Cold air intakes

I've been wanting to put in a cold air intake into my 05 scion tc. I was just wondering if there are any limitations to getting these. I was reading on the TRD intake at a scion dealership and it said "not intended for highway use." Does this mean, it is bad to use on the highway? I do a lot of highway travel and I would not want this to be the case. I have seen some low cost intakes on ebay like THIS ONE. Would that be a good one to go with or should I stick with the expensive TRD one. And lastly, they look simple to just swap out your old system and stick in the new one, is this true?

I don't know any big car people except people that want to upgrade their car, but know nothing about what to get, so I turn to you guys.

RoboCop wrote: I've been wanting to put in a cold air intake into my 05 scion tc. I was just wondering if there are any limitations to getting these. I was reading on the TRD intake at a scion dealership and it said "not intended for highway use." Does this mean, it is bad to use on the highway? I do a lot of highway travel and I would not want this to be the case. I have seen some low cost intakes on ebay like THIS ONE. Would that be a good one to go with or should I stick with the expensive TRD one. And lastly, they look simple to just swap out your old system and stick in the new one, is this true? I don't know any big car people except people that want to upgrade their car, but know nothing about what to get, so I turn to you guys.

Not for highway use means its for some reason illegal to use on normal roadways... but okay for shows and races... like strobe lights...

but it doesnt really matter... no one is gonna check to see if you have  the stock intake or not... go ahead and get one

ctchofday wrote: RoboCop wrote: I've been wanting to put in a cold air intake into my 05 scion tc. I was just wondering if there are any limitations to getting these. I was reading on the TRD intake at a scion dealership and it said "not intended for highway use." Does this mean, it is bad to use on the highway? I do a lot of highway travel and I would not want this to be the case. I have seen some low cost intakes on ebay like THIS ONE. Would that be a good one to go with or should I stick with the expensive TRD one. And lastly, they look simple to just swap out your old system and stick in the new one, is this true? I don't know any big car people except people that want to upgrade their car, but know nothing about what to get, so I turn to you guys. Not for highway use means its for some reason illegal to use on normal roadways... but okay for shows and races... like strobe lights... but it doesnt really matter... no one is gonna check to see if you have  the stock intake or not... go ahead and get one

Pretty sure they check all that during inspections.  On the other hand, I've got a K&N on my car, and have never had any trouble, I guess it could vary from car to car as well though.

Not to hijack the thread, but why aren't ram air intakes more popular?  I don't know much about them on cars, but I would imagine it would provide more of a performance boost than a standard cold air intake.  Another idea, I've never seen synthetic air breathing car engines, basically they use a heat exchanger with liquid hydrogen running through it to cool the air coming in, providing a tremendous boost in efficiency and performance.

Pezzer wrote: Not to hijack the thread, but why aren't ram air intakes more popular?  I don't know much about them on cars, but I would imagine it would provide more of a performance boost than a standard cold air intake.  Another idea, I've never seen synthetic air breathing car engines, basically they use a heat exchanger with liquid hydrogen running through it to cool the air coming in, providing a tremendous boost in efficiency and performance.

CAI's have more of a HP gain through sucking in cold air which is more dense in oxygen...

Ram Airs provide more throttle response by sucking in any air faster (usually the very heated air in the engine bay which is less dense)... a Ram Air is much better than a CAI if combined with a Ram Air hood allowing it too to suck in cold air

so either by itself sucks...

but a Short Ram Air intake is the BEST normal induction if combined with a Ram Air Hood allowing for more HP through the cold air from the hood scooping it in and quicker throttle repsonse through the shorter piping

the Hydrogen system wont work it will cool the air so much that it can damage the engine... metal getting hot and cold really fast tends to malform/break/crack very quickly


Edited by ctchofday - 28 October 2007 at 4:19pm

a big limitation is if you live in a warm climate theres no cold air

Be careful with a CAI if you live in a very wet area. It's possible to suck water into your engine through the CAI as it hangs down under the engine. Hydrolock = bad.

I wonder if I can make a cold air intake for my bike...

Or a supercharger...

RoboCop wrote: So how would I go about finding what is legal and illegal in my area. (Texas)

Does your state do annual vehicle inspections? If so, call a garage which does inspections, and ask if an aftermarket intake is legal in Texas.

I see no reason why it wouldn't be legal. A cold-air intake is designed to allow denser air to enter the combustion chamber of your engine. You will get a slight performance gain, but it's not a major change...it shouldn't void your car's warranty.

Well there are some CAI that have a water filter. I am pretty sure that is what the TRD has. Is that what would make it so expensive? It really doesn't seem like water should be getting into the filter with it being towards the top of the engine and the bottom having a half splash guard type set up. And water would have a hard time getting past all the stuff after going through the grill.