[Darth Martel]

I think the point, really, is to determine if the options on the market are legit and deliver any power gains at all. Most of us like the sound a CAI delivers and perhaps the feeling (real or imaginary) of any performance boost. I returned my Mishi CAI because the performance of my car actually suffered. I put the stock airbox back on and there was a really large performance difference. Now, maybe that would have been fixed with a tune but, I won't be doing a tune until I do headers and a catback exhaust. In the meantime, a CAI seemed logical for sound and maybe a small performance gain. If you actually lose performance though, what's the point? That's the point of this testing. It's not all about HP.

[oldman]

all I can say is my car is now traction limited in 2nd gear: MSD Intake, Mishmotto CAI, 6le front CAT deletes, and HP tuner w/wideband. M6 of course. No dyno, but the car was not traction challenged stock in 2nd gear! Of course 1st gear now at any speed is traction challenged by rolling onto the throttle. Nuff for me... till next summer when I'll do cam and ported heads.

[oldman]

Originally Posted by DisturbedSS

Ahhh...the CAI debate rages on, been beat to death on the Mustang, Corvette and Camaro forums.

Why is it always only about HP and dyno results...when did a better driving experience that a CAI provides become irrelevant? I encourage all the doubters to ignore the fact that any and all competitive racing circles dont use some sealed airbox with a restrictive filter and accordion style connector that impedes air flow. Ill always side with teams like Ford racing (what I grew up around) who do this for a living everyday of their lives and would highly advocate adding airflow enhancing components maxed out with proper tuning.

You want better performance with ANY of your aftermarket parts...then tune the car. If youre worried about warranties or longevity, then you shouldnt be swapping out anything.. right?

If all you care about is HP numbers, you can certainly Frankenstein up a wannabe ZL1 along with all the issues that come with it. Factual, unbiased info is hard to find in a forum aside from some great sponsor based testing and experiences.

My Inductions CAI and tune certainly made my SS a better, more responsive drive. You can keep your HP numbers that no 2 people can seem to duplicate anyways!

should be a sticky.

[Fraxum]

Originally Posted by oldman

all I can say is my car is now traction limited in 2nd gear: MSD Intake, Mishmotto CAI, 6le front CAT deletes, and HP tuner w/wideband. M6 of course. No dyno, but the car was not traction challenged stock in 2nd gear! Of course 1st gear now at any speed is traction challenged by rolling onto the throttle. Nuff for me... till next summer when I'll do cam and ported heads.

I think these two are to thank for your lack of traction in second gear.

[Fraxum]

Originally Posted by DisturbedSS

Ahhh...the CAI debate rages on, been beat to death on the Mustang, Corvette and Camaro forums.

Why is it always only about HP and dyno results...when did a better driving experience that a CAI provides become irrelevant? I encourage all the doubters to ignore the fact that any and all competitive racing circles dont use some sealed airbox with a restrictive filter and accordion style connector that impedes air flow. Ill always side with teams like Ford racing (what I grew up around) who do this for a living everyday of their lives and would highly advocate adding airflow enhancing components maxed out with proper tuning.

You want better performance with ANY of your aftermarket parts...then tune the car. If youre worried about warranties or longevity, then you shouldnt be swapping out anything.. right?

If all you care about is HP numbers, you can certainly Frankenstein up a wannabe ZL1 along with all the issues that come with it. Factual, unbiased info is hard to find in a forum aside from some great sponsor based testing and experiences.

My Inductions CAI and tune certainly made my SS a better, more responsive drive. You can keep your HP numbers that no 2 people can seem to duplicate anyways!

Good points. And another one is getting rid of that horrible sound tube.

[oldman]

Originally Posted by Fraxum

I think these two are to thank for your lack of traction in second gear.

If and when I get some time, I'll dyno my setup and then throw the stock box on and load back an optimized tune (a/f only) for that setup and see. Note I know nothing about timing or cam phasing at this point, but at least my car sees zero KR with 93 octane so far.

[wnta1ss]

Originally Posted by DisturbedSS

Why is it always only about HP and dyno results...

Pointing out the obvious here, but the 'cold air intakes' are advertised as giving more hp than stock. Since they are advertised as a performance improvement, people rightfully want the extra performance they are paying for. If they advertised ONLY that it makes more noise, then I might understand your confusion...

[Fraxum]

Originally Posted by wnta1ss

Pointing out the obvious here, but the 'cold air intakes' are advertised as giving more hp than stock. Since they are advertised as a performance improvement, people rightfully want the extra performance they are paying for. If they advertised ONLY that it makes more noise, then I might understand your confusion...

