PRM Intake/CAI
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From: Land of the landeaus
After three months of exhaustive research spent reading every single thread on CAI's and intakes available for the S2000 and following four hours of additional research yesterday on the company PRM, I was motivated to contact them directly and was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by the engineer who actually was responsible for the design of the S2000 intake pictured below. What follows is a brief synopsis of my online findings and a few other tid bits of opinion/information meant more as a helpful tool for future searches than anything newsbreaking, especially since most already have either Comptech, Injen or AEM.
Upon first glance, the PRM intake might resemble early S2000 offerings that quickly appeared from several more popular manufacturers (before they started tucking the filters down by the radiator) but I think upon closer inspection, some may agree that they have taken a wiser approach. When I finally decided to take a chance on this intake because it met most of my criteria for one, I contacted as many folks as I could who had bought it. I was quite surprised from the multitude of enthusiastic responses I received from owners, ESPECIALLY Subaru owners who seem to rave about it.
When I finally had the phone to myself for a few minutes, I got ahold of PRM and we discussed the
why's and where's of the design and I came away very impressed with Gerry's attention to detail and knowledge of the S2000's many unique intake or CAI, if you prefer, design challenges.
Here's a few summations but I want to preface them by saying I think AEM and INJEN make a fine product with verifiable results, but after a long battle of ppros and cons, I went this direction:
1. I felt those units that tuck the filter down low would not work for me (after what seemed like endless hours of self-guessing) because I use a high pressure hose 3x week when detailing my car and I'd be very nervous about a direct spray into the filter due to it's vulnerable location. I didn't want to make that lower section a separate car washing process (call me lazy I guess).
2. I don't like having to hack away at my car to allow something to fit. It's just a personal thing but doing so
makes it almost impossible to return the car back to its original condition if the product performs unsatisfactory.
3. I prefer the filter and initial intake area to be closer to the MAF (Comptech, for instance) than other offerings which place it a significant distance away while simultaneously requiring the air to move through several bends inside a pipe stationed directly aft of the radiator. Does this reflect in performance? Hard to say but it's just my own personal preference. I think the location of the air iinlet horn is the ideal choice for receiving the coolest air possible and perhaps this is why Comptech's unit draws air from that location as well.
4. I like the idea of shorter intake tubes so long as, due to location, there is a reasonable attempt to protect the filter from heat soak. The PRM, with its enclosed filter, appears to have addressed this potential problem. FWIW, I plan on using thermal-wrap to cover the black casing AND will be using the Mugen carbon fiber heat shield to provide a two-pronged approach to eiliminate, if that is at all possible, any remaining heat soak conditions.
5. For asthetic reasons, I really like this unit....it has a definite exotic-vibe and purposeful appearance which
is a different approach from than the usual long anodized pipe look which so many others seem to have. We'll have to see if the performance backs up the appearance.
6. It's priced at $279US which is within the range of the usual piped offerings and significantly under the carbon fiber others.
7. I have the option of replacing the aluminum pipe with blue silicone (F1 spec) tubing at a later date.
8. I spent three hours this morning pouring over websites/forums, etc which listed PRM intakes and could not find one single negative comment about them. I must of poured over 15-20 web pages of info.
9. I like to be different...dat's me. According to Gerry, I am the first American S2000 owner to purchase this
system so it's nice to be a possible trend setter. I hope I can report back encouraging news for a new intake offering. He said he's sold about five to Toronto area owners and I've heard back from one member in here who loves his unit and has been most helpful with his description which backs up PRM's goal to make the
highest gains beyond VTEC and not before. According to both the engineer and owner, the gains down low are minimal, mid-range before VTEC a fair gain and beyond VTEC, very noticeable. I haven't yet received any dyno information but from all I've gathered (in other cars which had an AEM, Weapon R, Hotshot, etc) when A-B'd against the PRM, the latter was the preferred choice, especially for torque gains
which helps me to seque into reason #10
10. The filter is set inversely from stock and is designed to create a venturi effect, which may (or may not...hell, I'm no engineer) explain why so many Subaru Impreza owners seem to like this intake. According to Gerry, they have been backordered big time on Subaru orders and intakes for BMW's have picked up
as well due to word of mouth and published atta-boys (PRM is currently in BIMMER magazine I believe).
