Twincharger vs. regular CAI?

[Kuro3]

Ok, so I don't know much about cai's and sri's, but I was looking around in the marketplace and saw that there were some simota twin charger cai's for sale. What exactly does it mean if it's a "twin charger"? IS that different from a regular cai?? What's so different between a cai and an sri? Don't they give about the same performance boost?

Thanks, guys.

[Protephile]

I won't tell you that the Twin Charger will give you a better gain than a "Regular" CAI, but I will tell you that you cannot find a better quality intake for the price.

Anyone who's bought one from me will tell you this, I'm sure.

[Kuro3]

OK, now I've been reading a lot of the different threads and stuff about the cai's and sri's and I get dizzy trying to keep track fo it all.

Hands down, what is the best kind of intake I can get for my Mazda3s?

And definitevely, what are the biggest differences (besides price) between a short ram and a cold air intake? Like, is the water really that much of a worry?

Thanks so much, and sorry to sound like sucha noob, but I just wanna do this right if I am gonna do this at all.

[Protephile]

Ha. Seeing as how I'm the only one who's replied, I should be the winner!




OK, now I've been reading a lot of the different threads and stuff about the cai's and sri's and I get dizzy trying to keep track fo it all.

Hands down, what is the best kind of intake I can get for my Mazda3s?

And definitevely, what are the biggest differences (besides price) between a short ram and a cold air intake? Like, is the water really that much of a worry?

Thanks so much, and sorry to sound like sucha noob, but I just wanna do this right if I am gonna do this at all.

[awsmp5]

not to be a jerkoff... but its the whole preference thing and confort level...
its been discussed in every car forum in the world.
cai is more prone to hydrolocking while it rarely happens, its a possiblity.
sri is cheaper and that will probably never happen, but your engine gets heat soke being that its under the hood with engine right next to it

somethin like that

[JCell]

yes, CAI is cooler air and thus it should make teh most HP

[TheBryGuy]

Key word is SHOULD. The problem is that the cold air intake has twice the piping that the ram air does. When your engine bay gets hot....so does all that piping. In reality, as the air passes through the intake, it heats up so it's almost as hot as the air from a ram air intake. Before I get jumped on, I will say it's not AS hot, but the difference is negligable. One of my friends spend $200 on an Injen cold air intake and 3 months later he took the second half of the intake off and turned it into a ram air intake because he said it pulled harder.

[Kuro3]

Do both void my warranty? I heard somewhere that the AEMs don't void it. Is this just a myth, you think?

[TheBryGuy]

Meh, just keep your stock intake and if you ever have any problems, throw it back on the car(first)

[Kuro3]

sounds like a plan to me
(cool)

thanks a bunch for your help

[TheBryGuy]

no problem:)

[Kuro3]

So BryGuy, how loud is ur sri? It's not that much louder than stock is it? How about ont he highway?

[TheBryGuy]

If you open the hood of the car it's fairly loud. If you're REALLY listening in the car you can make it out over the engine noise. It's not to bad.

[Protephile]

Do both void my warranty? I heard somewhere that the AEMs don't void it. Is this just a myth, you think?

The myth you probably heard is that Mazda dealers are going to offer a re-badged AEM intake as their own and if installed by the dealer will not void your warranty. They're also going to sell it for some outrageous 300$-ish amount.

So I still win! Right??

[Kuro3]

I must say, Protephile, you are quite the salesman lol

[TheBryGuy]

for the money, the best option is to buy a cheap ram intake off ebay and throw a K&N filter on it. I don't know if they offer cheap intakes for the 3 but for the proteges, that's the best bang for the buck.

[Kuro3]

Well what if I snagged a simota sri and slapped a k&n filter in there? does that make any sense?

Also, I was under the impression that by putting in an sri or a cai, you effectively replace the stock filter anyways, or do you still have to maybe replace it with the k&n as you said? I don't know much about this stuff, so I could be wrong.

[TheBryGuy]

The intake you will be getting will come with the piping from the filter to the throttle body AND it will come with a filter. The majority of intakes come with a crappy paper filter that is horribly restrictive to airflow and is basically a piece of junk. If you grab a simota intake I would still put a K&N filter on it simply because they are good filters and you can buy a recharge kit for under $10. Another option is to take your stock intake and put a K&N drop in filter in it. That won't help as much as a CAI or SRI but it will to a small amount of good. In order to do that you will need to get the part number so you can get the correct filter size. Someone on the forums here should be able to provide that if you decide to go that route.

All in all, best bang for you buck, get a Simota intake and a K&N filter. If there isn't a huge price difference I would go with the CAI as opposed to the SRI.

[Protephile]

At the risk of sounding like an overly agressive used-car salesman, who said the Simota filters were crappy? Check out their website, they started out making nothing BUT filters and have done extensive testing...they are just not well-known in the U.S.

[TheBryGuy]

To be honest, I don't know anything about those filters. I just know that the K&N filter is a great and you can buy a recharge kit for it. I will be first to admit I'm probably wrong here.

[Kuro3]

I know this is the subject of a lot of debate on these forums, but, what really adds the most performance, the sri or the cai? You said that the cai pulls better because it get's colder air from below, but the sri's sucks in more and the mazda front actually redirects air upwards from the bottom of the car (or something like that), the cai's pipes heat up anyways, so effectively it's hot air too, the sri's end up being less expensive than the cai's, and some sri's are louder than cai's some are not


do we have any definitive answers? Or did my post answer my own question in that when it comes down to it, it's really only a matter of opinion?

