Induction Kits. Do they actually do much at all?

Phate

Phate

Phate

Caporegime
Joined
1 Nov 2003
Posts
35,691
Location
Lisbon, Portugal
Hey all,

Now before anyone starts I haven't got any spare cash to even buy an induction kit and I'm saving money so I'm not going to buy one.

But I know on a standard car a semi decent induction kit could probably give you around or upto 10bhp increase.

What about on a turbo? would there be more of a significant gain from it?
 
made no difference at all on my CTR, just increased the noise and made the engine bog down a bit.

It just sounded "cool". Pointless.
 
a well positioned induction kit with decent cold air feed will give you some gains, but for most cars they wont do much at all and in some cases will actually cause some bhp loss!
 
Hi there

Depends on the car and the state of its current induction system.

On my Prelude a CAI made it sound great but probably added 5BHP at most.

On the S2000 it again gave great sound and helped resolve heat soak issues but probably added little to no power.

On the 3000GT adding a CAI had quite an effect, so no doubt 10BHP.

The Mustang responded very well, worth about 15BHP but when you combine it with an ECU re-tune for our RON fuel and the CAI the result is close to 40BHP which is very good. :)

So its very car dependent!
 
I have an Evo 8 with an after market induction kit and a remapped engine management. The only thing i can say for the turbo is that it has made the spool up quicker and hence the car is more responsive.
The dump can be heard more if thats your thing but for normal cars i don't think i would bother.

T
 
Fitted one to my Elise and it made a huge difference noise wise but no noticeable difference power wise. Told the insurance company it added 2-3bhp to keep them happy but even a 2% increase in power is going to be virtually impossible to notice.
 
i have a cone k&n on my clio 16v

makes a nice noise, but apparently saps power.

I've switched to an ITG panel filter and original airbox, will see if there is a difference :)
 
Had a K&N bolted straight to the throttle body on the first 214.

Sounded amazing after 4000rpm and the car did seem to pickup a little bit easier, but that was it.

As soon as the engine bay got warm, the car felt dog slow.

If you have a decent induction kit, on a long tract pipe, enclosed away from the engine, it could give you a few bhp extra.
 
got a K&N kit on mine, makes noise all the time, but can't hear it due to the exhaust. But at 5krpm it just goes mentally loud... but I like it :D

power wise, feels smoother - wouldnt say much faster if any, seemed to iron out a little judder just before 3krpm though
 
K&N Induction kit on mine, sounds fantastic, however i would say its got slower pickup under 4k, then once it gets to 4.5k it pulls harder than it used to.

Need to sort a cold air feed, but tbh its all going in the bin soon enough....
 
Yep, provided there's some cold air going to the filter they'll always be gains, dependent on the car obviously. I've just ordered a Gruppe M from Japan for mine, can't wait:o
 
Mine has a nice K&N on the end of it, not driven it with the original so can't say.

Probably better though :)

DSCN2399-1.jpg


Lots of induction roar! Could do with some more cold air though :)
 
I had a pipercross on my 20VT. I didn't notice any increase in power but it certainly did change the throttle response, it was notably sharper in the lower range. It also felt like the turbo kicked in a bit stronger but that could have been a placebo effect. I took it off and put the standard airbox back on as in the summer heat soak was a major problem, sapping power and drinking fuel.

Nice sound though :p
 
On a sort of similar theme, if cold air is great for maximising engine power, why does my SJ loop the engine coolant through the inlet manifold ensuring warm air is going into the engine? :confused:
 
On a sort of similar theme, if cold air is great for maximising engine power, why does my SJ loop the engine coolant through the inlet manifold ensuring warm air is going into the engine?
Click to expand...

The heated manifold is designed to offset the cooling effect of the fuel flowing into the air and promote the vaporization of the fuel-air mix that would otherwise stick to the walls of the manifold, or worse, pool and flow to the cylinders as a liquid, preventing efficient combustion if you let it cool too much.

It also prevents carburetor equipped vehicles (does your SJ run EFi or carbs?) suffering icing problems in colder weather :)
 
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It's carb'd, complete with flexi-tube to pull the heated air from the exhaust manifold at this time of year.
 
I did have a generic cone filter on the Golf - made the car bog down terribly but sounded nice.

Went back to the standard airbox and all was well, nice a quiet, nice and smooth.

Now I've got the standard air box with ducting from the front left hand grille in the lower bumper. It gets force fed fresh cold air and when rolling roaded, it showed an 8bhp increase along with a custom fabricated cat back exhaust system using a peco big bore backbox from a 1987 mini.

I would say induction kits make no difference, but a good, constant supply of cold air does.

I need to get a green cotton panel filter for mine now, apparently with my ducting, smooth airbox and a green cotton panel filter it offers more airflow than the £250 K&N Typhoon kit!
Not bad for a £40 all in mod :)
 
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