In Review: Injen SRI

[b.rock]

So, this past Tuesday, I installed an Injen SRI on my SI coupe. This was to be the car's very first mod. The install was fairly easy, aside from losing a fair amount of coolant when doing the coolant line bypass (doh). The rubber elbow was also a tad tricky and required some fidgeting to orient it properly while still aligning the vibra-mount.

In fact, the toughest part was the removal of the stock airbox (MAN that thing is huge). However, after only 2 days with the product installed, I have to say that I'm not very impressed. The darn thing keeps throwing a CEL for reasons unkown - had my install looked over profusely by a friend (who is also a mechanic). By no means was I expecting massive horsepower gains, or even much of a difference at all - but if anything, the car feels more sluggish at lower RPMs. This is only very noticeable because if you're like me and drive in an urban setting, you spend most of your time right around said RPMs.

As for the sound - well, I'm half and half on this one. On one hand, the engine sounds much throatier and is more audible when you apply decent pressure on the pedal. On the other hand, because the filter sits so close to the firewall, you hear that nasty sucking, tin-can hissing noise whenever you give it a little gas. It quickly gets drowned out, but it's still somewhat annoying to listen to (had several friends ask me what was broken in my car lol). I much prefer the sound of the car with the stock airbox.

If anything I will be taking it off and replacing it with the stock airbox this weekend and holding off in the event that I decide to get a CAI. To be completely honest, stock-engine Si for the win. In the end it seems like much more of a ricey-mod, for those that want a quick sound change and don't have the ability to install a CAI.

Overall Rating: 5/10

[aki]

Cel comes from the MAF sensing more air than it was expecting. Low RPM sluggishness is typically from heat bog.

[vtecmike1]

i dont get a cell with mine. hope you were careful with your maf when you installed it. cuz if you messed it up lol its gonna cost ya.

[b.rock]

Is that what causes the CEL? Makes sense I suppose. However, seems a bit odd in the event that if something was actually wrong with my engine/install I wouldn't even think anything of it, brushing it aside as the MAF sensor being silly.

As for the heat bog, there's no way it's entirely due to heat bog. I live in Canada and the sluggish-ness is there all the way up to the running range of the temp gauge. Heat bog when I first start driving and it's -8 Celsius outside? Doubt it.

i dont get a cell with mine. hope you were careful with your maf when you installed it. cuz if you messed it up lol its gonna cost ya.

Yeah I was sure to be careful with my airbox, it's all wrapped up with the stock pieces for re-attaching. Are you running a k20 engine/Si?

[vtecmike1]

yes. no cell run it for over 7k miles.

[b.rock]

Originally Posted by aki

Cel comes from the MAF sensing more air than it was expecting. Low RPM sluggishness is typically from heat bog.

Now I'm getting paranoid about the CEL. Are you/have you had an Injen SRI on? If so, did you get a CEL?

[aki]

No I had a Weapon R SRI, but never tripped up the CEL. Other people have had the CEL with Injen though.

If it's not heat bog, the other possibility (I was about to write in the initial post but got lazy) is that it's so rich at idle that it drowns out the engine with fuel, and when applying the throttle it takes a little while for the mixture to go back to more normal levels. If you notice the RPM dipping it's probably doing that for the same reason. With a straight-through MAF housing, it detects a lot more air than compared to the stock MAF. To compensate, it puts in a lot more fuel. But because the air mass didn't change (only the MAF housing), it makes the mixture way too rich. That's the best explanation I can offer for that.

[vtecmike1]

try resetting the ecu and allowing it to idle for 10 minutes after you reconnect the battery so it can learn the intake. and hopefully your cell won't return.

[Stealthcivic]

Thanks for the review OP. I still am stock with my intake...yea, go back to stock it is better! Until Mugen intake or Comptech icebox...I stay stock....the stock intake is pretty good - no heat bog, no loss in low end rpms' ...stock si intake

[darkrom]

Originally Posted by aki

No I had a Weapon R SRI, but never tripped up the CEL. Other people have had the CEL with Injen though.

If it's not heat bog, the other possibility (I was about to write in the initial post but got lazy) is that it's so rich at idle that it drowns out the engine with fuel, and when applying the throttle it takes a little while for the mixture to go back to more normal levels. If you notice the RPM dipping it's probably doing that for the same reason. With a straight-through MAF housing, it detects a lot more air than compared to the stock MAF. To compensate, it puts in a lot more fuel. But because the air mass didn't change (only the MAF housing), it makes the mixture way too rich. That's the best explanation I can offer for that.

I was almost certain that the Injen SRI made it run a very tiny bit leaner...not rich. I believe it is the Injen CAI that runs richer. Anyone care to confirm?

[caveman74]

I have had my Injen SR for over a year and no CEL. I didnt reset the ECU either, I never have on any of my mods

[honda_man12]

This thread just confused me now! I was going to purchase the Injen SRI within the next week or so but now Im not sure lol

[b.rock]

Originally Posted by honda_man12

This thread just confused me now! I was going to purchase the Injen SRI within the next week or so but now Im not sure lol

Well it's up to you really, it depends what you expect from it. If you're looking to beef up your sound and already have/will be getting an exhaust system then perhaps it's for you. I'm a bit of a no-frills performance guy and it was the wrong choice for me.

I quite enjoy the twitchyness of the k20 at lower RPMs and it seems to be softened by the SRI

[darkrom]

Can anyone else confirm if this happens to them? Maybe you should send it in for replacement b.rock.

[Nexx]

I had the same problem with my short air but it was weird. The cell came on at different times. I drove with it for the first few days and it came on within ~100 miles. After the reset, it came on at about 1000 miles then again somewhere at 1500 miles a month later. I gave it to my buddy and after going off the first 50 miles, no cell since.

The intake must hate my car.

*was it worth it? Maybe not. I would suggest paying extra for the CAI.

[mike_sho]

Standard procedure for any sort of modifcation , maintenance or more. Honda Techs will also do this and that is remove the negative battery cable. This is for safety as well for the ECU to be reset so it will adapt more quickly to the new part.

Make sure you have your radio codes handy. Also these kind of threads really make it a hard choice for what intake to go with. Some say they love their SRI/CAI and some just dont like it.

I just had my k&n drop in for a few days and didnt notice much , interestingly swapping back to the oem filter and it almost felt more powerful. Probably just my mind playing tricks.

But either way the stock intake box is certainly going to be well designed. But we do want more power and at what cost is up to us. I hope someone does come out with a quality high flow intake that works well with the car at all angles and doesnt cost an arm and a leg.

[mike_sho]

Also to just settle your mind the stock NSX is the same , you can hear the woosh of air , the howl and more when pressing the throttle. So dont feel like its a bad thing. An 80,000 super car does it from Honda.