Suggestions and opinions please!!!!

[Acura CL 3.0]

I'm new to the world of imports....I recently purchased a 97 Acura CL 3.0 and my first engine mod. is prob goin to be an intake .....what i wanna know is which brands are good and which ones i should avoid.....I also would like to know the difference between the short and cold air intakes. pluses and minuses of both. i know some of the basics such as short avoids water and cold air sucks in cooler air. thanks!!

[Matt]

do you want something legal or illegal...there are a lot of good ones out there...rs akimoto...aem (very popular) dc...dragon...iceman or whatever that one is called. Cold air is good because it sucks exactly what it is called, and yeah you do have to watch out for puddles over 6 inches deep I think.

[Acura CL 3.0]

I want something legal.....right now i am aiming towards the AEM cold air because I know for a fact that the 98 V6 Accord aem intakes fit my car. the weapon-r does also but I've heard some mixed reviews for it....do u or anyone else know which other intakes fit my car? thanks

[Matt]

hmmm....well...the aem one is a very good one because it has a good name...good quality and shit. but they gotta make one specifically for your car. I wouldn't get the other one unless you HAVE to.

[Dreamspeed]

heres the difference, basically a short ram air intake is not as good as a cold air intake, the short intake draws in air that is close to your exhaust manifold and motor so the air will be hot the cold air intake sucks in air away from your engine area so it will be cold, cold air is more dense and contains more oxygen atoms therefore making more power, the only downside of a cold air intake is that it could suck up water and the filter gets dirty really fast. I guess the best cold air intake to get would be aem (sigh... but you will be like everyone else) you can also get the bypass valve too so you won't suck up air. If where you live rains a lot i suggest you get the bypass valve as if water gets into your motor you can say good bye to it. and an aem intake has a carb number so you don't have to worry about the cops

[Acura CL 3.0]

Thanks dreamspeed I'll deff. take what u said into consideration. But are there any "good" intakes besides Aem for cheap?

[Dreamspeed]

well, let me explain to you what makes an intake good. Basically the whole idea between aftermarket intakes is that it draws in more air then the stock one. Well that is only part of the answer. The temperature of the air is also a big factor. Now the aem cold air intake is positioned away from the engine so it sucks up cold air and it is also made of aluminum and coated with this paint that supposedly prevents the intake from heating up. The iceman cold air intake positions the filter in the same position as the AEM but is made of plastic, in my opinion plastic retains less heat then aluminum so i guess technically the iceman is better? the filter shape and design also play a big role in the amount of air that gets sucked in. The material with which it is made could be paper, foam, metal mesh. the stock ones are paper (they suck) the k&n ones are foam (i think) the metal mesh ones are ones like the blitz one. Basically i think the bigger the better when you look at the filter the more areas in which air could get in the better. Theres like a million designs like spirals or mushroom shaped or cone. and each one claim to be better then the other, in my opinion a cold air intake is a cold air intake, basically you most likely won't get more then 5 hp from the intake anyways so why stress over it? just get the iceman intake if you are on a budget or the aem if you want to spend the money you can even make your own intake got to http://www.teamdelsol.com and look at the how to section. hope this helps you out and didn't confuse you too much