So this isn’t a CAI
Honestly in my opinion after hours days of driving across a few states and locally I think the tube is a waste of money
Here’s an example
everyday I drive down and up a 12% grade and since I added this tube I can hear the engine bogging down like it’s getting too much air lol I know that sounds silly but it’s the best I can describe it
Also at a dead stop when flooring I feel like HP is less than with the stock “air tube”.
I’m still using the stock air cleaner box but with a AEM pro dry because I had a factory paper filter b4
It's not gonna create a bunch of HP because there's not much sacrificed in the design of the factory intake duct. The point of it is to replace the factory duct, with its accordion tube and resonators, with a tube that has a smooth path and smoother transition to the throttle body.
The factory duct has the chambers (Helmholtz resonators) to muffle the intake pulses, making the intake sound quieter. This isn't a performance thing, it's just to make the engine less noisy by muting a few key frequencies that would drone. Supposedly, these resonator chambers can cause a little turbulence in the air flow. Between these chambers and the accordion tube, there
might be a very tiny bit of top-end power sacrificed.
For those that like to hear the engine and possibly gain a little power, this is an easy and attractive solution. IMO, any power it may yield isn't enough one's butt dyno would detect.
It, in itself, isn't a "cold air intake". The factory one is. You could just call this a "smooth air intake" or "straight pipe intake" (since it doesn't have mufflers).
It's been years since I looked into it. But, IIRC, Black Bear showed it to yield about 8HP on my generation of engine and the more expensive full kits didn't do much better. On the newer generations like yours, the full kits did pretty good. Whether-or-not they were ~$400 good is up to you.
Personally, I wouldn't spend $160 on one. You could get the same results for a fraction of the price using PVC or ABS plumbing pipe and fittings. Yes, this sounds ghetto and paints a trashy image in your mind. How good it looks depends on how much effort you're willing to put into the details. I bought my MIT secondhand for $100 cuz that was enough to satisfy my laziness and, let's face it, it does look better than straight pieces of pipe. I got the AEM Dry Flow filter for the cost of shipping (about $15) cuz a guy was convinced it caused him poor fuel mileage and wanted it gone after very little use.
I wasn't expecting any noticeable power or MPG from the combo. I bought it for the looks and sound, which I was very pleased with. I recommend it to those looking for a "CAI" but don't wanna spend the big bucks on a true CAI but also don't wanna fab one up out of plumbing pipe. I certainly did not lose any MPG other than that caused by me being harder on the throttle to hear the engine growl.
That sound you're hearing isn't "the engine bogging down like it’s getting too much air". It's the sound wave pulses in the intake droning with the engine under load. It's the exact same as some mufflers causing exhaust drone. It's all sound waves being pulsed through pipe. The factory puts Helmholtz chambers on the intake to combat droning frequencies. You've removed those chambers so now you hear the drone.
It's the same as someone switching to a performance muffler to get more volume, which lets certain frequencies previously muffled or muted by the factory muffler to become more audible. So then, just like the intake duct, you have to install Helmholtz chambers to attenuate the offending noise.
If you don't find the $160 you spent worth the "gains", at least be glad that you didn't spend $300-$400 on a system to have about the same results.
As for bang-for-the-buck, yes, a REAL tune can't be beat.
Clean example of a homemade PVC intake tube:
I'd likely use ABS pipe. Instead of the slip-fit couplings, I'd bevel the edges, butt them together (like how pipefitters weld pipe together) and bond them with ABS cement then sand and paint so it'd look like a single, formed piece of pipe.
