is there really ANY real reason to change air intake?

[true520]

Other than looks...

I am more interested in getting into the 8s at the 1/8 mile track.

I am waiting on my K&N replacment filter to get here, and then I am going to run it down to PCMforless to let them put in a tune and maybe dyno it a few tmies.

(they are also re-calobrating my speedo because I already put the 4.56 gears in)

So, my big question is simple.

Will dropping the 400 bucks on K&Ns cold air intake system do anything that a stock air box and K&N filter wont?

Thanks,

[jojo750]

depending on what year ssr you have, you could get upwards of 5-13hp difference..

03/04 was ~5hp with cold air kit.
05/06 was ~13hp with cold air kit.

getting a tune would probably do more than a cold air kit will. but the kit does make the front of the engine bay look 10x better (in my opinion).
i had one on my 04.

[true520]

my bad. I have the 05 6 spd.

I was looking at the stock air box this evening...and wondering if "cutting away" some fo the front would help.

You know, like we do on the good ole dirtbikes! LOL

[Dragon2U]

Since the SSR already has a ram air intake, the use of a K&N cold air kit or similar is questionable in my mind. If you look at the tube that the air travels down it is only 4 inches or so, the open area in front of the hood is much larger than the intake hole and the same for the area under the filter cover.

You can't get more air into the stock inlet unless you use serious force induction, as in a SC or turbo. I know some here have cut out their airbox like you have mentioned in an attempt to get more area but I doubt that it really improves anything. Even the use of a foam or gauze filter is questionable. I would think that the performance difference between a $30 K&N filter and the $350 CAI is negligible.

But, to each their own, that's what customizing is all about, if you want to experiment I know that others have paved the path. If I wanted to really improve intake flow and the throttle response I would think about porting and polishing the throttle body.

Here are two threads that show what others have done with the airbox:
Modified Air Filter Box:

Air box Mod. easy as ABC’s

Good luck!!!

[jojo750]

i had posted a thread last year asking same question.
modifying the stock airbox is doable. is it worth it? debatable. if you are planning on using the stock (flat) filter, maybe not worth it.
if you want to modify the stock box to mimic a cold air kit, and use a circular hi-flow air filter, then it is definitely doable and cheaper than $400.

after spending the money on my cold air kit, i realized it wasnt worth it for me. but i had the smaller v8, so the hp/$$ ratio wasnt very good.
i would say spend the money on the custom tune. more bang for the buck.

[Doug Allen]

Porting and polishing your throttle body will achieve minimal results, unless you maximize the amount of cold air flow into it.

I am a believer in the K & N cold air kits, or at the very minimum, opening up the opening for the air filter, and installing a high flow air filter.

Free flowing cold air intake is the key to performance.

[Big Blue Ox]

Originally Posted by true520

Other than looks...

I am more interested in getting into the 8s at the 1/8 mile track.

I am waiting on my K&N replacment filter to get here, and then I am going to run it down to PCMforless to let them put in a tune and maybe dyno it a few tmies.

(they are also re-calobrating my speedo because I already put the 4.56 gears in)

So, my big question is simple.

Will dropping the 400 bucks on K&Ns cold air intake system do anything that a stock air box and K&N filter wont?

Thanks,

Very little improvement, dyno results on just the intake are not anywhere near +13hp at the rear wheel, based on many test published in magazines and tech articles. An overrate improvement unless further modifications are done.

[true520]

I havent spoken to the PCM guy about my ideas yet. When I call and asked about the speedo deal, he mentioned they had a dyno and could do some tuning.

I was going to order the cold air intake...but when taking the original apart...I sorta thought I could do it myself and just drop in a 57 dollar K&N.

Which is what I will deffinitely do now! Thanks!

Is there any tune I should ask for...or just let them dyno it and put in what works best..?

I know some people like to charge per dyno run...

