I will simply replace the stock filter element with a K&N filter charger and replace the turbo inlet tube (cheap and looks good). Then I'll put the money that I saved towards the Eurocode FMIC package. The stock intake seems pretty efficient.

[oc cc]

Arrgg, so tempted to get this CAI.... why couldn't life be simple, damn you atmospheric physics! So the consensus is our intake is efficient enough?

[AllBlackA4]

i have the injen cai and i love it just saying...

[STA4]

i have the injen cai and i love it just saying...

Are you loving the induction sound or did you feel it on the "butt dyno"?

[blackavant]

I had the injen intake on my car. The intake sound was great, but I could not get over the high pitch squealing/whistle sound from the turbo's compressor wheel spinning and also my millage went from 20mpg to around 15mpg city driving.I honestly did not notice a difference in terms of increased power but it did sound awesome after you get passed the squealing sound after 3k rpm. I had it on for about a month and took it off. Btw I still have the intake, if anyone is interested pm me.


Here is a sound clip of the intake installed in my car:

[rayray]

Not convinced that this setup provides any gains, performance or sound. I get better sound from my K&N filter in the stock box.... just saying.

[AllBlackA4]

Are you loving the induction sound or did you feel it on the "butt dyno"?

i felt an immediate increase in low-end power

[maga4]

Definitely has a whistle/whine to it, not sure if it is too much or not...

[AllBlackA4]

you get used to its not not that bad

[gunsmoker]

After reviewing the airflow and dyno charts of various systems, I've decided that I will simply replace the stock filter element with a K&N filter charger and replace the turbo inlet tube (cheap and looks good). Then I'll put the money that I saved towards the Eurocode FMIC package. The stock intake seems pretty efficient.

I decided to go with the aFe Pro Dry S filter and the stock box. Based on their data this one is better than their oiled filter (Pro 5 R) in terms of filtration and has the same flow. It's dry, not oiled, and is also washable. Ordered it yesterday so I can't say how it performs yet. It's a little bit more expensive than K&N - $65 shipped. I was going to go with the Carbonio, but looking at it - $450 for an oiled filter and some carbon fiber cover looks like a joke to me.

[A4 Centaur]

Intake discussions. Interesting.

When I was doing this in a previous life I discovered that a flow bench and the results need to be shown to prove any actual gains.

The Tdi forums and any other number of performance forums have beat this subject to death. I don't have an answer, but a smoother idle, and quicker spooling should be the added benefit of a mod like this.

I think I will give it try seems to be an easy mod. Had something similar on my A4 Jetta Tdi. Worked well.

[TCHUN003]

I don't know about the B8, but it's been proven by immediate before/after dynos that Audi's stock intake system is pretty damn good (well at least in the B6/B7). All of the different aftermarket intakes in the B6/B7 actually lost power except for the Carbonio which was pretty much a tweaked version of Audi's stock air box. Like I said, I don't know if Audi's intake design improved or is now worse, but it looks pretty much the same to me, so I'm assuming our stock unit is sufficient. Possibly getting a TIP and the IC pipe may improve throttle response, but the stock ECU and CAT are mainly what needs to be changed to make noticeable power. Next thing you'd want to do is get a larger turbo/fueling and a FMIC. In a few years I'm sure guys will be building these engines and making a lot of power and by THAT point, you're most likely going to be needing a cone fliter with a good heat shield.

One of the main reasons I won't put one on my avant is because the MPG's will suffer.

[STA4]

Intake discussions. Interesting.

When I was doing this in a previous life I discovered that a flow bench and the results need to be shown to prove any actual gains.

The Tdi forums and any other number of performance forums have beat this subject to death. I don't have an answer, but a smoother idle, and quicker spooling should be the added benefit of a mod like this.

I think I will give it try seems to be an easy mod. Had something similar on my A4 Jetta Tdi. Worked well.