[JCell]

it's up to you, most of my CAI pipe remains relatively cool until the last section, which does heat up with the engine, i've had that intake for 3 florida summers and never hydrolocked it


SRI are ok but i personally don't like looking at dirty filters inside my engine bay, they are louder but my CAI is loud enough


it's up to you bro, good luck

[Protephile]

In theory, you'll get the most gain from a CAI.
Now, we're talking, at most, about a 1-2 whp difference here. If you're the kind of person who wants to squeeze every bit of hp from your engine get the CAI.

The only SRI for the 3 that I know of is the Carbon Fiber SRI and it's very nice but it is as much for looks as gain.

Amazingly enough, I just happen to sell both.

[TheBryGuy]

It really comes down to how much money you want to spend and which one YOU personally like better. The difference is peanuts.

[WetsuitxNinja]

What SRI are you talking about? If its the Cf one its not really that loud (compared to the CAI's I had on my p5 not too long ago). My vote is for the CAI.

The filter on the simota looks decent, I wouldnt worry about the quality of it.

[thebeansoldier]

I know this is the subject of a lot of debate on these forums, but, what really adds the most performance, the sri or the cai? You said that the cai pulls better because it get's colder air from below, but the sri's sucks in more and the mazda front actually redirects air upwards from the bottom of the car (or something like that), the cai's pipes heat up anyways, so effectively it's hot air too, the sri's end up being less expensive than the cai's, and some sri's are louder than cai's some are not


do we have any definitive answers? Or did my post answer my own question in that when it comes down to it, it's really only a matter of opinion?

Yes, i've tested air intake temps of both the stock intake (without the resonator, so it gets air in the same area as an SRI), the F2 3.0" intake, an the AEM.

let me pull that real quick...

[Kodiac 3]

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f271/scismic/TX%20State%20Meet%20June%2024th%202006/IMG_3621.jpg

picture of how my intake sits on my car.... i accidentally left some screws to the wheel well at thebryguy's house and my well got shredded to pieces........

i will throw CELs like a mofo but i am not hydrolocking..... the intake is very tolerant and sounds great. My opinion: Buy it if you remember where the screws go to put the wheel well cover back on......

[Protephile]

OMG are you really riding around like that?????

[Kodiac 3]

been like that since the saturday after you sent it to me.....

i gave you some quality real life R&D man.... :D
no hydro lock for me. but it will throw a CEL after it gets enough water.

i am convinced that hydrolock is something hard to do.... LOL

[Sveivo]

Meh, just keep your stock intake and if you ever have any problems, throw it back on the car(first)
I say just keep your stock intake...on the car :D

[Protephile]

I say just keep your stock intake...on the car :D

If everyone thought that way, I wouldn't have anything to do!

[Kodiac 3]

stock is not the way to go....

live dangerously.... i laugh at CELs

[Kuro3]

Hey Dim, what kind of shift knob is that in your profile picture?? I want one.

[Sveivo]

Hey Dim, what kind of shift knob is that in your profile picture?? I want one.
That is a stock shift knob that the early P5's come with. It's not a bad knob, I like it, while most don't. But then again I am for keeping my car stock :D.

Edit: You could probably get one off a member here or on ebay. People tend to get rid of them. Although I'm not sure if it will fit the 3. Probably will though.

[Kuro3]

awesome. Thanks, Dim. I'll check around.

[WetsuitxNinja]

It will fit the 3

[Sveivo]

Cool!

[Kooldino]

I know a lot of people with CAIs who end up getting small amounts of water in their engine which fucks with their MAF sensors.

[JRH1]

For your CAI, AEM makes an air bypass valve to prevent hydrolocking. It's on their website. I found one on eBay for something like $35.

Also, this sort of thing won't void your warranty at all. Unless it causes a big problem that the tech at the dealership can point to and say "Your aftermarket performance part damaged your car," you'll be totally fine. In fact, there's a law that states that we as consumers have the right to replace manufacturers parts with higher-quality bits. Most corporate aftermarket parts websites will have a little disclaimer about that.

[Sveivo]

Yeah, but if you consider that the stock air box flows just as well, you can just not worry about any of this shit.

[WetsuitxNinja]

BUT it doesnt, which is why there are gains from it. Plus add the fact some people enjoy modding their cars, and a cai is probably one of the most popular one.

[Kuro3]

Hey Protephile! You sneaky bastard. You and my wife! hehehe... thank you so much!! I am absolutely loving my simota short ram!! What an awesome sound, and I can definitely feel it's a little quicker, smoother acceleration, and more torque in the lower revs. What a great buy!!! and what a great surprise for my birthday!

I suppose that that solves that question as to what I am going to get. Onto the other mods, I suppose :-)


P.S. Quick question, while I was assembling the sri, I found that some of the bolts holding the filter and tubing to the heat shield (the four bolts that fasten the filter to the carbon fiber) were a little short. After some fanagling I got the nuts to screw on ok, but I don't know if anyone else has approached you about this before. 3 out of the 4 nuts are not completely flush with the bolts (as in the nuts aren't screwed onto the bolts that far). Should I be worried about this at all? Or should I just tighten it some more, and maybe put some of that thread lock adhesive stuff on them?



Thanks again! And thanks to you too, hunny! I know you're prolly gonna read this.

[Kuro3]

Oh yeah, and I'll post pics tomorrow in another thread.

[WetsuitxNinja]

Kuro I had a similar problem, the screws were too short, barely got them on, so I went to home depot and grabbed some longer screws....

[Kuro3]

True, maybe i'll do that today then. Thanks, wetsuit

[Protephile]

No one has mentioned the screw thing...not even on the other 3 forum...I will e-mail Simota about this.
Glad you like the intake otherwise.

[Kuro3]

Awesome, yeah, I would do that. BTW, thank god it was an sri, because I was driving in Newark this morning during a freaking monsoon in like a foot and a half of water in a lot of the streets. Had it been a cai, I prolly would have been screwed.