SCT/RAI/CAI/TB/Plenum
 

Hey guys i need some help with my parts selection. What kind of CAI or RAI do you gain the most power from?? I am going to do a TB/Plenum combo prob C&L plenum and BBK TB. Should i get a 70mm or 75mm TB. I heard 75mm is for NO2 or S/C apps, and if N/A 70mm is all you need. Last I am getting my 4.10s on tuesday will a SCT work to change the gear swap??? FYI its an auto.



Thanks Guys

I hope you are prepared for lots of opinions, cuz you will get them (lol).

Here are my thoughts:

1. Go SCT! I think it is the best product available to us....flasher or chip. The SCT products can be used to calibrate your speedo etc... Just let the tuner/retailer know. Great mod for an auto. R U going chip or tuner?

2. CAI? The conventional wisdom on these is that they don't work much on an n/a car. I have the steeda one...seems to work fine and looks good too. Either way, don't expect too much from a CAI and avoid the fenderwall style and they cause problems for the MAF in some applications.

This is my favorite one:

http://www.apten-us.com/performance/gt/gtcai.asp


3. TB? Go with the 75 with the C&L. It will give you about 2-3 hp more and will help down the road with a power adder. I have a 75 mm BBK with the C&L.

Blake

thanks!! anyone else have any input???

I also agree that you really dont need a cold air intake. Just go buy a 50 dollar K&N filter and put it in. Also, go ahead and get the 75mm tb and the C&L plenum, or even the trick flow one if you so choose. They are all good and they all seem to produce numbers within 3 hp of each other. Good luck man, have fun. Oh and go with the SCT chip.

Well since I have bought all those things I would say skip them all and get a K & N filter. Port your own plenum and skip a bigger TB. Ther reality is most GT's gain almost nothing on the intake side. If you have aftermarket cams and a free flowing exhaust they will help. They will add a little but not really enough to justify the cost.
I can tell you this, mine is an automatic also. I gained not one tenth at the track with a C & L maf kit, plenum and 75mm TB. I did pick up a little trap speed but no time gains. I upgraded from 3.73 gears to 4.30's and dropped 2 tenths. That was from 13.712 to 13.51, then I dropped in a 3500 stall speed converter and SCT tune and dropped to 12.89. Just for fun this spring I'm going to put my complete stock air intake back in with the original plenum I hand ported and see what I run. I bet there is almost no difference. The best bang for the buck on a Automatic is gears, torque converter, tune and drag radials.

thanks for the input. i just got my gears today and LT headers and prochamber on friday. then i need to get the SCT so i can change the gear swap. already got my steeda UDP's , and got the DD bullett rims 17x10.5 with nittos. i will be going to the track april 9th at rockfalls. i hope to dip into the low 13s.

thanks guys for all of your help

Some pretty good comments in this thread. Here is my take....you have to help your car out in the areas it is weak, tb's, cai's,plenums,MAF's ain't it. Those flow plenty of air stock. My car makes 320crank hp and those items are all still stock. Your weak spots are exhaust (manifolds are huge restriction), gears, and for an automatic, a converter. You buy cams ($600) and exhaust (headers on back) I guarantee you will see 30rwhp+ increase. I have an automatic also. Cams are a legit 20rwhp. Exhaust 15ish. IMO TB's, plenums, MAF's and CAI are all a huge waste of money compared to what you could get if that money were spent elsewhere. Just my opinion though.
Just a little side note, I bought a Pro-M 87mm MAF unit because it was used and less than $100, anyway, my car runs better with the stock unit. You would be surprised at how much HP you need to peg a stock MAF unit. I believe its somewhere in the 400-500hp range.


Adam

There is some really good info here for us autos. Its nice to hear what mods will make more hp instead of sell your car and get a stick. I`ve been thinking of porting my plenum intake myself. Is it hard to do and do you need to get new gaskets?

Nah, its alot more fun beating the 5-speeds :laughing1 You start off at a disadvantage, so you have to make it in your favor. Ask Dean about porting plenums...I think he did his.

Adam

personally I like the predator, for a hand held tuner, but the SCT if you want a chip with a couple programs. Both will turn off error messeges from your off road pipe, change your speedo, ect. I believe pedator for me is better because you can adjust the tune at the track, and it has data logging.

I like the RAI that JLT sells for about $120 it's as good as any out there, and i agree, don't get any with pipeing before the maf unless your CAI happens to double as a supercharger or turbo :)

Modulardepot.com had a shootout done by people I trust, ( http://www.modulardepot.com/?show=articlesdet&aid=38 ) the Accufab upper/ accufab TB is the one everyone is buying now, I would go 75mm because it'snot going to hurt you alot N/A and you may need it later :)

I ported mine with a Dremmel tool. Took out the casting bumps, took off the excess metal on the floor of it and polished it. I re-used the stock gasket. Took me about 2 hours to port and polish. I have a good how to article on it scanned. I can e-mail it to anyone interested. Just p.m. me.