[Shredosaur]

Just came across this video:

https://youtu.be/aHo2KGRoFIc

It’s definitely the most advantageous I’ve seen of the cold air intakes offered so far in regards to where the filter is positioned. However, I still believe our stock intake is set up extremely well and I’m skeptical if there will be any notable gains in performance compared to the stock intake.

Any thoughts?

 

[guybo]

I've towed several cars with low mounted filters like this. It takes very little water to hydrolock an engine. No way I'd install this, I'd much rather have an SRI- hot air and all because it's safer. That said, the OEM set up is excellent. Itst a cold air intake and safe too.

 

[VN_Chas]

Factory intakes filter air, drain water, and are usually cold air intakes as well. I suspect that many aftermarket intakes are actually inferior to oem: most of them are “hot air” intakes, which, even if they can flow more air than stock probably don’t increase performance.

I’ve not seen an engine dyno chart that showed performance improvements exclusively due to the addition of an aftermarket intake- they always bundle in a tune, which I’m pretty sure is where the actual improvement comes from. They never seem to split it out component by component.

Even when a flow bench shows that an aftermarket intake flows more than the stock intake, I haven’t seen anything that showed the factory intake actually constituted a bottleneck- I wonder what the volumetric total cylinder(s) airflow is for a given engine at max rpm and how that compares to the stock intake airflow. I’m inclined to think that in many cases the advantages of an aftermarket intake exists mostly in just feeling good about doing an “upgrade”.

I’m happy to be wrong about this- it’s just I’d like to see actual data; usually it just seems to be simple assertions and marketing.

 

[zerobane]

Good video from tork, r spec turbo 1.6; not sure how much it applies. Gamma vs theta.

 

[VN_Chas]

Thanks for posting that video. While it was a bit confusing, I was impressed. Definitely not the usual sales pitch with enthusiastic claims, but rather the very kind of approach that I would hope an aftermarket company would use when developing a new product. This video speaks well of Tork.

 

[RedVN]

Tork also now has an ECU Cloning Service. You have to send your OEM ECU but they can clone it with the immobilizer code and FOB codes. This allows you to swap out a Torked Tuned ECU with an OEM Tuned ECU.

One issue with the Tork Intake, legally you can't skyvent and this is what they're doing. If you utilize a CC not problem. If you have yearly emission inspections, you'll not pass!

Got one other problem, without a splash guard/heat shield and the front bottom engine diverter/shoroud in place, you've got a big problem with water/debris infiltration, along with a lack of air. I like the setup on both but the CAI is a problem in its present state. The short ram is just like every other intake for the VN and does present a heat soak issue without a heat shield or box.

Some of the dyno issues are with the OEM boost solenoid and the overboost control. This is typical for the 1.6T Gamma II engine. It requires a specific tune to adjust torque limitations and other parameters, Mac BOV solenoid, and aftermarket BOV.

 

[RedVN]

This will also give you a better example of the 2.0T Theta II with JB4 Tuner & Intake installed.

This v below is is X Axis.

These v are back to back runs;

You notice a much cleaner hp/tq curve, which is typical of the 2.0T Theta Motor even when modified.

 

[destrux]

I've towed several cars with low mounted filters like this. It takes very little water to hydrolock an engine. No way I'd install this, I'd much rather have an SRI- hot air and all because it's safer. That said, the OEM set up is excellent. Itst a cold air intake and safe too.

It depends a lot where you live and how well you avoid standing water and how well the air inlet and wheel liner keep water out of that area. I've had three cars with CAI with filters mounted in the bumper void in front of the tire and never had a problem. My wife drove one of them as a daily driver for 220,000 miles in all sorts of weather. We live in a part of PA that has a lot of flooding, but she has a lot of sense to never drive through any amount of standing water. That car had a really well designed water shield around the filter to keep any tire splash that came through the edges of the wheel well liner off the filter media. That was the Mazdaspeed AEM CAI on the first gen MS3.


The other two cars had custom CAI that I built, but I made sure the wheel liner was in place properly and the grille opening was blocked and they were drawing air from a scoop adjacent to the front of the FMIC. I put a small 1/2" drain hole in the backside of the scoop so any water that blew into the scoop would run out and not get carried to the filter. I've driven them both in torrential rain never had a problem, so I guess it worked.


I've had cars towed in that had engine damage from low CAI filters though, so I know it does happen. Most of them were missing the wheel liner entirely or it was flapping around unfastened or they admittedly tried to drive through flood water and forgot about their intake being low.


SRI is good though if you just want to never worry about it, but the CAI gains are too good to pass up for me. The gains don't always show up well on the dyno because the fans and hood being up don't simulate well the air temp differences vs a SRI that a car sees when actually moving down the road. Turbo cars love low inlet temps, and a CAI provides the lowest temps possible when actually moving.

 

[RedVN]

If you drive thru standing water that covers half the filter, you're going to have problems with hydraulicing a cylinder. You do this, next stop crank replacement and an engine rebuild. The ideal CAI or Short Ram Intake is the one that produces a higher CFM and near ambient temps at normal rates of inflow. To do this the CAI or SRI needs to have a velocity stack or bellmouth installed between the filter and intake tube. This velocity stack or bellmouth, aids is speeding up the flow and providing a tuned air pulse of intake air pressure. The Tork Motors CAI needs this badly because, of the increase length of the Intake Tube.

A larger intercooler will help more than any CAI or short Ram intake. Why, because it actually cools the air at or below ambient temps, before it enters the intake manifold and cylinders. This is prior to combustion and after being compress by the compressor side of the turbo, as shown in the diagram. This can also be accentuated with the installation of; @Boomba Racing TB and Manifold Spacers.