[snomuncher]

Look carefully at the airtlow curves, if available from the manufacturer, and then decide if one of these kits will improve performance for your intended application. On many of these, the advertised horsepower gains are not realized unless you are running your engine in RPM ranges that are not typical of street driving.

[Topspin]

The dyno graph that came with my 05 K&N kit shows 12.75 hp @ 4700 rpm as the largest gain from stock. It showed decent gains starting at 4000 and continuing through 6500 rpm. I'm sure some of the gains are from eliminating the bellows type stock intake tube, that contributes to turbulent airflow.

What you're really after in the intake tract, is increasing volume while decreasing IAT (intake air temp.) Every 10 degrees of inlet temp. drop will increase hp by about 1.5%! Unfortunately there's plenty of obstructions, to cool air, in the SSR inlet tract. The grill opening is recessed and quite small. There's an engine cover that traps heat directly around the intake manifold, further raising intake temps. The day I came home, with my R, I removed that cover and stored it away for good. I eventually located a junk hood and made a modified opening to stuff additional cold air in.

Hey, I just found something I've been looking for - a flow graph that I knew I had filed somewhere. It shows the 03/04 truck intake, the 05/06 SSR intake, and also the LS6 intake which is considered the best factory manifold produced. My current manifold, Victor junior, is also shown. The chart is a little difficult and busy, but very informative if you're into #s.

[Double-L]

Originally Posted by Topspin

The dyno graph that came with my 05 K&N kit shows 12.75 hp @ 4700 rpm as the largest gain from stock. It showed decent gains starting at 4000 and continuing through 6500 rpm. I'm sure some of the gains are from eliminating the bellows type stock intake tube, that contributes to turbulent airflow.

What you're really after in the intake tract, is increasing volume while decreasing IAT (intake air temp.) Every 10 degrees of inlet temp. drop will increase hp by about 1.5%! Unfortunately there's plenty of obstructions, to cool air, in the SSR inlet tract. The grill opening is recessed and quite small. There's an engine cover that traps heat directly around the intake manifold, further raising intake temps. The day I came home, with my R, I removed that cover and stored it away for good. I eventually located a junk hood and made a modified opening to stuff additional cold air in.

Hey, I just found something I've been looking for - a flow graph that I knew I had filed somewhere. It shows the 03/04 truck intake, the 05/06 SSR intake, and also the LS6 intake which is considered the best factory manifold produced. My current manifold, Victor junior, is also shown. The chart is a little difficult and busy, but very informative if you're into #s.

Topspin, I assume they are taking that hp from a stock setup with stock filter, I wonder what the hp would be if you just add a K&N filter to the stock intake, I just trimmed mine and put in a green filter, I just don't see any gain here

[jojo750]

Originally Posted by Double-L

Topspin, I assume they are taking that hp from a stock setup with stock filter, I wonder what the hp would be if you just add a K&N filter to the stock intake, I just trimmed mine and put in a green filter, I just don't see any gain here

the info k&n uses is from their cold air kit vs. stock air box.
on the 03/04 ssr's, hp gain is ~5hp
on the 05/06, hp gain is ~12-13hp

replacing just the air filter with the k&n filter will not result in the same gains. the advantage comes from the use of the circular filter and opening up the front of the air box.

i put the cold air kit on my 04, and with the gain of ~5hp, you dont really even notice it. but combined with the predator tuner, there was a definite hp gain (mostly from the tune, but i wanted to feel like i spent my $$ on something nice anyway)

ps.. the hp info is from k&n paperwork included with the cold air kit. im sure hp gains could vary from car to car, so take that with a grain of salt. it would be nice to achieve maximum hp after installing, but probably not always the case.

[Dragon2U]

Originally Posted by jojo750

the info k&n uses is from their cold air kit vs. stock air box.
on the 03/04 ssr's, hp gain is ~5hp
on the 05/06, hp gain is ~12-13hp

replacing just the air filter with the k&n filter will not result in the same gains. the advantage comes from the use of the circular filter and opening up the front of the air box.

