So I was thinking about how CAIs help. Since most of the air that gets into the neon through the CAI is vacuum right? I mean with the stock intake I don't see how any air actually got in there lol. Then even with the aftermarket CAIs still...not much air can get in there at all. So its still really getting air from the vacuum. Do you think that the weight reduction could be the biggest gain with a CAI?

I have all my stock stuff from my intake in a box and it has to weigh at least 10-15lbs

 

Run it open throttle body

 

?? It is still mostly vacuum. Yeah, the pipe being a tad bigger and the flow form is better. Don't get me wrong on that part. Just saying...it helps so little that the weight reduction could help the same amount if not more than the intake gain.

 

Flow is where you are getting gains from. You will not pull any more colder air with a CAI then with the stock air box, since the car comes with a CAI from the factory. The resonator in the fender is the biggest draw back of the stock system. It does serve as protection from water intake and hydro lock, but with the sacrifice of smooth airflow.

weight reduction does not hurt, but also does not give you power. (just as a UDP does not add power)

 

well I understand it doesn't give you power. I understand weight reduction and power are 2 different things. But weight+power=speed. So they are definitely both a major factor.

I will break this down into kiddie numbers so I can get my point across.

The stock CAI has:
power=5
weight=5
speed=10

The aftermarket CAI has:
power=7
weight=8
speed=15

Now not saying these are accurate at all. And when I use the weight values higher is better.

Lets say those numbers are accurate for the sake of this conversation. So putting on the new CAI gave me +2 power and +3 weight and +5 speed overall. So I got a bigger advantage from weight than I did power. Thats what I'm thinking.

The only real way to test this is to find out how much speed you gain from a 10-15lb weight reduction and then how much speed you can from a 3-4whp addition.

 

you are not going to see as much gain as you think from 10lbs...

I understand what you are getting at. Rule of thumb is 100lbs = a tenth of a second. so the CAI got you from a 16.34 in the quarter to a 16.33. (weight redux only - any power gains are not factored in)

 

Wow, all this math foran cold air intake. Maybe we should do a show on the discovery channel....

 

the stock airbox weighs slightly more than a CAI which is like 2 lbs maybe. you are getting better flow for the air. its just letting the engine not struggle to breathe. try running around the block with your mouth open and then try doing it with a sock in it (dont cheat with your nose) and thats the basic idea