Tag Archives: AEM

Nameless Performance Cold Air Intake Installed!

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If you remember, I received my Nameless Performance cold air intake a few weeks ago.   I didn’t plan to install my Nameless Performance cold air intake this weekend but I ended up doing just that.

I had a bit of a time trying to figure out how to remove the stock air box and how to install the new CAI.  Only two bolts hold the stock air box in place.  The bolts were difficult to reach but weren’t too difficult to remove.  It’s reinstalling the stock air box that might be troublesome, IMO, because rethreading those bolts back on might take awhile.

In hindsight, I think I probably would’ve been better off getting the Cobb SF intake and airbox.  I still might look into going that route, but I absolutely love the way the NP intake looks in my engine bay.  I sorta wish I’d been able to see the different color options (that wasn’t available when I ordered mine, but it’s on the NP product pages now….they’ve many color schemes depicted.

The install of the CAI wasn’t all that bad.  It’s a tight fit and the product uses the same mount points as the stock equipment, although you have to remove a bracket.  I had to search on the web for a picture of a mounted NP CAI to see how to mount it.  It comes with no instructions.  Fortunately it didn’t take me all that long to figure out and install.  It took me 1.5 hours to install, but that’s only because I kept stopping to take pictures and video clips, and I kept double-checking my work (since I didn’t have instructions).

Here’s a picture of my extremely dirty stock air filter (I don’t think the dealer replaced it like I asked them 9 months ago and the car’s barely been driven since then).

 

 

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Here’s a shot of where the stock air box used to be:

 

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Here’s the close-out and MAF housing that I managed to figure out how to mount:

 

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Here’s where I mounted the MAF sensor (it only fits this way…I suggest you mount it before mounting the close-out…that way, you don’t end up dropping the little screws in the engine bay):

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Finished!

 

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I can now hear turbo spool-up…it is very noticeable.  I can also hear air rushing into the intake.

Note that this CAI requires a tune.  This unit is compatible with Cobb’s AEM maps.  I’m currently using the Cobb OTS Stage 1 91-octane AEM map.  I’ve logged a few miles with pulls included…the logs are kosher.

There’s a slight hesitation at throttle tip-in from idle.  It only happens from idle and it almost sounds like the throttle plate is fighting a vacuum, but I’m not sure that’s possible.  There’s no boost leak (I’m hitting peak boost without issue).  I’m trying to determine what’s going on.  I wonder if this is just a map issue that a tuner can tune out.

Oh, and here’s a video:

 

 

Nameless Performace CAI has arrived!

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This is the Nameless Performance cold air intake (CAI) that I ordered a month and three weeks ago.   I’ve been waiting for this a long time.  At first, I was upset because I thought that most of this was pre-built, but after making a complaint to Jason (of Nameless), he e-mailed me stating that they were almost done building it.  I did a mental double-take.  Then, when I received it, I got a good look at the craftsmanship…it’s good enough to where I can mount it over my fireplace (I’m not joking).  It’s almost a work of art.  The close-out is powder-coated.  If I’d have known it would look that good, I’d have maybe chosen another color.  I opted to have the MAF housing as black in color.  Overall, it looks great!

I’ll probably end up mounting it a week before my protune is scheduled.  No, this CAI doesn’t need a protune, as it is compatible with Cobb’s AEM OTS tunes (although, a protune would be more efficient/safer).    If I could, I’d get the car dyno’d and tuned before the parts are mounted and afterward, but I can’t/won’t.  I’m also still mulling over getting an e-tune.  I’ve a few e-tuners in mind, but will need to get the low RPM stumble fixed (there’s an online mod how-to here).

Mishimoto Cold Air Intake for 2008-2014 STI

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http://www.mishimoto.com/subaru-wrx-sti-performance-air-intake-08-14.html

This cold air intake (CAI) is a bit different than that’s currently on the market for the GR/GV STIs.  What’s different?  Your vehicle doesn’t need to be tuned for it to be used on your car, nor does it need to used with a Cobb AP OTS tune.  In most cases, CAIs for Subarus are not plug-n-play.  So when I saw the above URL posted within the IWSTI forums, I immediately had questions, such as ‘how did they do this?’.

Here is an engineering writeup of the product (by Mishimoto engineers).  It is actually pretty thorough.  Another cool fact is that it can still be protuned for further gains.  Mishimoto claims,

The maximum gain achieved was about 25 hp and 24 tq at around 5300 rpm, with a peak gain of 12.7 hp and 2 tq. These results are very good for such an easy part to swap out. Increases on average through the power band measured around 20 hp and 18 tq, which would certainly be noticeable to the driver.

Additional notes regarding the air/fuel ratio of a car with this particular CAI:

The Mishimoto CAI follows the stock AFR as the car builds its boost. Once the engine reaches 4000 rpm the car is under full boost, as seen when the Mishimoto CAI starts to differ from the stock unit. The maximum AFR reached was about 11.7:1, but on average the Mishimoto CAI runs about 11.3:1 when under full boost. The stock AFR maxed out at about 11:1 and averaged about 10.5:1 when under full boost. These numbers were consistent throughout multiple runs, which assured the engineers that this CAI can be used every day without harming the engine.

Looks-wise, I like the Nameless Performance CAI better, even though that particular unit still needs a Cobb AP to be used (it can be used with any map that supports the AEM CAI).  Pricing between the NP and Mishimoto CAIs are also very similar.  The NP CAI is $299 and has an arsenal of color choices of the closeout and MAF housing.  The Mishimoto CAI is $313 and only offers 3 colors of the intake piping.

I’m not sure which offers better gains on OTS tuning, but I don’t think you can go wrong with either solution.