I know that these cheapo cai on ebay are not top quality, but are they worth a darn? I know that they pull hot air, but other than that do they work well?

 

pulling hot air kind of defeats the purpose!

 

You answered your own question. Why would you waste one cent on a cold air intake that pulls hot air? If they pull hot hair how can it work well. What else do you think a CAI does?

 

thanx eric, no one gives me any credit. the reason i inquire is because i thought it would be a good purchase if coupled with a ram air, or at least scooped hood. I know that usually you get what you pay for, but i wondered if the filter element itself was any good. btw, what's a true cold air intake? intercooler? I wonder what an intercooler would do w/o a turbo. probably be the difference between running on a hot muggy day vs a cool dry one--noticeable. I saw a civic(no turbo)doing drag runs and hoseing his intake down w/ liquid nitrogen to supercool the intake gases. hmmm...

 

i think there pics of mine in the stickies i got mine off of ebay. look up Mqtautoparts, his is like 30 i think. and i made a heat shield from sheet metal took like 15 min. it rurned out great. i painted the heatshield too. if you cant find it in the stickies do a search. It works well looks good and a fraction of the price. sounds nice too. not too sure if i really got any performance gains from it but. I did notice a difference in the throttle response. I also put a flowmaster exhaust on and it sounds great too. hope this helps.

 

I thought k&n had one that did that. the stock unit pulls from the fender well, i guess it's a cai.

 

ideally, you want the cold air intake to be under the vehicle as much as possible. by doing this, the air is much cooler than in the engine compartment. the disadvatange is if you ever go through any water, you are totally boned and have just siezed your engine.