Killaspice, you came to the right conclusion (great job!) but just to clarify. The important factor in any intake setup is flow. How does the air enter the cylinder head and then the combustion chamber? An aftermarket intake will change the flow patterns. By changing the intake you will be changing your horsepower and torque CURVES. That means, with a short ram intake, you may get more low end torque and the expense of midrange power, with a longer cai you may get more high end power at the expense of mid range torque. It depends on the engineering of the flow. But I can tell you this. None of the d*ckheads at AEM or WEAPON R have 1/10th the engineering know-how of the guys who designed the intake side of the 2azfe. The exception? Forced induction. Buy yourself a turbo and get the biggest plenum with medium length runners, and watch out!

 

Thats pretty cold. I have a weapon-r short ram, with ram-air, and the cold air box. I guess you can say i wasted money. But im satisfied. loooks good, sounds good. So if any1 is thinking about that setup, i can say itz worth it.

 

SRI's do worse on the low-end, as mentioned earlier. Both will give good top-rpm gains.

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=92108

It's not so much about flow - all aftermarket intakes, SRI & CAI, increase air flow to the engine by being less restrictive than the stock airbox. It's all about getting the MAF sensor to "see" more air flow and therefore have the ECU command for more fuel to be injected into the cylinders & increase power.

The intakes that dyno best have done the better job of making the MAF sensor see more airflow, especially by reducing turbulence at the MAF sensor.

 

sorry mengsta, that's just the sad truth. And it IS about flow. I think it's time everyone brushed up on their fluid dynamics! Man it has been too long. Here's a decent article that's mildly easy to understand, I think, if you're not in to fluid dynamics:
http://www.hitechforum.com/~vetteguru/ramair/
A little more unprofessional than my tastes normally allow but he covers some of the main points, like static and dynamic pressure, air velocity INTO THE COMBUSTION CHAMBER (FLOW), and combustion/pressure. Enjoy

 

^^Can't get your linked web page to load up (yesterday or today), but I think it may be a little off-topic for this thread. There's another thread for a new intake manifold being developed by Street Stealth, and they are discussing fluid dynamics in some detail.

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=150881

For intakes it's much simpler. You do want more airflow than the stock intake, and all a/m intakes give you that whether SRI or CAI. But how they dyno or perform on the street depends on how it affects intake air temp. and how the intake design allows the MAF sensor to accurately read air flow.

If an intake is actually pulling in say 300cfm of air at a certain rpm, but it's raising IAT dramatically by drawing air from the engine bay and/or through heat soaking metal tubes - or if the flow is so turbulent that the MAF only "sees" 200cfm - then the ECU will reduce fuel and/or alter ignition timing and less HP will be produced.

But, the HP gains from any intake alone are not that much on an n/a tC. Many people are satisfied with the looks & sound of their intake and there's nothing wrong with that.

 

You guys probably heard about the Midwest getting alot of rain.

I have TRD CAI...And I driven in two nasty storms and all the regular rain. I even had no choice to drive through a good 2 inch puddle. Since these storms are happening at night and I work nights so my car sits in the parking lot. I have monitored RPM's; no difference.

No problems! (knocking on wood)

Except for my stupid tire monitoring system keeps going off but that's caused by needing new tires and its different topic.