So I put in my AEM CAI the other day, and was a little skeptical about the power it was making. Sure it sounds awesome, and it SEEMS as though it pulls harder... but is it really making power? So I got my best friend, and we did some tests. He has a stock 2000 SH... I have a 2000 SH as well. We've messed around on empty roads before, and we were almost always dead even, give or take a foot or two, so our cars were probably making about the same power.
So! Here's what we did: We went to an empty road, and to try to negate crappy launches, we did a 2nd gear, 2000 rpm rolling start. We set a marker, and once we hit it, we'd gun it, and go to redline in 3rd gear, approx 90mph.
The results? We did the runs about 5 times... Well what can I say? I was quite impressed... 4 out of the 5 times, he was at least at my rear bumper, if not farther back. The last time, he said he jumped the gun, but at the end of 3rd gear, I was still ahead of him... he was maybe at my passenger door or thereabouts. I was happy... and I think I convinced him to get one as well.
I have to admit, it was rather cold, for it was night time, so other results may vary. And to quell the 'CAIs lose low end torque' rumor, he didn't pull on me at all... at 2000 rpms, it was dead even... then at about 3500, I started to pull away, and when I hit VTEC, it was all over.
Hope this answered any questions... I would totally recommend the AEM CAI to anybody. Sounds badass, and makes power, who can complain?
It's good to see some relatively objective comparison in a real world application. Thank you for the post. I too could feel a bit more pull and definately hear a difference with my AEM CAI but had no way to compare before and after.
We tried to be as objective as possible, and I think we did a pretty good job, even though it isn't a perfect method. At least it proves some facts. How do you like your thermal exhaust? I think i'm gonna break down and get one
It's the only exhaust I've ever had so I can't compare it to others very well, but as I said in that thread, it looks to be made well, sounds nice to me, and looks decent. Another thing I mentioned is that the Thermal for the 5th gen looks pretty similar to stock, so if you don't like the grapefruit launcher look it might be very appealing.
Will you be interested in having your friend do some more tests while he still has the stock intake on???
Remove the resonator just like you did on your CAI install and then remove just the bottom portion of the stock intake box. Then zip- tie the filter to the top portion of the box. So what you have is the stock top part of the intake, filter zip-tied in, and nothing below except an empty hole for cold air to get in. Then do the runs agains...
wtf dont you come into irc anymore? Stop by so we can chat. I am thinking a thermal exhaust... What about you? Did you get the gc/konis on?
-Colin
K I guess I'll be a general irc slut again...just for you. Pulleys and a level ten pts kit are my next upgrades. The koni/gc combo is awesome. Too bad I could only enjoy it for a couple weeks then the flat tire fairy got me. Tire's coming in two days from tirerack. This is sorta getting OT, so we'll chat more elsewhere
Ok so I'm replying. I got my AEM CAI installed also a couple weeks ago, and it performed head and shoulders above my old ghetto obx short ram. The drop in power in low end isn't as noticeable, but the gains from 3.8K or so and up are just incredible. Highway driving in 4th gear (for me) going at around 75 has so much torque when u go WOT. The deep hum at 4K is well worth the money.
Beautiful test! I myself always thought that my car had to be faster with an AEM CAI, after all I spent $175 on it! But who knew if it was just the noise volume making me thinking it worked better. Now here's some pretty solid evidence.
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But who knew if it was just the noise volume making me thinking it worked better. Now here's some pretty solid evidence.
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