HP numbers like these are highly subjective. It's called marketing.... Your car will more than likely not put out these kinds of gains without proper tuning IMO...

 

I have the K&N FIPK. No way does it give you an actually 9.5. Although it deff changes at Vtec, it seems to help out in the midrage. I dont have a before and after dyno, plus it sounds amazing. But I wouldny pay to change from the cai. I agree, for the 1k youd be spending, grab a header, or test pipe and exhaust.

 

^ so you are saying, if you had a cai, you would buy the k&n?

 

No intake is going to give you anything even slightly noticeable over what you already have. The ARC is pretty much for looks only, does NOTHING performance wise. No intake is worth $1k, none. Like others have said, if you want a noticeable increase in power, invest in a nice test pipe and exhaust set up.

 

The benefit of the exhaust is also from the weight you can save. To be honest my most noticeable mod was my intake, but it was also my last mod after exhaust and TB. I got the spoon snorkel replica. The PWJDM one "might" or might not help more than the one I currently have because remember that you can only push as much air in as the amount of air you get out without changing pressures (looking for flow rate not peak pressure at lets say the mouth of the snorkel). And then there's diminishing returns.

Disclaimer: Everything I've said is highly speculative based on the things I've read thus far. However, I do believe them to be true.

 

leave the AEM is used to have the K N' N and I am more happy with the AEM

go fot the header and the test pipe + a catback then your car will be more fun to drive

If I were u, i willl go for the test pipe and catback then will put the headers (I only recommend J's racing or toda headers)

 

i have an 03 with the K&N fipk. one of the best bang for the bucks....next to my 4.44 gears.
AP1s traditionally don't fair as well on the dyno as AP2s. Aside from maybe 4.77 gears, ITBs or FI which feel considerably more noticeable, you can throw a bunch of money at an AP1 but you probably won't squeeze more than 15 - 20 whp out of it.

i'd go test pipe, single cat. gears if it's in budget.

 

gears sounds like it's a chunk-o-money but an intake ($300), test pipe ($100), and exhaust ($600) runs about a grand (same price as a differential build (assuming a DIY swap). NA the car might breath a little bit better but if you went with 4.77 gears it'd be a ton-o-fun...

 

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=634401

the reports for the tube style aem, fujita, and injen CAIs are generally +2-4whp in the midrange and ~+5whp up top.

the K&N, if you look at the dyno, has a gain of +5whp vs the other 4th gear run. also, running in 3rd instead of 4th showed 4whp less than running in 4th, with NO CHANGES according to the report.

the last part proves that these dyno "gains" of less than 10whp are close to the noise threshold of a dyno--meaning they are too small to measure with high accuracy. if you can't show the same improvement in three consecutive runs, you can't really measure it and be sure you're right.

the K&N will not show measurable improvement over the aem/fujita/injen CAIs. you can argue until blue in the face if you think one makes +2whp over the other, but it's too small a diffence to accurately measure, so it 1) makes no difference and 2) can't be proven whether or not you'd be correct in the first place. really, a slight change in weather makes more difference than the difference in these products.

unless you're looking for something subjective, ie you think it's worth the money to have the sound and/or the look of a different one, you'd do best to spend your money on something else. gears i've always heard are great for the money. also, a catback + test pipe would be. header probably too, but you'd probably like the sound of an exhaust or acceleration of gears more and therefore get more for your money with it.

 

im not saying one is better than the other. but i had the K&n fipk and i hated it because it would make me bog of the line. but it did make a quite a bit of power. i think a cai would work better for a launch. but, most cai are made of metal tubing which are more prone for heat soak. the k&n is made of plastic which is harder to heat up but at a stand still it will suck up heat in the engine bay.

so which one is better? psht, just stick to what you have.