Their product won a 1997 SEMA award when it was first introduced and the S2000 intake is brand new
thanks to input from some of our S2000 owners up north. PRM has received enthusiastic write-ups in several auto magazines and hopefully, I can continue the happy trend with a thumbs-up evaluation of my
own. It should be installed by Monday afternoon, at which point I will do my usual array of accelerometer
runs (usually 10 a session, five each direction....throw out the best/worst, average the rest). I also have
a road course that has been marked by me and used for the past few years. To date, I have charted performance runs on this course using six different vehicles. I won't go into itnow, but this method is the
one I personally trust the most when it comes to evaluating performance mods. From the looks of things,
I'll be happy to show a horsepower gain of 8-10 (using elapsed time to compute gain of horsepower).
Sorry to be so wordy but like I said, this is basically meant as a search engine post to help others learn
about different intakes available for their newly purchased S2000. When I install the intake, I'll post a follow up with my findings. Here are some pics, taken from the S2K of Toronto club member 1badride, who has been most helpful with his PRM experience.
Upon first glance, the PRM intake might resemble early S2000 offerings that quickly appeared from several more popular manufacturers (before they started tucking the filters down by the radiator) but I think upon closer inspection, some may agree that they have taken a wiser approach. When I finally decided to take a chance on this intake because it met most of my criteria for one, I contacted as many folks as I could who had bought it. I was quite surprised from the multitude of enthusiastic responses I received from owners, ESPECIALLY Subaru owners who seem to rave about it.
When I finally had the phone to myself for a few minutes, I got ahold of PRM and we discussed the
why's and where's of the design and I came away very impressed with Gerry's attention to detail and knowledge of the S2000's many unique intake or CAI, if you prefer, design challenges.
Here's a few summations but I want to preface them by saying I think AEM and INJEN make a fine product with verifiable results, but after a long battle of ppros and cons, I went this direction:
1. I felt those units that tuck the filter down low would not work for me (after what seemed like endless hours of self-guessing) because I use a high pressure hose 3x week when detailing my car and I'd be very nervous about a direct spray into the filter due to it's vulnerable location. I didn't want to make that lower section a separate car washing process (call me lazy I guess).
2. I don't like having to hack away at my car to allow something to fit. It's just a personal thing but doing so
makes it almost impossible to return the car back to its original condition if the product performs unsatisfactory.
3. I prefer the filter and initial intake area to be closer to the MAF (Comptech, for instance) than other offerings which place it a significant distance away while simultaneously requiring the air to move through several bends inside a pipe stationed directly aft of the radiator. Does this reflect in performance? Hard to say but it's just my own personal preference. I think the location of the air iinlet horn is the ideal choice for receiving the coolest air possible and perhaps this is why Comptech's unit draws air from that location as well.
4. I like the idea of shorter intake tubes so long as, due to location, there is a reasonable attempt to protect the filter from heat soak. The PRM, with its enclosed filter, appears to have addressed this potential problem. FWIW, I plan on using thermal-wrap to cover the black casing AND will be using the Mugen carbon fiber heat shield to provide a two-pronged approach to eiliminate, if that is at all possible, any remaining heat soak conditions.
5. For asthetic reasons, I really like this unit....it has a definite exotic-vibe and purposeful appearance which
is a different approach from than the usual long anodized pipe look which so many others seem to have. We'll have to see if the performance backs up the appearance.
6. It's priced at $279US which is within the range of the usual piped offerings and significantly under the carbon fiber others.
7. I have the option of replacing the aluminum pipe with blue silicone (F1 spec) tubing at a later date.
8. I spent three hours this morning pouring over websites/forums, etc which listed PRM intakes and could not find one single negative comment about them. I must of poured over 15-20 web pages of info.
9. I like to be different...dat's me. According to Gerry, I am the first American S2000 owner to purchase this
system so it's nice to be a possible trend setter. I hope I can report back encouraging news for a new intake offering. He said he's sold about five to Toronto area owners and I've heard back from one member in here who loves his unit and has been most helpful with his description which backs up PRM's goal to make the
highest gains beyond VTEC and not before. According to both the engineer and owner, the gains down low are minimal, mid-range before VTEC a fair gain and beyond VTEC, very noticeable. I haven't yet received any dyno information but from all I've gathered (in other cars which had an AEM, Weapon R, Hotshot, etc) when A-B'd against the PRM, the latter was the preferred choice, especially for torque gains
which helps me to seque into reason #10
10. The filter is set inversely from stock and is designed to create a venturi effect, which may (or may not...hell, I'm no engineer) explain why so many Subaru Impreza owners seem to like this intake. According to Gerry, they have been backordered big time on Subaru orders and intakes for BMW's have picked up
as well due to word of mouth and published atta-boys (PRM is currently in BIMMER magazine I believe).
