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Cold air intake options and why

20K views 64 replies 9 participants last post by  2020 accord sport se 
Welcome to the forums!

I've been told the K&N design is not good and there are better options out there. Most people are running Mishimoto or PRL.

Mishimoto has the cone out in the open with more WHOOSH sounds, but it's not as cold air as the PRL would be as it's collecting hot engine air.

PRL has a box enclosure and this is the route I went with. It does muffle a lot of the intake sound but is the best performance option for the 2.0T.

I would recommend keeping your climate in mind when making a decision. If you're in the north with colder temps, you can get away with the Mishimoto or other open-air filter designs. If you're further south in a hotter area, get the PRL so the air stays cooler.

I'm in the north and decided to get the PRL for performance, but during the winter months, I take off the side panel on the box so I can hear the beautiful turbo noises!
 
Hondata Stage 2, I can make my winter tires spin in 5th gear. it definitely is a night and day difference.

Not much of a hit in the gas mileage but As said above, it all depends on the driving style. Having the intake sounds doesn't help with the driving habits :devilish:
 
If loss of warranty is of concern I would not recommend any tuning device. Some (vendors) will say their products will allow car to be restored to OEM tune/settings without leaving a trace that an aftermarket tune has/had been installed. Take that with a grain of salt as our cars have the technology to log data of how the car has been used/driven (IE: boost settings, RPM range, etc., etc.) if checking those logs and that data is out of OEM settings your warranty will be voided on the spot even if your car is back to OEM tune/settings at the time.
Couldn't have said it better!
 
That is truly helpful, I think I'm going to drive it for a little while, make sure there aren't any potential issues, and then look into a tune. Will doing things like adding a cold air intake void warranties because it's not oem?
My dealership told me if I mod my car and bring it in for a warranty issue, they will "help me out" by telling me to put it back to stock and come back to then so they can put the claim in.

If the time ever comes tho, I'm sure I'll be haggling for service.
 
That's awesome of your dealership! My brother was saying I should change the bov spring, I wasn't sure if he literally just meant I different spring or a bov that would hold boost longer. What mods has everyone done to there cars?
You want to avoid changing the BOV. Not sure about what the spring change involves, that's the first I've heard of it for a stock BOV. In our cars the air recirculates from the BOV so changing to one that throws some air out to atmosphere is a no no because it throws off the sensors and air/fuel ratio.

Intake, downpipe, intercooler, flex kit, are a good place to start and then civic type-r turbo swap can be done as well.
 
downpipe is the exhaust pipe coming down from the exhaust side of the turbo leading to the rest of the exhaust under the car. flex kit, or flex fuel kit, allows you to run different variation of higher ethanol content fuels for increased performance which requires the kit and a new tune, check out the likes of prl for a kit like that. they offer tunes for it as does phearable.net. The intercooler on my 17 civic si was useless after a single pull in the texas summer. I've heard complaints of the 2.0 accord and type r having cooling issues. if you want big power and dont want it to fade its worth the investment to upgrade the intercooler and piping. you won't see monster power gains from just that but you will keep the gains you have from accompanying power adders, especially in warmer temps.
I've noticed the better cooling difference in being able to do more pulls one after another and not feel the engine bog down with heat.
 
definitely keep us updated. my only PRL experience was the "stage 1" intake on my Si which was basically tossed in by the guy who sold me his ktuner. quality on the silicone was real nice so I can't complain(y)
Yeah, I was very satisfied with the PRL HV Intake. Great quality products! and the Welding on the Intercooler and DP are top notch as well.
 
If you don't mind me asking what is your priority list?
I made the following list back when I got the car in September and I'm nearing the end of it. Some things got moved here and there but for the most part, I've done the things when I planned to.

Fall 2020
  • BC Coilovers
  • Indy500 Summer Tires
  • Winter Tires
  • Blackout All Chrome (Side windows and front grille)
  • Debadge trunk
  • Floor Liners/Cargo Liner
  • Acuity Short Throw Shifter Kit
  • Acuity Shift Knob
  • Acuity Accelerator Pedal Spacer
  • Custom Single-Exit Exhaust with N1 Muffler with base mode exhaust cover (Originally plnned for Spring 2021 but did it sooner as I found the cabin too quiet and struggled to know when to change gears when the music was turned up)
  • 2-way Alarm/Starter - Moved to Summer 2020

Winter 2020
  • Custom Headlights
  • Custom or Aftermarket Tail Lights
  • Custom Foglights - Moved to Winter 2021
  • Install my Audio system

Spring 2021
  • PRL HV Intake
  • PRL Downpipe
  • PRL Front Pipe - Not doing this anymore
  • Wrap OEM diffuser and exhaust cover
  • Rear Camber Arms
  • Replace any existing interior and exterior bulbs with LED ones - moved to Summer 2020
  • Paint Calipers - Moved to Summer 2020
  • Window Tint - Moved to Summer 2020
  • Test and possibly install my old car's lip kit
  • Roof Rack - Moved to Spring 2021
  • Catch Can

Fall 2021
  • Spacers for winter setup
  • Paint winter wheels

One of the local guys parted his car out at the beginning of Winter so I grabbed the following items from him, which threw my schedule off a bit.
Eibach Rear Sway Bar, PRL Intercooler, Akasaka Front Lip - Painted red, PRL DP, HASport Top Engine Mount, Hondata FlashPro. I'm installing everything except the front lip, which I decided to sell instead of painting/wrapping it.

I have a long list of things I wanted to do past the list above but I've decided to call it quits for now. I'm pretty content with where the car will be by next week. I'm also working on my 1983 Suzuki GS850 which has its own list of mods/maintenance I have to do, and I'm finishing my basement too.

Here's the other things I wanted to do that I probably won't be doing anymore:
Seibon Carbon Fibre Hood and Trunk
Optima Yellow Battery (Will wait til mine gives issues)
Folding Mirrors
CTR Turbo
CTR Seats
PRL Chargepipe
PRL Turbo Blanket
HASport bottom engine mount
Engine Dressup
Carbon Fibre Steering wheel
Full suspension brace kit
and I'm sure more stuff I'll think of haha
 
I made up a performance upgrade wish list from information gathered on this forum and other sources. Total cost of parts came to $7+K.... now all I need to do is win the lottery. 😁

PRL Civic Type-R FK8 P600 Drop-In Turbocharger Upgrade $2649.99
PRL Plug ‘N Play Flex Fuel Kit $499.99
PRL High Volume Intake System $399.99
PRL Street Downpipe & Front Pipe Combo Upgrade $829.99
PRL Intercooler Upgrade $599.99
PTP Turbo Blanket (PRL) $135.95
K-Tuner or Hondata $649.00/$695.00
Mishimoto Baffled Oil Catch Can $270.00
Borla Cat-Back Exhaust System $1,049.99 (PRL)
That's a nice list!
 
That is an insane list! The carbon fiber steering wheel looks incredible but it's dang expensive! I will be making my own list of upgrades but I have things that need paid off, so mods will he limited for a while. Unless I win the lottery and then we all get sick custom parts!
Hahahah, I think we're all waiting for that lottery to come thru! 🤞
 
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