Short Ram Intake vs Cold Air Intake

[Saturn Tuner]

Is there that much of a power increase and is the CAI very prone to water intake? I live in a very rainy city and will be lowering the car 2".

[eRic 02sc2]

on a 2000-02 Saturn
AEM CAI 1.9L DOHC POWER GAIN: 8.6HP @ 5500RPM, 10.6 FT-LBS @ 3500RPM
AEM SRS 1.9L DOHC POWER GAIN: 4.7HP @ 5000RPM, 4.9 FT-LBS @ 5000RPM

[noanoxan]

Originally Posted by Saturn Tuner

Is there that much of a power increase and is the CAI very prone to water intake? I live in a very rainy city and will be lowering the car 2".

well, I wouldn't say it's prone to water intake, but if your filter gets wet enough it can start to suck a bit in the motor, but only at wot. it hasn't hurt my car that I know of yet, but you never know.

I've been looking at rain sleeves...whatever the hell they're actually called. supposedly you can put a specially made bag around your filter and it helps keep water out. haven't seen a need to get one yet. aem also makes a bypass valve that looks like it'd work well. but I have better things to do with $50. like buy a new filter and tin snips. apparently I didn't take enough off my wheel well and I'm wearing a small hole in my filter.. tin snips are for said wheel well.

and the power increase is very noticeable compared to a wai/stock. loud too..

basically, as long as you don't submerge the filter or drive fast and furious in the rain, you should be good.

[johnny95sl2]

Actually you can end up with this
<<<<<<<

This was in a moderate rain storm driving on the highway. I wouldn't install another CAI with out some sort of rain shield.

YRMV

[OnDaGround]

^^^ Its called Hydro-lock. That is the possible end result of taking in water.

[noanoxan]

yeah, hydrolock can fubar things pretty quick. I guess I've been lucky then. even more so since I've removed my splash shield (when I installed my fog lights), and haven't got around to putting it back on yet. not that it really worked for my purposes. I should get some 1/8" lexan, heat it up, and make a real shield.

[Leafy]

Originally Posted by johnny95sl2

Actually you can end up with this
<<<<<<<

This was in a moderate rain storm driving on the highway. I wouldn't install another CAI with out some sort of rain shield.

YRMV

I still cant figure out how that could happen, you'd need to have at least .2" on the top of the piston to come even close to hydro lock (that would raise your compression to 13:1 which should still be OK on most stock rods), that is about an ounce of water. however that would have to be present in the motor and not evaporated and after all that and some rough math you'd need to be sucking up about a 1/4 of a gallon per second at idle, and even more the higher the rpm. so basically puddles and heavy rain wont do anything, complete submersion on the other hand would take a few seconds to supply enough water to make it happen.

[Saturn Tuner]

Great info guys, thanks. I will be going for the CAI and wont be driving in heavy rain then. The power difference is worth it for me even if just a few hp!

[S3aturnR]

Originally Posted by Saturn Tuner

Great info guys, thanks. I will be going for the CAI and wont be driving in heavy rain then. The power difference is worth it for me even if just a few hp!

the power difference happens in the upper end of the rev range. either one is fine. the CAI costs significantly more and comes with the possibility of ingesting water if you don't install a breather. it also involves cutting some splash shields and/or fender liners.

again, a great addition to a race car. a poor choice for a daily driver...


s3aturnr

[johnny95sl2]

Originally Posted by Leafy

I still cant figure out how that could happen, you'd need to have at least .2" on the top of the piston to come even close to hydro lock (that would raise your compression to 13:1 which should still be OK on most stock rods), that is about an ounce of water. however that would have to be present in the motor and not evaporated and after all that and some rough math you'd need to be sucking up about a 1/4 of a gallon per second at idle, and even more the higher the rpm. so basically puddles and heavy rain wont do anything, complete submersion on the other hand would take a few seconds to supply enough water to make it happen.

