I know that the short ram is going to use the air from inside the engine compartment, and the cold air is going to take from outside.. But is going cold air really worth the extra money?

On most cars a CAI will make 0-1hp if nothing else is modded. What type of car is this going on? You won't see any appreciable fuel economy from it though you may notice a slight improvement in throttle response. It will be louder, especially if your stock intake has noise reduction chambers built into it.

It's on a '06 Legacy GT. The only thing done to it is a Borla CBE

you need a tune after installing an intake right?

Yeah, because the intakes are larger in diameter than the stock airboxes

no.

is a tune a bad idea? no, not if its done right.

go drop a grand or so on a intake, exhaust and tune, then you will notice a difference.


go with short ram if your in rainy country, with the splash guard and you should never have an issue. there wont be a real big difference between the 2 prefomance wize. or any at all

This post was edited by IB0T on Nov 7 2013 03:10pm

Look at it like this. By itself you will not notice any extra power. You shouldn't have to have it tuned to run it, but it will be for noise more than anything. If you plan on having it tuned, then do the CAI. The tune by itself will account for most of the power, fuel economy, and throttle response improvement but the more you mod the car the more the CAI will be worth. The stock intake is not a restriction on the stock engine. If you tune it, up the boost, install a bigger turbo, etc then it might be. In that case the CAI would be worth it.






It depends on the vehicle. Usually anything with a MAF won't need a tune. The MAF and MAP relay exactly how much oxygen is making into the engine. Nothing needs to be tuned unless a fairly big change is made. If it is a speed density tune then it may need a tune just for a CAI. Obviously some vehicles don't follow the normal protocol if they have a really restrictive intake (new mustang) regardless of the electronic configuration.

I wish I could have gotten an intake, tune, and exhaust for a grand.
My intake/tuner combo was like $700

And yes, you need a tune unless you get a POS intake.
More air needs more fuel which means a new tune. If the intake doesnt give you much more air it wont need a tune, but it will also be a terrible investment.

Borla CBE was around 700, The Perrin Short ram I'm looking at is like $215, or a Cobb CAI is about $150 more.

Mustangs are about the only modern cars I've seen that need a tune with an intake. It's probably because the factory intake is restrictive and all of the aftermarket ones are GIGANTIC. Mustang guys always want a 235025mm intake tube and 2134509123mm MAF with a 1235607969mm TB. Big diameter = low velocity, which usually causes turbulent airflow. That messes with MAF readings. Big TB's also give you tip in throttle problems which present themselves as surging and poor low throttle percentage modulation. Anything over 90mm usually starts to give you problems on a monoblade. It's just how the mustang aftermarket has developed.


Anything with a MAF and an intake that isn't a big restriction being replaced by something not drastically different in size won't need a tune. That is what the MAF and MAP combo does. The difference in vacuum and air density at sea level from stock intake and a CAI is far, far less than the difference in a stock intake at sea level and a stock intake at 10,000ft elevation. The computer adjusts for that just fine as it can with the CAI UNLESS you introduce something that causes turbulent flow over the MAF.

If it is SD I would get it tuned just to be safe. 98% of the time it would be fine but if you were operating in a fringe situation already it might bump you over the edge.