No one is saying that aftermarket intakes are a hoax. Some cars come with very restrictive intakes (long paths, lots of bends, sound boxes, restrictive elements, warm air, etc.) and there are gains to be had with a CAI. The question here is how much does a CAI help our car. It's a ram air configuration with a few bends before the turbo inlet. I'm sure that there are some gains to be had, but is it worth the money? I think the Carbonio intake looks amazing, I like that it's not LOUD, but just can't justify the cost for what seems like minimal gains.

[B8_Jim]

I decided to go with the aFe Pro Dry S filter and the stock box. Based on their data this one is better than their oiled filter (Pro 5 R) in terms of filtration and has the same flow. It's dry, not oiled, and is also washable. Ordered it yesterday so I can't say how it performs yet. It's a little bit more expensive than K&N - $65 shipped. I was going to go with the Carbonio, but looking at it - $450 for an oiled filter and some carbon fiber cover looks like a joke to me.

Interesting. aFe claims 58% higher flow than stock. Please give us an update and impressions once you get it installed.

[gunsmoker]

Interesting. aFe claims 58% higher flow than stock. Please give us an update and impressions once you get it installed.

I installed the aFe Pro Dry S filter today. It does look like having a greater flow than the stock one once you see the stock thing with its fluffy front side. There is little change in the engine noise, just some slight whistle for a second when you push hard on it and you have to listen carefully to notice it. As far as any noticeable performance increase, I can't say I saw that. I'm running with a fuel cleaner right now and a Sunoco 93 gas, because I couldn't get to a Shell station - that may be a factor. The outside temperature as well. I can't figure out what type of weather makes this engine run better. You would think cold and dry, but I have had a better experience with warm and not very dry. Plus the ECU is playing some games I can't figure out either. Before I got my Stasis ECU tune, I could make the wheels slip by dropping the clutch at 4k RPM. Now it's very very hard to do that. Soon after I had the tune installed, I noticed that after dropping the clutch at 4k, I had to struggle to get the throttle all the way down for the short time before it hit 6k. What I mean by that is that it got quicker. It's been over a month since then and it seems now that I have an ample amount of time to do that. Has it gotten slower or am I quicker now or am I having carbon build-up issues? All that said, I can't notice a performance difference due to a higher flow filter among all those other things. Buy that filter - I doubt that the carbonio and the injen are any better.

[Wah]

It sounds good although the constant whistling may get annoying considering you're driving a B8.

[a4_bob]

Plus the ECU is playing some games I can't figure out either. Before I got my Stasis ECU tune, I could make the wheels slip by dropping the clutch at 4k RPM. Now it's very very hard to do that. Soon after I had the tune installed, I noticed that after dropping the clutch at 4k, I had to struggle to get the throttle all the way down for the short time before it hit 6k. What I mean by that is that it got quicker. It's been over a month since then and it seems now that I have an ample amount of time to do that. Has it gotten slower or am I quicker now or am I having carbon build-up issues?

I've felt the same way after having two B8s with ecu tunes and various perf mods. I always questioned whether it was the ecu or me getting used to the mods - you've tracked it more to the car.

[gunsmoker]

It sounds good although the constant whistling may get annoying considering you're driving a B8.

No, it's not constant. Only when you push real hard. Can't hear it if you are just cruising or if the radio is on. I'm sure my wife wouldn't notice it. It's not anywhere near the sound you can hear on soundbites from open CAIs. It doesn't mean to me it's much more restrictive, because it looks like it's capable of a much higher flow than the stock one. I think it's the stock box that muffles the sound. You can't see through the filter like you can with an oiled one, but it's pretty close and if aFe claims it has the same flow as their oiled filters and is washable and doesn't need oiling, it seems like it's the best compromise between performance, noise, usability and price there is. For $65 shipped it won't break the bank just to try it out. It begs the question why would anyone buy an oiled filter then. Will see if this technology will displace the oiled stuff or it will turn out the flow is not as good.