Sorry to hammer away once more at the horse's corpse, but just wanted to clarify something regarding K&N panel+smooth intake tubes vs. CAI.
I just went and reviwed 6 different dyno threads, and the average gain from baseline with the CAI was about 5.33%.
I would estimate (based on what few dynos we have) that K&N+smooth tubes will net about 3.5-4% gain.
So what does the extra 1.83% to 1.33% gain in power mean?
Well, on a 275 whp car, it's 4-5 whp.
Thus, the CAI's
should net about 4-5 more whp than the high flow panel filter+smooth tube set up.
Is that worth more than double the price ($200 vs $500+)? That's up to the consumer to decide I suppose...
So....
If you are on a budget and want very good bang for the buck -- K&N+smooth intake tubes should get you within a few whp of the pricier CAI.
For the few extra whp, if you have the cash or can get a really good deal on a set, the CAI will
slightly (by ~1.5%) outdo the OEM set up with high flow filter and nicer tubes.
P.S.
All of these are on untuned Z's... it is quite possible that the difference will be less or greater once tuning is brought into play.
However, considering the high degree of convergence for top numbers on fully bolted-on tuned Z's, my guess is that the two set-ups will be
closer in gains once tuned, not further away, but it is an empirical question for which more data is needed...
EDIT: I've recently seen evidence of gains closer to 6-8 on the average -- that's quite a bit better than I had found based on other dynos.
So... bang for the buck, the winner is still the tubes plus high flow panels, but IMHO, if you can grab a set of the G3's on sale (say, < $350) it's definitely worth it. Still a bit pricey for the gains at retail, IMO (nearly $500!), but worth it if you can find a set at a good price
I'll see if I can eventualy track down a set for myself, and will share clear back to back runs to better resolve the issue... assuming I can find one on sale...
