The oem hood snorkel version (non J's)has a pretty bad kink and I believe it has a impact on the volume or even better yet greater resistance on it's ability to injest air.

1) Take a straw, kink it and suck

2) Take 2 straws, bend them 90 degree's a couple times and suck

2) is less restictive.

Regardless of when the kink occurs, since it is its only source/route of air.

Just like electricity, it will take the path of least resistance and since it only has one path (through the kink) it will have an effect.

How much of an effect is difficult to determine, but it does have an effect.

 

Ok ill try to explain this with your analogy. Your sucking the drink through a straw with 1 bend (stock intake). But your constantly pouring a drink into the glass with some sort of crazy bendy tube. Regardless of how it got there, the air will still be getting rammed in there, and will have no effect on how you drink. The fluid entering your mouth(intake) will always go through the same path, it will not know what path the air took to get there, all that matters is that its there.

Like I said if there was a filter at the end of all the bends then it would be a horrible design. but the air is still entering the intake in the same exact manner it would in the oem. same bend and everything. it will just have more available air kept under pressure in the box. make sense?

And also you could get a replica ebay snorkel for about 150 on ebay, same exact thing. And the u-shape i was talking about on the aem is not a dramatic u but it does angle up near the end by the filter.

 

Making a kink in the straw would be more compared to making a kink in the intake pipe, which is not the case here. Think about the placing of the filter. The intake is not sucking air directly from the snorkel. The snorkel is providing the air to suck from the intake box.

 

The Injen CAI made great noise but I can't say that the HP gain was noticeable.. Either way, its been removed because I had to jack my car up after a recent down pour to check on the filter....needless to say I probably looked like a jackass getting on the wet ground in my work clothes. Back to stock I went. Honestly, from the back to back comparison the Injen felt slower in the 3-4.5 rpm range than stock.

 

Go with the CAI. I am glad I did and the sound is great. I went with the K&N CAI that goes down to the front pass. side vent and I cut out the vent and I have not had heat soak since. I went with the K&N because it was only $170 and came with a filter water boot. It is not polished but it is aluminium and much lighter then the stock air box. The engine bay looks so much better and there is much more room now with the CAI. There is a dyno for this CAI but it was done on an AP1, it shows a 7HP gain. Check the K&N site for more info. The dyno for the K&N FIPK shows a 9HP gain and everyone who has one seems to like it. I like the FIPK but I wanted to use the front fake vent to get fresh air. Hydo locking is a very real issue but I don't go through standing water or drive much in the rain. Heat is the main issue here in Austin.

I would also suggest a test pipe and blocking your intake coolent (there are a few DIYs on this forum). Done right, these 3 mods should get you a little better throttle response, more power and sound without costing much $. You'll drop a few lbs. too!

 

a question. if putting a snorkel do you have to take off the front bumper?
and that black cover that covers up the ac pipe line?

 

The general consensus was that you should take it off, however I believe this is not what you should do. I have a pretty easy explanation of this in this thread on my second to last post.

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=572843

 

whats the difference in sound between the K&N fipk vs. CAI ? is there a huge difference in sound or is it pretty close?

 

If it's sound you want, get a PRM. I don't care what anyone else says, I love mine.

 

The K&N FIPK is shorter and goes to the top front pass. side of the engine bay. It is still a CAI. They also sell a CAI that pipes down to the lower pass. side inner fender, just behind the fake air vent (this is what I have). K&N also sells a short ram air intake. I'd say the FIPK is best because it doesn't have the hydro locking risk since it is higher up.

I went with the K&N CAI because I wanted to insure the intake got lots of fresh air and it does but at the risk of hydro locking. I think the FIPK will work just fine for you and the install will be easier too. Mine is a bit louder then the FIPK since the filter\inlet is right up front and my fake vent has been cut out.

Go to K&N and check out their products for the S2000, they have good info and dynos for most.