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A friend of mine said I could add an aftermarket Air intake for my new civic si and it will add power and make better gas milage. Is this true? I thought if I changed anything it would mess with the tuning? Someone help me out, I'm a noob when it comes to upgrading cars. I would want to add a little bit of power and better gas milage if possible.

 
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Tuning refers to the motor being tweaked, worked on, or designed differently to make it just right. Anything to help the engine breath better, and get air into the combustion chamber more efficiently, would be considered positive tuning. An intake usually increases the velocity of the air traveling into the intake manifold, this helps smooth out the powerband, also with a larger intake chamber, more air will be able to enter the combustion chamber.

So yes, it should add some power on your si. Probably not a mind blowing amount, so dont keep your expectations high, but it should smooth out the powerband, give the engine a nice tone to it after a certain RPMs and increase your gas milage if your foot isnt on it too hard to hear the cool sound it makes. Good luck!

And go with name brand intakes, they last longer and are usually designed better that knockoff/ebay type intake systems..

 
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i do love the noise my injen makes when i hit 4 to 5 RPMs. Would that hurt my engine in the long run if I get pedal happy at times?
And when I'm just cruising around it hisses like a snake, which is kind of cool.
I'm not sure about gas mileage but I do notice an increase in acceleration.

 
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everything was well stated but i disagree with this to an extent. i personaly prefer the ebay intakes. but what doesnt last on them is the filter. the tubing is exactly that...tubing. AEM doesnt have some special tubing that allows are to travel through it better. I would buy an ebay intake and then buy just an aem dryflow filter. this would be just as good as an aem/injen/namebrand intake at a fraction of the cost. If you go this route make sure you get the right diameter filter.

 
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tuning refers to the adjustment of a cars air to fuel ratio. adding an intake does not constitute tuning.

 
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wouldn't getting more air, quicker into the throttle body tell the ECU to dump more fuel into the cylinders to compensate for the leaner condition? obviously its not mapping or any physical adjustment made by you, but as far as the computers brain.. its adjusting its own air/fuel ratio.

Lets just not use the word tuning, i'd rather not offend anybody in here and ruin this guys thread because I said the wrong words

and ^^ I agree on the ebay filters being the reason they're garbage.. you're right about that, a pipe is a pipe

 
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tubing isnt just tubing... smooth bends in the pipe allow the air to flow more smoothly at a higher rate, as opposed to crappy bent pipes with burrs on the inside and **** or if there are creases that form when the pipe is bent- you've all seen crappy pipe bending at one point in your life.... and aside from that you can have special paint to hold off the heat buildup of the pipe, as opposed to straight piping. Also the mounting points of the intake make a difference if they are supported completely by the throttle body or well placed and suport the intake tubing.

yes, the filters are crap on ebay- I could make something better with broken coffee pot parts.

 
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i thought i was the only one who thought this...

 
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just a quick question with ebay intakes... how does it fit with strut bars that go right across the engine bay as suppose to DC or Neuspeed bars? would it get in the way or those generic strut bars as suppose to those brand name strut bars? because im thinking of getting one, but afraid it wouldnt fit because of my bar, thats how i came upon looking into the Injen IS1565 intakes

 
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well normally the only bars that work with the intakes from what i understand were the neuspeed and the dc sports. and that was because they have a bend in them that clears the intake

generic strut bars are not like generic intakes...I would only get reputable ones for those

 
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triz is right, my weapon-r has alot of technology bulit into it and makes ebay pipe look like junk. smooth bends and inner pipe surface, proper location of iat sensor away from the tb, roughed surface in the plenum above the tb to mix up the air before it goes in the engine...then you have the filter with a velocity stack that has 300 pores/sq inch yet flows more air than a K&N and even more than a pipe without filter. all those little things add up, and in the end you have an intake that is better than stock. all the cars ive seen in person with ebay intakes have TERRIBLE fitment and look like its about to fall off the tb. not to mention its all crooked and ghetto with unevenly cut tubes that dont even fit the right way. i wont even get started on the filters they come with.

 
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Thanks for the great replies everyone. So this has shed some light and maybe I will go with an air intake. My next question is, which intake would everyone recommend? Also, what's a good price (I'm in southern cali so parts can be competitive in price)?

 
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i always end up chopping and relocating the ebay intakes i buy so it isnt even worth the money for me to buy a name brand...just the filters

 
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I agree with Triz. Airflow may seem simple, but there's a lot more to it than meets the eye.

 
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esp on a small engine where every little bit matters. any name brand intake will work well, aem, K&N, weapon-r all make great intakes. just use a dryflow aem filter if you decide to get the K&N intakes.

 
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about the a/f ratio. the ecu will automatically adjust the a/f ratios to a small extent. if it senses it is off by a little it will compensate for that issue. however it cant adjust itself to turbo/nitrous etc. bolt onts on your car ie. intake exhaust should do just fine

 
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i have an injen short ram with a generic ebay strut bar and they both fit just fine