I think the water pooled right at the throttle body and then when I opened the throttle to go uphill it all got sucked in at once. The damage was in the #4 cylinder closest to the throttle body. This was in a 10.5:1 compression ratio engine

[noanoxan]

Originally Posted by S3aturnR

the power difference happens in the upper end of the rev range. either one is fine. the CAI costs significantly more and comes with the possibility of ingesting water if you don't install a breather. it also involves cutting some splash shields and/or fender liners.

again, a great addition to a race car. a poor choice for a daily driver...


s3aturnr

ebay, man. $50..more or less. that's how much mine was, anyway. though I guess you could say $100, once you replace the pos filter that comes with it.

and yeah, get a pair of tin snips if you don't already have a pair, saturn tuner. it makes things so much easier. I didn't have a pair at the time I did mine so I used my trusty orange handled kitchen scissors. doesn't look too good, but it works.

[PurdueGuy]

Originally Posted by S3aturnR

the power difference happens in the upper end of the rev range. either one is fine. the CAI costs significantly more and comes with the possibility of ingesting water if you don't install a breather. it also involves cutting some splash shields and/or fender liners.

again, a great addition to a race car. a poor choice for a daily driver...


s3aturnr

I picked up my CAI secondhand along with a bunch of other parts for uber cheap, and I live in a desert. No problem on my daily driver. And cutting the wheelwell liner isn't a big deal. It's not hard to cut, and if someone later decided they didn't want the CAI or cut liner, it'd cost $5 tops for new ones at a decent u-pull-it yard.

[sprinj76]

I just got an AEM short ram intake from tirerack for $114. The red ones were on closeout special! I figure this is almost as cheap as getting the ebay cheapo intake and replacing the filter with a decent one ( ebay intake $30-40 + $50 for a dryflow AEM filter).

I have to say, I bought a cheap ebay intake for my last saturn (95 sc2) and the fit was mediocore. I would rattle due to nothing supporting it. The AEM has a nice supporting system, which is really simple. I also like the fact that the AEM has the tube that runs from the cam cover to the intake connect under the intake tube so its out of sight.

If you can find an AEM on special go that route, otherwise get the cheap ebay intake and get a decent AEM or KNN filter.

[PurdueGuy]

Originally Posted by sprinj76

KNN filter.

K&N... K and N

[sprinj76]

Originally Posted by PurdueGuy

K&N... K and N

Shows what a fan of K + N I am . . .

I would personally go with the dry flow AEM filter.

[moresaturn]

I have looked around for a CAI more preferably a shot ram kit, probably from AEM. But I have continually encountered the same problem, there are no part numbers for a SOHC, all the parts are for DOHC. Now I do not own a DOHC and do not have access to see one either. But from my own visualization of the DOHC around the web the route is exactly the same. The only difference that I can see is that on the DOHC is that the Vent tube that goes to the Valve cover is in a different location.

Is this the only difference between a SOHC and DOHC intake tubes?

[Leafy]

what year is you car?

oh and you do realized that for the 250 dollars they want for an AEM intake that you could do a dohc swap, heck you could swap the whole engine for that price and not just the head manifolds and computer. (I'm assuming you have a manual since you are looking for a cai and they only fit manuals no matter what the model).

[moresaturn]

Year is 98' forgot to put that in there.

[SLCraig]

Originally Posted by Saturn Tuner

Great info guys, thanks. I will be going for the CAI and wont be driving in heavy rain then. The power difference is worth it for me even if just a few hp!

I had a CAI on my Neon R/T for 5 years, and never once had an issue.

Just drive when its raining..

Don't submerge the inlet of the CAI, and you will never have a problem.

[Keeter]

Wow Leafy. I would love to find a place that would sell me a DOHC motor, Trans, Gauge Cluster, header/downpipe, and PCM for $250. Unlikely to happen. All that would be needed to make it run and drive decent. Not to mention not have a constant SES light.

A CAI for a '98 manual trans DOHC will fit a '98 SOHC manual trans. The crankcase breather hose for the SOHC is a bit shorter than the DOHC one. you should notice a difference in the way your car feels. Not a "win every stop light drag" difference but just the way it pulls. My buddy put one on his '96 wagon and it made a difference. Even the K&N SRI I put on my '99 SL1 made a bit of a jump in the way it pulls. Plus it sounds cooler.