Their product won a 1997 SEMA award when it was first introduced and the S2000 intake is brand new
thanks to input from some of our S2000 owners up north. PRM has received enthusiastic write-ups in several auto magazines and hopefully, I can continue the happy trend with a thumbs-up evaluation of my
own. It should be installed by Monday afternoon, at which point I will do my usual array of accelerometer
runs (usually 10 a session, five each direction....throw out the best/worst, average the rest). I also have
a road course that has been marked by me and used for the past few years. To date, I have charted performance runs on this course using six different vehicles. I won't go into itnow, but this method is the
one I personally trust the most when it comes to evaluating performance mods. From the looks of things,
I'll be happy to show a horsepower gain of 8-10 (using elapsed time to compute gain of horsepower).
Sorry to be so wordy but like I said, this is basically meant as a search engine post to help others learn
about different intakes available for their newly purchased S2000. When I install the intake, I'll post a follow up with my findings. Here are some pics, taken from the S2K of Toronto club member 1badride, who has been most helpful with his PRM experience.
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From: Land of the landeaus
Here's what 1badride (Toronto club) had to say about his PRM:
The trumpet style funnel sucks most of the intake air from an opening in the fender. The filter is fully insulated from the underhood heat generated from the engine.
When I installed the intake, I noticed minimal gains on the low end, mild gains mid-range (pre-vtec), but once the big cam comes on, VERY NOTICEABLE GAIN.
I have a Monday install planned and weather permitting, will report back on various accelermoter tests in addition to noise level increases. My Tanabe RM might drown out any CAI issues but we'll see. I'm not sure how it will compare to the open filter AEM and INJEN, or the closed filter Comptech or OEM. The only other intake I've seen like this is the Italian BMC. The thing that REALLY sold me on this intake was the reports from non-S2000 owners about significant torque increases due to the venturi-designed filter but for us specifically, everyone I contacted said the improved throttle response above VTEC was very significant. Unlike AEM and INJEN's techs who feel the most power gains should be low to mid, I want my power beyond VTEC. For the sake of an example, what good is 10 additional horsepower at 3K? I'd rather have that kind of gain at 8000, but that's just my own personal preference. I suppose a case can be made that 10hp anywhere is 10 more than before.
The trumpet style funnel sucks most of the intake air from an opening in the fender. The filter is fully insulated from the underhood heat generated from the engine.
When I installed the intake, I noticed minimal gains on the low end, mild gains mid-range (pre-vtec), but once the big cam comes on, VERY NOTICEABLE GAIN.
I have a Monday install planned and weather permitting, will report back on various accelermoter tests in addition to noise level increases. My Tanabe RM might drown out any CAI issues but we'll see. I'm not sure how it will compare to the open filter AEM and INJEN, or the closed filter Comptech or OEM. The only other intake I've seen like this is the Italian BMC. The thing that REALLY sold me on this intake was the reports from non-S2000 owners about significant torque increases due to the venturi-designed filter but for us specifically, everyone I contacted said the improved throttle response above VTEC was very significant. Unlike AEM and INJEN's techs who feel the most power gains should be low to mid, I want my power beyond VTEC. For the sake of an example, what good is 10 additional horsepower at 3K? I'd rather have that kind of gain at 8000, but that's just my own personal preference. I suppose a case can be made that 10hp anywhere is 10 more than before.
Your testing procedure sounds very interesting. Can't wait to hear the results.
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From: Vegas Baby, Vegas
Here's a question that's not readily answerable by looking at the pics: How does the trumpet end of this thing get supported? I'd hate to think it's all just hanging out there putting leverage on the throttle body and intake manifold. 
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From: Atlanta
Russ,
I like the looks of the PRM. People seem to either like it or hate it. Anyway, I also would like to know how the intake is supported. Does it sit on the crossmember of the frame? Any fasteners I can't see in the pics? The PRM site didn't answer the question either.
Thanks.
I like the looks of the PRM. People seem to either like it or hate it. Anyway, I also would like to know how the intake is supported. Does it sit on the crossmember of the frame? Any fasteners I can't see in the pics? The PRM site didn't answer the question either.
Thanks.