Cold Air or Ram Air???

hey my name is mike i got a 2000 Civic SI and i was wondering which intake system would be best for my car and brief why and can someone explain quick what is the difference between the two.

Things looking for:
-Which adds more HP
-Which ass more Torque
-Quality

Thanks  

I'm no pro but I researched this alot and pretty much everyone says short ram unless you live in a very dry area or the car is track only, the biggest reason being a significant risk of waterlocking your engine with a cold air unit.

Oh, and the cold air doesn't really make much more of a difference in performance. IT looks a little cooler though.

Also I put a custom heat shield on my short ram, not because it was necessary but because it had a built in air tunnel that connects to the stock intake tubing. From my understanding of physics this really should provide better performance than an open filter intake regardless of its placement.  

It all depends in what do you want a short ram helps your aceleration an a cold air its better working in higher rpm's  

aite word, thanks guys for shedding some light on this for me.


-lol didnt mean 2 put "ass more torque"  

what is the upside of a CAI compared to ram air since CAI are more money from what ive seen. is it just looks and sound?  

Ram is cool it won't pick up as much air.  With and actual cold air intake that goes down into the engine bay it will pick up a lot of air but there is that chance that you can get water into your combustion chamber.  If you want to spend the money buy a cold air system that has a Air Bypass Valve that blocks the water from getting into your system...  

actually according to my source "how to build honda horespower." with hundreds of dyno verified results, including the short ram/cold air comparison on a 2000 civic si. the results didn't match up to any of your guys answers. cold air gained more tq/hr across the power band, and the short ram only beat the cold air in peak hp at high rpm's. making the cold air by far the best choice for a street car.  

remember the length of the intake pipe plays a big role role in the kind of power band your going to have. just like an intake manifold with short fat runners for high rpm power ie "integra type r." or longer runners for better low end ie "integra Ls"  

I installed the AEM v2 cold intake on my eg civic and it had a great sound but not really a power adder. To get the real potential out of the intake system you need to upgrade the throttle body and port the intake manifold. Otherwise you are trying to suck a tiny amount of air through a giant straw. However, I hydrolocked my motor with that intake and ended up bending two rods. So cold air is not the best solution overall.  

You want to go with a CAI if possible. I've driven through puddles when I had a CAI in my old car. As long as you're not living in areas where theres lots of flooding, then you're perfectly fine with a CAI. Just make sure if you do go through a big puddle, you want to roll through it or go through it with partial throttle. Go with a AEM v2.  

hey..
just read an article on air filters...
check it out and see for yourself, it says factory filters are the best (with some testing of course)
link: http://autospeed.com/cms/A_2232/article.html  

i would go with cold air,vtec engines seem to be happyer with that  

COLD air is the way to go. A cold air intake extends from the engine compartment to the hollow space inside your front bumper. This allows your induction air to be taken from the cool air outside of the vehicle, and not the hot and stagnant air from under the hood. A short ram intake will add horse power but not as much. It draws its air from under the hood.  The only drawback to the cold air is the price(up to twice as much).  

Cold air is better because of the fact. that is lower and closer to the front of the car. its breathes better and more cool dense air..