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Question:

I have a 2009 Dodge Challenger se. and im looking for a cold air intake.?

Okay, so im looking for a cold air intake for my car and i researched a few different ones which is better? The mopar cold air intake or the KN 57 Series FIPK Air Intake (Fuel Injection Performance Kit)? If there are better ones out there for my car please let me know. thank you

Answer:

I disagree with the first answer. While cold air intakes may not make a huge difference a good quality one will keep your engine clean and give it some added horsepower and pep. I highly suggest KN filters all around. They have excellent warranties and you can clean them yourself very easily. I put them in my 1977 corvette and will soon put them in my 2002 BMW M3.
cold air intakes will produce very little performance gain, specially in a performance vehicle that comes with some degree of a performance air intake to begin with. Modern fuel injected engines measure air coming into the engine and only allow a certain amount, so all your doing is making it easier for the engine to achieve that base amount. Without other tunes to the engine /ecu and the air/fuel ratio a cold air intake does very little.
Let's start with basics, an engine is a big air pump, what goes in must go out and the more that goes in must have more than a factory exhaust system to exit. And EFI engines are very efficient as presented from the manufacturer, it's going to take more than a cold air intake to add noticeable performance to any car. Most if not all EFI engines have cold air intakes, air is pulled from outside the engine compartment into the engine via a large diameter tube or rectangular shaped hose. These OEM intakes are usually a scalloped shape which hinders air flow by the turbulence that is created. Aftermarket cold air intakes are usually constructed of a higher quality material that is smooth thereby creating minimal turbulence, having said that, the engine is only going to be able to handle the amount of air the engine controller is designed for, so installing an aftermarket cold air system is a questionable use of money UNLESS you change the engine controller to handle that additional air and a higher flow exhaust system to expel that same air. The aftermarket cold air intake will give you a few horsepower in the UPPER RPM range of the engine but that range is where an engine seldom goes during daily driving. KN has an excellent reputation but I cannot state it is better than any other aftermarket system or for that matter better than the OEM intake, all engines need maintenance, all aftermarket systems need maintenance as well.

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