For who believes that you can gain from 5 - 20 hp on the CAI upgraded, please watch this video.

 

Nice. All the engine mods I have ever done for noticeable increased power for natural aspiration/"air" has always been manifold deburring, enlarging ports and matching head intake/exhaust ports and 2 or 3 degree valve jobs depending on your setup.

You have to imagine the internal cavities of your engine as your diaphram/lungs that "pulls" air in, the clearer and better flowing the walls of your lungs are, the more air you "pull" in the chambers. Your engine is not working as hard to get the "air" it needs, decreasing resistance and increasing HP and Tq more significantly than aftermarket intakes. This is where you CAN yeild 7% - 15% increase, and where your money should be spent.

there isn't really any difference if you breathe just through your mouth, or if you stick a tube in your mouth varying different sizes, shapes, etc etc...

A shot of nitrous however, will put a big on your face everytime.

Now I'm pretty certain these Lexus engines chamber internals are detailed in this fashion at the factory, I won't know for sure until I crack one open.

 

I agreed. I am on the market for CAI and glad that i find this video. Now i can save that money for somethings useful.

 

It looks cool and it sounds good with the stock exhaust.

I have an Injen intake. I mainly got it because it looks good and sounded cool..

 

cheaper to buy a CD sound bit of a ferrari...

 

good video and informative… seems as there are plus and minuses to CAI. everyone still has their opinions.

 

I did not watch the whole video but a CAI can add as much as 40 horsepower if you are able to tune the car for the intake. Take the tuning out and often you will loose power. So in truth, a CAI with a tune a great way to add quick HP. Since the Lexus cannot be tuned it does not help performance.

 

I agree that's it's probably not a completely fair comparison because it doesn't appear they allowed the ECM to adjust to the different intake. Also, the car being stationary on a dyno, you don't get quite the "ram air" effect of a car moving through the cooler air, a fan indoors is just not the same.

That being said, I do agree they're usually a waste and people overstate the gains. My opinion is exhaust and intake changes on naturally aspirated cars is that it's usually all about the sound, the performance gains are usually pretty meager. It will "feel" faster because it sounds more aggressive.

There was definitely an era decades ago where these kinds of mods made a real performance difference but the manufacturers have done a good job closing the gap to squeeze out all the efficiency it can.

 

I achieved 85 HP with just bolt on upgrades when I had my mustang GT. It's not really letting the ECM adjust as you are reprogramming with a tune. If you put an aftermarket engine management system on a LS430 I'm sure you get 20 hp or so. Nobody has ever cracked Toyota's ECM so that can manipulate the timing, fuel - air ratio, etc. Essential part of the process. As in the video above, they are actually reprogramming the computer to understand the increased air flow and trying to advance the timing as much as possible.

 

When these companies tout that you get 20hp from a cold air intake and they use those numbers with a whole new tune programmed along with it, you wonder how much is the tune and how much is the actual intake. I tend to think most of the performance gain is simply the dyno tune by bumping up the timing, etc.

If you had back to back dyno tunes where a programmer was (safely) maximizing the engines potential with or without a cold air intake only, you'd see better numbers with the cold air intake, but I tend to think it would be a small number. I don't think it's "zero" like the video is saying, but it's not something I think is worth doing unless I had a host of upgrades along with it.

 

The two go hand in hand. Yes, you can gain power from tuning alone. Especially, on forced induction cars. The LS430 has an excellent intake design and is not as restrictive as other cars, which is good. With certain cars, like mustangs, when a big Air Raid intake or something similar is added it does open airflow. Some intakes even come with their own maf sensor so accurate air flow readings can be sent to the computer. It really is all about the tuning.

 

The way i see it, its a LS. its not made to be some fast car, i dont think id even bother putting anything on my car in hopes of seeing more power, i would only do it for the efficiency, but as it was previously mentioned, car manufacturers have gotten pretty good at making these motors as efficient as possible.

 

The dual intakes on my 535i gave me 26whp. For cars that have tuneable ECUs CAIs are good.

 

The only bolt on I was considering are the PPE headers and maybe an exhaust system but that is a lot of money for 25 hp or so. Hard to justify the cost.

 

Love mighty car mods series. They are doing a turbo build which has been really cool to watch. For most cars CAI will lose power, although they can sound cool. I had one in my 02 Maxima and it really sounded awesome.