I do think a CAI might help a bit if you are doing more modding for power on the SS. I hope to prove that soon via JRE. I bought one and the car did seem more responsive.

The thing is though some people don't care so much about more power and still want a CAI from all the posts I read about the Chevy CAI twin. Having owned both the Rotofab and Cold Air Inductions CAIs, they are both quality products. I cannot speak to the others. I do like the sound and the look in the staging lanes of the Rotofab. More people stop to talk to me once they see the Rotofab. Can you put a price on new friends?

[Wolvie70]

Originally Posted by DisturbedSS

Ahhh...the CAI debate rages on, been beat to death on the Mustang, Corvette and Camaro forums.

Why is it always only about HP and dyno results...when did a better driving experience that a CAI provides become irrelevant? I encourage all the doubters to ignore the fact that any and all competitive racing circles dont use some sealed airbox with a restrictive filter and accordion style connector that impedes air flow. Ill always side with teams like Ford racing (what I grew up around) who do this for a living everyday of their lives and would highly advocate adding airflow enhancing components maxed out with proper tuning.

You want better performance with ANY of your aftermarket parts...then tune the car. If youre worried about warranties or longevity, then you shouldnt be swapping out anything.. right?

If all you care about is HP numbers, you can certainly Frankenstein up a wannabe ZL1 along with all the issues that come with it. Factual, unbiased info is hard to find in a forum aside from some great sponsor based testing and experiences.

My Inductions CAI and tune certainly made my SS a better, more responsive drive. You can keep your HP numbers that no 2 people can seem to duplicate anyways!

Glad you cleared that up.

[Roto-fab 1]

Originally Posted by Fraxum

I do think a CAI might help a bit if you are doing more modding for power on the SS. I hope to prove that soon via JRE. I bought one and the car did seem more responsive.

The thing is though some people don't care so much about more power and still want a CAI from all the posts I read about the Chevy CAI twin. Having owned both the Rotofab and Cold Air Inductions CAIs, they are both quality products. I cannot speak to the others. I do like the sound and the look in the staging lanes of the Rotofab. More people stop to talk to me once they see the Rotofab. Can you put a price on new friends?

Thanks for your thoughts on our CAI. I have a very personal dededication to our company and products, so it always makes me smile to see reviews like yours.

Thanks again!
Michael

[Dysan911]

Whatever happened to the link on this? I see the jump points on the first page but no link to the actual video. Was it taken down?

[Camaro455ss]

Originally Posted by Sledgehammer70

Well it has taken me 100x longer than I would have liked and the test ran into Summer time heat. But overall I was able to put the Cold Air Inductions, Mishimoto and Stock air box to the test.

The video is long, but here are some jump points if you just want the data, but i feel you should at least listen to some of the details I speak too before making your final decision here.

Jump Points:
0:00 - Intro
1:18 - Caveats for the testing
4:38 - 1st Stock Run Details
6:40 - 1st Stock Dyno Run
8:08 - Stock Run Numbers (AC on)
8:18 - Stock Run Recap
9:24 - Cold Air Inductions CAI Details
9:50 - Cold Air Inductions CAI Dyno Run
10:57 - Cold Air Inductions CAI Numbers
11:05 - Cold Air Inductions CAI Recap
11:38 - Mishimoto CAI Details
12:55 - Mishimoto CAI Dyno Run
13:45 - Mishimoto CAI Numbers and Recap
15:06 - 2nd Stock Details (NO AC)
16:29 - 2nd Stock Dyno Run (NO AC)
17:25 - 2nd Stock Numbers and Recap (NO AC)
18:27 - 2nd Cold Air Inductions CAI Details
22:36 - 2nd Cold Air Inductions CAI Dyno Run
23:59 - 2nd Cold Air Inductions CAI Numbers & Recap
26:19 - Next Steps Part #1 (Roto-Fab and AFE Power)
26:44 - More Caveats, Pondering and Discussion
28:02 - MAF Readings Stock vs. Cold Air Inductions vs. Mishimoto
29:39 - Other Product Considerations
31:31 - Final Words & More Caveats?
33:50 - What Product Would

Next up, testing the Roto-fab, AFE Power and GM CAI....

Where is the video?? :(

[Richard0nee]

Good stuff folks..

[SK GT]

Has anyone done a before and after of just a drop in filter? It seems these stock air boxes were designed pretty well from the get go. I'd like to see if anything comes of a AFE drop in or similar.