name: derek
location: west end richmond
car: 95 ex coupe

i just swapped in a b16a2 in my car...actually picking it up next week... and i've been trying to decide on what intake to get. ive driven an ek with a b16 and the password jdm whale dick intake and was pretty satisfied with the power, but im pretty interested in the ARC induction boxes. they look super clean and seem to be pretty useful but i cant find any good reviews or hard specs. theyre a bit more money too but i was just trying to get some feedback to see if you guys think the ARC is worth the money or any other suggestions on what i should get. thanks!

 

V-stack

 

I'm a big fan of the Comptec ICEbox setups. They have a factory looking style box, a v-stack on the bottom of the box with a cold air extension. Plus a polished pipe with a nice coupler.

I had a whale dick on a all motor setup, it made power.
I've had a AEM 3inch ITR intake, it made good power but it was a cold air.

IMO, Comptec. Order it from WeakSauce.

Do you have the Intake Air Temp sensor on the intake manifold or the intake?
Future goals for the car?

 

ARC Intake isnt really a "power" adder. Its more of a engine dressup accessory. Id get both and swap them out for shows and go ^_^ But thats just me =\

 

then you didnt just swap it..

 

any intake that sits inside the bay is going to heatsoak except the comptec and arc... they are not made to make power.. but made from R&D... and quality..

 

whatev. same shit. you know what car i have and what engine. im trying to get some good input on what i get so i dont waste time and money. keep your neg bullshit to yourself bro. no harm intended

 

Any intake with metal parts will heatsoak, including the ARC and Icebox. I assume you're talking about drawing intake air from inside the engine bay vs. outside the engine bay (which is very different than heatsoak)..? Plastics or whatever materials (thermoset plastics like carbon fiber/epoxy, etc) have a lower thermal conductivity are the only way to fight heatsoak. If you remove heat from the inside of the intake faster than you can conduct it through the walls of the intake, you don't have any problems. Metals are only a problem while sitting still usually, because the airmass in the intake is low, and there is a lot of ambient heating of the intake because there isn't any moving air in the engine bay. Kinda like the top mount intercooler on WRXs..

Whatever gets air from outside the engine bay, or close to the outside of the engine bay, is going to give you the best power. Intake shape, etc., doesn't have nearly as much bearing on engine power as the air temp does.

Honestly they're all going to work roughly the same; you can't do a heck of a lot to improve on flow or temp once you've followed the standard design rules for making a decent air intake. There are incremental gains to be found but I don't really know if they're worth the big jumps in price. Get something that works, and spend the money somewhere else making more power instead of buying a really expensive intake system.

Both the Comptech and ARC are nice, but both are prices. They're both just a shielded airbox with a short ram intake and filter. I guess I'd choose the Comptech because it's cheaper.

 

comptech ftw

 

like others said, go with one designed to avoid heatsoak