I was gonna take the money from selling my camera on Ebay and put it towards a new camera but instead I did this.

I've always known that overall a CAI produces more power than a SRI but I also had worries about the chance of hydrolock. So I went with a simple short ram with a quality filter to replace my stock intake. I also did the throttle body bypass, put on a polished throttle body, added a heat shield too (which helped a bit) but the truth is my SRI was still sucking in warm underhood air which limited the potential.

Back in 2006 I found out about the K&N Apollo Cold Intake System and posted about it here at the club when I did. Ever since then I was very interested but the price and difficulty in getting them put it on the back burner. The idea of a CAI that could easily be transformed into an SRI (if need be) was very intriguing. And makes a ton of sense.



Well, I finally did get a K&N Apollo CIS and installed it. And I'm very impressed. Originally I planned to use the aluminum intake elbow from my SRI but it was too big. Instead I'm using the stock elbow (for now, I still may switch it out for a smaller aluminum elbow at some point). The install was very simple. From beginning to end less than a 1/2 hour DIY project. I know our member Toecutter installed his putting the cold air hose in the location where the stock resonator was. I took a somewhat different approach. My hose is routed more towards the front air dam of the car (sort of tucked between the fog light and air dam area). Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic:



Let's talk about performance. My SRI gave me somewhat better throttle response than stock, noticeable louder but awesome sound and a nice boost at wide open throttle. It also seemed that as underhood temps rose, power dropped off a bit. I also think that I might have lost a little low end punch. But that WOT sound was positively intoxicating.

On to my impressions with the K&N Apollo installed. There doesn't seem to be any real difference in throttle response compared to the OEM intake setup. The noise level at idle and anything below WOT is only slightly louder than stock. I almost hear my Borla exhaust more than the engine. At WOT though, it is definitely increased from stock but much more subdued than it was with my SRI. A lot of this probably has to do with the fact I'm using the stock elbow for now. As far as perceived power, this is where it gets interesting. There definitely seems to be a bit more low end oomph than with the SRI or stock setup. And at anything above 4,000 RPM it's downright smile inducing. Definitely more pull than with my SRI. The power seems very smooth.

Here's something else that shows me this thing is much better than an SRI... After I took the car out on about a 1 hour test drive, I parked in front of my house and opened the hood. The Apollo's flexible aluminum air hose, the filter casing, stock elbow and throttle body were all totally cold to the touch. With my SRI, the intake elbow was actually almost hot to the touch after driving.

Sounds good huh? Well it gets better and this will interest a bunch of EC members:

By a stroke of good luck I found Summit Racing online had the K&N RC-5052AB universal Apollo CIS kit. And it was in stock! It was $126 shipped and I got it in 2 days. Summit Racing is excellent.

Yes this thing is pricey for an intake and it's possible to rig up something similar yourself but I'm very happy with this product. K&N is quality.

BTW, I meant to mention that I'm not really seeing any difference in gas mileage (so far) up or down. Then again, I just installed it.

Track the mileage if you can and post the results for us fencesitters...

sounds great mitch, very dangerous I might just get one

Maybe Toecutter could let us know how his has been working...

Does the inlet, by the airdam, face the open air? Is it a ram air?

Although my EGT is garaged right now, I drove with the Apollo most of the summer and fall. I have come to similar conclusions as Mitch regarding the Apollo. It is my favorite intake setup so far. However, I have replaced the OEM elbow with some aluminum kit. Yes, the Apollo is a bit pricier than the Ebay Accord intake, but it is worth it IMO.

BTW, it's also nice to see that Summit if finally stocking these.

Telly, here's the deal... I still have the stock resonator in place. Having an SRI for all that time, there really was no need to remove it. For a while I went back to the stock setup w/ a K&N drop-in and came to the conclusion that I actually lost low end torque with the SRI. I honestly think all the SRI gave me was some increase at high RPM and a lot more noise (sweet noise though, lol). The more I drive with the Apollo installed, the more I feel it not only adds a noticeable increase in high end power but it feels like there's more low end pull too. The fact that after extended driving the entire intake system stays cold tells me my setup is good. Mileage overall seems the same. Then again, I've been driving it pretty hard.

Ok.. is it ram air? I'm not sure. The end of the aluminum intake hose is sort of a bell shape... I have it facing downward in a spot that looks to get a ton of air through the front air dam. All I can tell you is the power seems very smooth up to 4,000 and after that it kinda screams.

This is a crappy cell phone pic but you can see where the hose ends:

Click to view attachment

Another cell phone pic of the install:

Click to view attachment

I think I get it now. You are not getting a direct ram air affect, but you place it near fresh air. I was hoping to see how the setup would work with ram air. Maybe you guys can play around with the inlet placement at some point and let us know?!?!

