First off, for the high res pics, ya'll know the drill. Click on and be merry.



The install of my PRM Jet Steam intake was completed earlier today but
unfortunately the intended series of accelerometer runs were not possible
due to high wind conditions (15-20 mph) which would have
rendered any timed runs useless (when comparing them to my previous runs). I do have some thoughts regarding the unit
in of itself and a few other observations. They follow:

1. Yay! No cutting! though I decided to make a bracket to support the unit since it did not come
with any and as such, the entire assembly is rock solid with no movement at all. I had to really give it a shake with a firm grip to induce any movement at all and even those results were barely perceptible. I would
recommend others contemplating this intake to do the same. This is definitely a nice intake for those who don't want to put a hacksaw to the inside of their S2000's belly. Install was a breeze.
2. The weight of the entire intake is just over 4.5-lbs whereas the air box
which was removed to facilitate the PRM came in nearly three times as much, so I saved about 10-lbs from switching intakes.
3. I noticed following a 20-minute drive that the temperature of the aluminum pipe was, as expected, hot to the touch (as I suspect would be
the Injen and AEM pipes just forward of the MAF) but the filter housing was
also somewhat hot, however, as originally designed, I think it does a very good job of isolating heat from the enclosed filter (especially when one considers the original style intakes from other manufacturers which left the filter completely exposed). I'm not sure as to the extent of heat soak protection from the casing, so being the type of owner that I am (a little on the preventive side), I decided to wrap the housing with the remaining heat reflective tape I had left over from the OEM air box covering I did earlier this month. This stuff, while not an asthetic wonder, works incredible and can only serve things well by reducing any possibility of heat soak know matter how remote.
4. As for performance, I'm way too old to give any credence to the often ill-calibrated butt dyno. My impressions mirror those from our northern neighbors in Canada (the intake is made there). There appears to be a slight
increase in throttle response down low with equal improvement up to VTEC.
The sound of the intake does not really contribute anything different to the S2000's sonic signature from idle to 6,000 RPM's. It seems to be a very "aural friendly" intake, more along the lines of the Comptech as opposed to the open filtered AEM and Injen's. I prefer this approach since I don't want the
traditional aftermarket intake "noise" while simply cruising around under 6K.
The Tanabe Racing Medalion brought the db's up enough so I was very happy
to discover the PRM keeps things under control under VTEC happy land.
5. Post VTEC sounds change significantly however. The engine seems to growl MORE and scream as was. The db's rise a tad but the sonic character
seems to stay the same...just with tons more sizzle. Definitely more inline with a very high revving race car. Formula One sounds? Not quite, but for 9 out of 10 sitting in their cars while you scream by at 9K, these folks ARE going to turn their heads, you can pretty much bet on it. I went to 9K passing traffic and noticed rubberneckers on the OTHER side of the road turning their heads as I screamed by. To sum it up, the PRM didn't
alter the sound of the engine note as much as my devil dog Tanabe, it just turned up the sizzle factor a notch or two. Have a great steak lately? Now, imagine that same piece of beef with a fantastic sauce and you'll have a culinary take on matters. I won't compare it with AEM, Injen or other intakes because there are so many different exhaust set-ups working in conjunction with the intakes but the PRM is very aggressive beyond VTEC, make no mistake about it.
6. I am a bit perplexed as to why the "horn section" (I love that description)
doesn't extend all the way to the opening in the fender well. I am curious as
to the difference it might make extending that inlet pipe to that area. I think if I was in charge of updating the current PRM set-up, it would be extending the intake closer to the fender well, wrapping the filter housing
in carbon fiber (for both asthetic and further anti-heat soak protection) and finally, using another material to replace the aluminum pipe though I recall one of AEM's tech reps posting online here that the minute amount of time the air spends while traveling inside that pipe does not diminish performance. He used the example of waving a finger quickly thru a flame and feeling little, if any heat compared to slowly moving the finger across a flame. Perhaps the aluminum pipe's exterior temps don't contribute to any performance difference? Hard to say.
7. I plan on buying the Mugen carbon fiber heat shield anyways, so that should also go a long way to preventing what little heat soak potential there seems to be, which to be honest, with the intake housing as is, seems to be non existent.

Tomorrow, if the wind is down, I'll do some runs and get back to everyone who has PM'd me, waiting for details. Using my experience as a guide, I believe the intake is probably comfortably in the 6-7hp range for any performance increase with a possible double figure spike beyond 8K where it seems to REALLY wake things up. Believe me, using my own S2000 as a guide, any impressions of a PRM Jet Steam intake-S2K "running out of breath" above 8K would be hard to believe. I think the intent of this system is a 180-degree turn around from AEM and Injen, meaning the majority of the gains for the PRM are above 8K, not below it.
To sum it up, I am very happy with this system. It's unlike anything else I
know of that is currently available for the S2000 in the 'states and it's nice to know I have the only S2000 PRM below Canada (though I'm sure that will change soon enough). I'll ask Gerry about matters brought up earlier in my post to see what issues are worth ignoring and which might be something worth looking into.

 

Looks good and your descriptions sounds good. Although your orange handled scissors clash with your Suzuka blue engine bay. I hope you removed them.

 

As promised, I did some runs with the PRM today and have a few quick comments.

1. The horn section really can't be extended closer to the fender well because the hood latch would interfere with it. Realizing this upon closer inspection, I went to Home Depot, bought some plumbing supplies and have managed to fabricate a very nice set-up which begins deep within the cavity of the fender well and routes the new pipe about an inch into the inlet horn, feeding the filter with as cool air as possible. I haven't installed it yet but it sure looks nice and fits nicely. I think this is a great way to maximize the venturi effect of the filter design.
2. Accelerometer runs were done and I am pleased to report my initial assessments were pretty much right on. I removed the insulation wrap from the filter housing to get "true" PRM results. After a long series of runs with the worst and best times being thrown out and all others averaged, it appears the intake is responsible for an average .24 reduction in my 1/4-mile times. Using my formula ( time / .023 = hp ) to convert time changes to horsepower increases (or in some unfortunate cases, decreases) I came away with an average of 10.4hp which obviously, would be slightly different as measured on a dyno, especially since this figure is derived from a car at speed. Bear in mind that this figure doesn't imply such a gain across the powerband, it's just very good guesstimation based on my accelerometer runs of how much additional horsepower the car is making AT THE CRANK. I think the increase will improve slightly when I get the above designed piping installed but so far, there is definitely a decent improvement and after 8 runs, there is no doubt the intake delivers as promised, which must help to explain why Subaru owners swear by 'em. Anyways, that's the skinny. BTW, after this series of runs ended, I felt inside the filter housing for the first time and was pleasantly surprised to find this area to be quite cool despite the temps of the outside of the housing, which was hot to the touch. Well done PRM! Hope this helps others.

 

Russ,

Great Post. The PRM unit looks great! Can you supply some info on cost and availability?