Well ..... actually K&N used the same HP improvement numbers (5 and 12) when it first introduced the drop in filter before the developed the CAI. The numbers are not that big and if they were much smaller I doubt that anyone would have bought a filter when they first brought them out.

Not surprisingly, they deleted the HP claims for the drop in filter and now use a similar graph to sell the CAI. If I could find an old image of the filter claim I would sure post it, I think it used to be on the box back in the day as well.

Someone needs to run a stock 03-04 or an 05-06 with a paper filter, K&N drop in filter and the CAI all on the same vehicle to resolve the questions on everyone's mind.

[Jeffanatic]

For those who are interested here`s what I used.......

All parts are from Spectre Performance.com

1 - 97997 4" 150deg Y Tube w/ 90deg Legs 117.99

2 - 8138 P4 Cone Air Filter White @ 31.99 ea 63.98

1 - 9707 4" Low Profile Collar Clamp 15.99
______


196.97
PLUS SHIPPING

Note: Modifications to `Y` connector.....2 ends shortened approximately 4 3/4"
fairly easy cut (aluminum tube) used Saws-All with metal blade. Be sure to protect
tube from scratching.

Collar clamp, joins MAF sensor to `Y` tube, needs part of the sides of the pivot cut away.
Stainless Steel, not easy, used side cutter with ceramic blade.

I searched for a MAF adapter to fit, but couldn`t find one. The MAF is larger than the
inside dimension of the tube.

I later added the heat shields that cover the filter facing the engine...$100

As far as performance I had Jeremy Formato do a performance tune and he said that the intake actually ran 10 degrees cooler than the stock intake. Difference being that my intake heated up to stock temp faster at idle, but cooled down faster during acceleration.

There is a bit of a clearence problem with the heat shields, I had to trim them a bit to clear.

Hope this helps.

[Double-L]

Hey if you are happy with what ever you buy that is all that counts, Lord knows I have spent enough on mine, Some well spent and a lot well not so well

[Dragon2U]

Originally Posted by Jeffanatic

Attachment 109689

For those who are interested here`s what I used.......

That is a cool one of a kind setup

[true520]

Someone needs to run a stock 03-04 or an 05-06 with a paper filter, K&N drop in filter and the CAI all on the same vehicle to resolve the questions on everyone's mind.

I was sorta hoping someone had already done the homework for me. LOL

I know when I race street bikes (seems like forever ago) Some bikes would gain HUGE amounts from changing air filters (or modified boxes) and yet others would actually LOOSE hp!

ie: My buddy bought one of the first 96 GSXR 750s he could get his hands on. Bought a pipe and an air filter. After several tunes with a dyno, just adding the filter was his best result.

The bike was extremely close to perfect from the factory...seems like it dyno'd 116 bone stock. After the carb kit, pipe and filter (about 800 worth of add ons) she dyno'd 112 !! AND 4hp on a 400 Lb bike is huge!

Anyways, I was hoping someone had already went to the shop with all these goodies and knew the best place to start! LOL

I have heard a lot of people on here mention the Predator Tune too...if that a complete ECM or just a programable tune i can tell the guys at PCM to look up?

Thanks for all the help

[Alex05SSR]

I agree with what Dragon2U said in an earlier post.

Personally, I believe that the stock '05-'06 setup with the foam sealing effectively against the hood blanket is pretty hard to beat as far as keeping engine heat out. I've said it before and here it goes again.....just look what Calloway Engineering did with their SSR. Here's a link to a previous post of mine.
http://www.ssrfanatic.com/forum/175689-post21.html

If Calloway thought they could improve it much, aside from modifying the opening, they certainly would have or built their own system, and I feel like they know a hell of a lot more about the subject than any of us do. Every time I hear the phrase "cold air" it makes me want to chuckle.....no matter what you do, there's a whole lot of "hot air" going on underneath the hood of an SSR. I believe that a tune, either handheld or preferably custom programmed, will do you way more good than worrying about how "cold" your intake air is.