Best Cold Air Intake

[425HPWAGON]

I have searched up and down this forum for a real answer my first performance upgrades gonna be a cold air intake i have looked at a bunch of different ones i like the look of the volant but everyone seems to say the airhammer is the way to go, couple questions how many are carb legal ( i know K&N has a legal one) being in CA i dont want to have to change it every time i go get a smog check. Why does the 350.00 airhammer work better than the 40.00 ones on ebay? I just dont want to buy twice. I know im a newbie here and this is for my SRT Magnum

[DonH]

If you haven't done so already, read through this post about AirHammers, the company goes into pretty good detail including Dyno testing.

AIRHAMMER Overview

[Icewood_Jr]

I would get the Hammer if the deliver didnt take 30 days, but next in line I would say is AFE stage II

[josh05magnum]

30 days is a small price to pay for the best.
Plus is nice being able to order it and get all the upgrades like powdercoating in one place.

[DonH]

I had been wanting/needing/coveting the Hammer for a couple of months now and had been PMing them for the past few days about this and that. Saturday afternoon I decided to just call and that was the best 1/2 hour or so I've ever spent.
Lance picked up the phone and took the time to go through everything step by step, options, colors, filters, dyno results.

OH yea, paid by PayPal 15 minutes later and mine is now on order.

[425HPWAGON]

BUt why is one better than the other and why does one supposedly make 9 HP more I mean they all seem like a tube with a filter on it im just trying to see what makes one better than the other aside from looks

[Warlock]

here look at 'just a tube', mabe this will help with the visual

AIRHAMMER Booty Contest!

[DonH]

Go to the supporting vendor aisle section of the forum, scroll down to the Hammer Automotive section, and read through the posts and stickys. There is info there comparing various CAIs. I'd post it here, but wouldn't want to mis-quote something important. Better you read it in person and make your own decision.

Matter of fact, they also have special running, AirHammer and Diablo tuner combo for an excellent price.


(I dont have any affiliation with them, and don't want to step on any toes. Sorry vendors.)

[jim383]

We have a few in our group that dynoed at GSM on the same day with our JEEPS.
JEEP # 1 - 07
diablo cmr tune, (b/woody cai ),borla s exhaust. 360 hp, 380 lbs tq
JEEP # 2 - 07
diablo cmr tune, (gsm cai ),stock exhaust.358 hp, 369 lbs tq
JEEP # 3 - 08
diablo cmr tune, (gsm cai ),stock exhaust.367hp, 376 lbs tq
So it looks like the cai are about the same on the 07 but with the borla exhaust i think thats where his tq is better than the stock exhaust. The 08 put out more hp bone stock ( NO MODS AT ALL ) than the 07 did.

[IDD]

I don't think the AirHammer is 'carb legal', but I've been wrong before.

[Carfinish]

C&L CAI uses the base from the stock air box....consideration if you have to swap all the time and it's about same HP as the top Performers....and still to be tested in MOFO, but looks very promising....and right now is priced right.

[Carfinish]

I don't think the AirHammer is 'carb legal', but I've been wrong before.

correct IDD...not yet

[punkt71]

I waited on buying an intake.. i was think of a AirHammer or a AFE stage 2, but ordered the new C&L because it looks good and performs as well as an AFE. We will see how it works.. got an email regarding the finish of the intake being completed (but the wrong one) and decided to just take it, but never got a response as to when its shipping. So hopefully I will receive it in the next millenium.

I would have to recommend the AFE 2 right now, since it seems the only intake that makes HP without costing too much... the C&L might be nice, but who knows when it will be available.

[Leadfootluke]

Airhammer is the best looking and best performing, and comparabe in price and performance to the aFe stage 2.

C&L hasnt been tested, not released so we dont know if its crap or awesome, but independent testing is coming soon, and the product itself looks really promising like CarFinish mentioned. Also, all 3 have intake w/diablo packages that you can look into.

Oh, and the thing that makes them different is the R&D involved. The airflow rating and how the air enters the throttlebody, how smooth the intake is internally, and any other forms resistance were calculated to optimize airflow efficiency. The aFe2 is a design like the airhammer, except its plastic and black. The airhammer is steel (or aluminum) and can be polished, or powdercoated. There are Mod Face off threads that have dyno runs of the products as well.

[MrC1]

It doesn;t look any better than any other to me. If you want bling, then forking over $500-600 for a polished stainless metal tube is up to you. Otherwise, I can almost guarantee it won't perform any better than any other for the most part. Being metal, it will tranmit even more heat to the air going through it (from the engine bay) than a plastic one would.