I've ordered a cold-air intake for my 3.5 SE, and it says it's compatible with the AEM bypass valve. I understand what this is for, i.e. not allowing water to be sucked into the engine if you decide to ford a creek or something (lol).
But I live in Toronto, which is known for blazing hot summers (except this year), cold snowy winters and fun/nasty weather like that, but not for hurricanes or floods.
So, is it worth getting an AEM bypass valve or like device??
Thanks in advance for your sage wisdom people... cheers!
I've ordered a cold-air intake for my 3.5 SE, and it says it's compatible with the AEM bypass valve. I understand what this is for, i.e. not allowing water to be sucked into the engine if you decide to ford a creek or something (lol).
But I live in Toronto, which is known for blazing hot summers (except this year), cold snowy winters and fun/nasty weather like that, but not for hurricanes or floods.
So, is it worth getting an AEM bypass valve or like device??
Thanks in advance for your sage wisdom people... cheers!
The twice I drove through lots of water cost me one AFM (under warranty). Keep in mind even excess moisture will compromise the AFM. Have I added a bypass? NO.
The BPV can increase the dirt that gets in your engine since the flaps open under WOT and the foam onthe BPS is not a great filtration system. You can also loose a little bit of HP because of the flaps opening.
If you are afraid of injesting water, just convert it to a short ram during the rainy season.
Just incase anyone's interested, the CAI I bought comes from a company in Quebec (Canada) called Cosmo Racing. Total cost was CAD$130 + $15.50 for S&H. It looks good in the pictures, and I just couldn't pass up a deal like that.. so we'll see how good it is when it gets here in the next day or so.
Well, there were a few glitches along the way (they ran out of polished units and I had to go with red), but I finally got my intake today by UPS.
I went ahead and installed it already, which took about an hour and went pretty smoothly. This intake is basically the same design as AEM's cold-air system from what I can tell. However, for CAD$130 I can say it's nicely built and includes good-quality hardware (bolts, clamps, etc.).
The only problem I ran into with this kit is that it does not include instructions of any kind, so perhaps only people with a good mechanical sense should attempt installation by themselves.
I did have one problem, however. The included silicone hose to connect to the crank-case is the wrong diameter and won't fit over the connector on the new intake. I suspect some warehouse flunkie probably grabbed the wrong hose is all. I've emailed them to send me the correct part.
I took the car out for a spin shortly after installing the intake, and man can you hear the difference. The change is most notable when you blip the throttle quickly (where it sounds like a vacuum cleaner sucking on your hand), and between 2k and 3k RPM when you've got your foot in it (resonates loudly). I haven't tried revving it over 5,000 rpm yet, but I already know why the stock system had all those convolutions and baffling inside.
I'll post pictures tomorrow when I get a chance (too dark now). CYA!
The second pic is actually down ahead of the drivers-side front wheel, but it's hard to tell in the pic (should be rotated 90CW).
As mentioned before, the company I bought the kit from sent the wrong diameter breather hose. I've asked them to send me the correct one (should have been 5/8" ID I believe), but in the meantime I got a piece of heater hose from the local auto parts store and installed that in its place (not in pictures).
Linear Mode
