I have an A/T tC and I currently have the Injen intake in SRI config. I installed it myself as SRI since I want to be able to inspect and clean the filter easily.

I'd like to know which is more beneficial, in the context of performance, for a daily-driven car like mine, as far as intake setup? CAI or SRI?

Please also note that my exhaust is Injen as well.

Thanks!

 

well in SRI you lose some of the low end and you don't launch as quickly, everything goes to 3k and you only really get to there on the highway. which was fun on the highway, but a little sluggish in the city, i got used to it though. and you know the engine sound.

in CAI you get the low end back and the gain gets evened out throughout instead of a big chunk at 3k. its much more fun driving city. starting from a stop is much more quick. that and my TRD sway plus the clover off/onramps, make for some very fun stuff.
(I am not getting craxy stupid though). and the engine isn't as loud anymore but it turns to a very nice deep growl that kinda reminds me a little of a mustang...

 

aha lupe on the age old CAI question

what the man says in true, we've gone into great lengths on previous posts about this, one in particular he and I went back and forth on it.

I myself have the Injen exhaust along with the ingen CAI, I've attacked puddles up to 5inches and had no such indication that I've taken on any excessive amounts of water, so waterlocking shouldnt be a big issue ... unless you submerge the front end, which has been stated several times before.

Most likely you'll enjoyt he CAI format better than the SRI, having the power spread out instead of suffering loss of power followed by a kick.
PLUS ... I think having that cone filter out of sight is easier on the eyes when you pop the head ... downside to that you're most liekly going to ahve to remove your front bumped to replace your filter or refurb it.

just my suggestion

 

i don't remember what your talking about.. were we on opposite sides?
eh whatever
wonder if this thread will get locked...

 

no you dont have to take the bumper off to install the cai or to get to the filter to clean it.all you have to do is take off the screws to the black plastic lining and pull it back and walah theres your filter.taking off the wheel helps

 

actually yea, when i had the rest of mine put in all they did was take off the driver wheel and the plastic lining.

shocked me that they actually got it in!
what I thought was god telling me to keep it in SRI mode was just him telling me to get some help!

 

"they" ... my brother and I did mine ... we had a hell of a time getting the 2nd peice to fit. I go inside for pizza and drinks, come out and he's magically figured it out.
That's cool about removing just the under lining. looked like I'd be twisting my arm to get to it, it'll probably look better when I get around to doing it

No, we werne't necessarily on opposite sides. I think we kinda agreed

 

i didn't do mine at all except the SRI part.
I didn't want to try putting the rest on cause the last time i tried i scratched the crap out of the tube (and you can see it all even now )

and 3 guys that were at a recent install day volunteered to install it and i said I wasn't gonna help em... stull not sure how they got it to work...

 

i read that if you lossen the fender the second tube should go in easier.i wish i knew that before i installed mines in i dented my fender from the inside causing a crack in the paint from the outside its an eye sore

 

did any of ur 2nd pipes get scratch the fu** out of it?

 

oh yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

mine had a minor scratch.. but it's kinda deep..

there's a certain way you can wiggle it in to avoid scratches... i've gotten used to installing them on friends' cars.

 

yep, all clear on mine, and I got the black intake. brother did a great job. I didnt ask him to show me tho for fear we couldnt get it back in again tho

 

lucky you guys!

mine looks like a knife got mad at some butter. but at least its there and it works.

 

i didn't wait for this thread to get longer. so, friday night, i decided to reconfigure my intake to CAI.

first thing i did, i tried removing the front left wheel. i had wheel locks, so i got the key and put it on. when i tried twisting it open with the wrench, i chipped off a good amount of the wheel lock's face, enough to prevent me from twisting it open.

saturday morning, i brought it to a nearby tire shop and asked them to remove all of my wheel locks. so he got the broken one out. the other two came off as well, but the wheel lock on the rear left wheel broke too.

lesson i learned here: f**k toyota's wheel locks!

now after i got that problem out of the way, i removed the front left wheel followed by the wheel well lining using a 10mm socket wrench. i carefully figured out the way to put the second pipe in. i had tiny scratches on it, but nothing to cry about. btw, battery was disconnected as soon as i got the wheel and the trim off.

started the car, waited about 10 or more minutes, drove around for a bit after. then, i came back satisfied.

well, indeed i got the low end torque. hydrolocking? saturday night and sunday morning i drove on the nj turnpike (70-95 mph) while raining (light to moderate) and some splish-splash on the road. no hydrolocking so far considering i had the plastic cover on the fender (driver side hole in front, like where the fog lights for the lexus IS are mounted) removed when i had driving lamps installed in there. i guess just for feeling of added protection (placebo), i might put a prefilter there. but i don't think i'll hydrolock it unless as many have said, i drive it into a lake or be dumb to drive so fast on a hard florida rain.

i can't wait for wednesday coz the next mod will be the lightweight pulley i bought from zpi. i don't want underdrive, i guess for now.

btw, fyi this afternoon i made a custom grounding kit on a tC. didn't change anything.

thanks for all your input, fellaz!

 

how odd i had NO problems with my toyota wheel locks when I still used them......

anywho congrats on the instal! and kudos to having little to no damgage on it as well

 

I would rather go with the cai then the sri cause i think the cai power is more spread out so you get a better feel throughout all the rpms. while the short ram only works best at low end power.

 

actually the SRI takes away the low end, it doesn't get good until after 3k

 

besides not driving into a lake or excessive rain isnt there other ways to avoid hydrolocking??? isnt there a sleeve type thing you can put over the filter or a special filter you can buy to help better protect from suckin up water???

 

yes, if i remember correctly K&N's intake comes with a "drycharger" sleeve that goes over the filter. The injen one doesn't come with one of these but there is one available.

and I also assume that they restrict the airflow but I dont know by how much or how it effects performance.