For those members within the GTA:  I saw a booth in Fairview Mall (North York) on the lower level near the escalators.  He sells auto performance parts and I couldn’t help but notice the CAI intakes with the cone filters attached.  I’m pretty sure it was AEM, and the guy said it was Less than $100 for the CAI for Civic Si (96-00).

 

vicman

 

Victor, I've got a ractive cai for sale. It was in my 97 el for about a month. The filter is brand new. Send me an email if your interested. I doubt that they'ed be selling aem cai for $100.

the ones you saw less the 100bucks is not AEM..is a copy cat made by racative..AEM is near 300+ bucks brand new.

Thanks, now I know what the difference is.  But then, if they both have similar designs isn’t the end result the same?

 

vicman

 

Hey, Welcome to the group. The truth is, you get what you pay for. I think AEM (maybe Injen as well) is one of the few companies that actually "engineer" their intakes. by this I mean they design length and diameter of the tube to get the best results for each application. Beleive me, this is complicated stuff (pipe flow characteristics, velocities, frequencies, ect.). I think those cheaper companies like Ractive, APC, and no-names just use any tube that will fit and the cheapest filter. And no, I'm not an AEM spokesman :) I'm just a graduating mechanical engineering student and this is just my two cents. Hope this helps. Dave

Dave, Thanks for your advice, it's just that I don't justify paying $400 for an AEM CAI if the Ractive one serves the same purpose. I understand what you mean about the engineering of it, but have they done dyno's to show the difference in performance beween the CAI's? If I'm not getting a substantial difference beween AEM and Joe Blow's CAI, what it comes down to is the difference is the cost. It reminds me of the Canadian Tire commercial that shows a factory shipping out tires. All the tires come from the same factory, but along the conveyeur belt, some tires go to be branded "Michelin" while the others branded "Motomaster" Jonathan

I understand what you mean. AEM is quite expensive. I recall reading a comparison review in some import mag and AEM did quite well against Injen. I have yet to come across a review of the cheaper ones though. I do have some dissapointed friends who have purchased them and would probably advise against getting one. I also agree that sometimes "no names" can be made by top brand companies (like motomaster/michelin) but I'm positive that AEM doesn't do that sort of thing unless they've opened a plant in Taiwan :) No matter what intake you decide on, don't expect too much or you'll definately be disappointed. The best intake on the market (whatever that may be) would probably only result in nominal performance increase. TURBOS - now that's where the actions at!! ;) hope this helps, peace.

From what I've been reading about CAIs, here's the general scoop that everyone follows... - First decide whether CAI or SRI. - If CAI: if you have an automatic, don't even bother. It doesn't do anything other than give you great sound. AEM doesn't make a CAI for automatics (I read this), as it never made any good HP increases on the automatic. If manual, people usually choose either AEM or Injen. I've never heard of Injen until 2001.... I dunno, but at 2k1civic.com, alot of people seem to have it. I'm not sure if Injen has the bypass valve though.... AEM does. - If SRI, get one that looks nice, and that's cheap. They're all the same, just get one that uses a nice K&N air filter. - And whether it's a CAI, SRI, or just stock intake + K&N filter or whatever, your gains are 3hp at the most (CAI), and you'll never feel that. It's the whistling and roaring of the air from your new intake that makes it feel more responsive :) Once the EL's engine hits 4000rpm, you get a nice roaring sound anyhow. As if the car doesn't rattle enough, or keep cabin noise down, why add more noise? My two cents :)