I have a AEM Brute Force Cold Air Intake i am wondering if i am supposed to have a gasket on it where it clamps down on top the throttle body i dont believe i have one on there but not sure will have to look tomorrow but i am just wondering just in case i am supposed to?

 

Yeah, should prolly have one there, unless the air hat has some provision that obviates the necessity.

 

You need to use the gasket. http://www.aemintakes.com/instructio...-8202_inst.pdf

 

Is there really any advantage to a CAI other than looking cool?

The stock air cleaner and snorkel is already routed through the fender.

 

It sounds cool, and I think I gained a little top end but that could be wishful thinking

 

Not really. Unless you get one that can at least have a hose to get air from the grill area(and even with that the gains are minimal, I feel a little better bottom end maybe). And can get it for a great price like I did. I would never buy one new. Other than that, the stock one is plenty adequate. Get a K&N drop in and be happy.

 

Do the K&N's make a difference?

 

A drop in K&N filter? Not really again. That's what I had in mine before I got the deal on the Volant. I only said that so you can have the wow factor of owning an overpriced K&N product. LOL I have two used in great shape filters if you'd like to purchase one. I used plain old quality WIX filters in the winter(because of the cleaning hassle of the K&N in winter) (not to mention the expense of the tune up kit)and never noticed the slightest bit of difference. Which of course could also be the way I drive.

 

i noticed a lot more power with my k&n. As i though many people did. And i get on it quite a bit which might be why. granted if you dont go over 3k rpms very often i dont imagine youd be astonished as they dyno hp levels at 4500rpms and such. I loved it compared to stock. response was way better. powerband felt smoother and more poweful. mileage however went down due to heavy right foot.

 

I will say, that if I was going to buy one new, I'd get the Spectre(lots of peeps here have them). A lot less expensive for the same thing as the K&N CAI.