That is why i like the XD2 hatches so much. No routing the CAI near the radiator, just straight up from the open fog light bay and behind the battery. On the other hand tho, you do have to move the battery to the inside some. I suspect with that flexible tubeyou wont have to widen the hole or move the battery, but i only paid $80 for my Tib intake.

I believe Toecutter has it set up to ram cold air:

http://www.elantraclub.com/forum/index.php...c=15816&hl=

Thanks for the reminder! Yes, he does have it close to the opening around the fog lights, but is a few inches away. You might have fresh/cold air, but it would be nice to see the inlet right up front, fully into the airstream.

I don't see where a ram air effect would really matter until you're well into speeds way over legal limits. True or no? I'm just very happy with the increases over an SRI and the fact I can make it an SRI in about 5 seconds for rainy weather.

Put your hand out the window at any speed and you will get air pushing back against you... in the same way I expect that a forward facing inlet (with a sealed system behind it) may even go so far as to have some positive pressure in it...

I found this information on an online site:



This seems to be saying that lowering air temp is much more important than any gains from a ram air effect. At least that's how I read it.

Can't argue with them numbers

Theories are good, but reality is somewhere between those two. Ram air is more likely to have all the possible cold air available. A cold air system tucked near an opening could be hit or miss. You don't know until you test it. That's why I asked if the inlet is in direct or ram air.

Telly, all I can tell ya is where it's at seems to be getting an abundance of cold air on my setup. As far as ram air, I'm no expert and was simply posting some info I found.

Proper ram-air is very tricky to set up, and without doing the math, and wind-tunnel testing, or at least some good computer modeling, I cannot say that there would be any benefit of sticking the collector of the Apollo right in front of the car. In order for ram-air to be effective, the collector must be placed in an area of high pressure, and I don't know where those areas are on the car. If you incorrectly place the inlet in a pocket of low pressure air, or turbulent air, then you may not be getting all the benefit that you might otherwise. Therefore, I believe the safe bet to be placing the inlet in neutral or "protected" cool air inside the fender well.

the area of highest pressure on a car is the front area that is directly hitting the oncoming air, and under the front of car, where the air is compressed then pushed out the sides and down the length of the car to the rear. I would assume that if any ram-air effect were to be accomplished with this system that it would be by placing (or even attatching) the end of the intake tube to an empty fog light opening or in the front fascia somewhere.

you can also get this kit:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORCED-COLD-AIR-INTA...oQQcmdZViewItem

or just make ur own:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-UNIVERSAL-INDUCT...oQQcmdZViewItem

It's nowhere near that simple. The pressure at the front of the car will vary with the airflow direction and velocity. Regardless, as the number posted above indicate, ram air is essentially a myth at anything near legal driving speeds. The only way to truly ram air into an intake is via forced induction (supercharging or turbocharging).

^^^ True. I meant that if you have the inlet facing unobstructed air, you'll benefit from the cold air. Ram air provides no significant boost.

I love this thing! Ok... mileage is up by about 2 MPG and there is definitely more low end and more overall power than with the SRI.

Just placed my order with Summit Racing

Damn, looks like I'll have to jerry-rig something similar. Mileage is good right about now!

I know that it has been 3 years since someone write on this topic.I want to buy the apollo.Is it easy on installation?Is it old?I mean is it out a newer better model.I want to put it to my 2000' lantra.How do i know which one from these fit my model : http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?Prod=RC-5052AB ?Is the performance noticeable?How about the noise?Is it too loud?Have anyone dyno the car before and after so we can know how about hp increased?

The Apollo will work with your car and is an easy install. The model you list (RC-5052AB) is the same universal fit one that I installed. I didn't have it dyno'ed but it definitely adds some torque and hp.

One of our affiliates streetsideauto has the cheapest price online although you'd have to inquire about shipping to Greece

he doesn't send to greece.What about the noise of the apollo?And also what about fuel consumption?From your experience how many horsepower you think increased?

It won't add huge amounts of horsepower but it does make the car more fun to drive. You're not going to get huge horsepower gains unless you go forced induction (turbo).

Newbies like me aren't familiar with all these acronyms: CAI (cold-air intake?) , SRI, CIS, WOT (wide-open throttle?).


Thanks.

And what about ATS and MAF placement? I got an eBay intake kit on my '98; scary pickup. But--my ECM keeps kicking out lean-mixture codes; and high-(air)flow codes.

CAI = Cold Air Intake
CIS = Close Intake System (mad up by K&N to describe their Apollo)
SRI = Short Ram Intake
WOT = Wide Open Throttle
MAF = Mass Air Flow Sensor