Aftermarket air intakes have always been a cost effective, simple way to add horsepower and torque to a car or truck. Their design, including a free flowing lifetime air filter, creates less air restriction than the vehicle manufacturer’s intake system. Less restriction results in denser air. Denser air means more oxygen molecules going into the engine cylinders for better performance.
Reputable aftermarket air intake manufacturers spend a lot of R& D time coming up with a good design. They can design systems with very little restriction but they must also be concerned with tripping your vehicle’s “check engine light”. If your engine’s MAF (mass air flow) sensor senses too many air molecules it may think there is a problem like a leak in your intake system. This can trigger your “check engine light”.
To get around this many air intake designs “trick” the MAF sensor so it doesn’t trip an error condition. These tricks include intentionally adding restriction to the design, changing the cross section of the intake near the MAF sensor to alter the speed of the air, adding an obstacle inside the intake near the MAF sensor to alter air flow at the sensor, and altering the depth or position of the MAF sensor. These “tricks” usually result in adding some amount of restriction to the air intake design.
At least one air intake manufacturer has developed a new technology that avoids using the “tricks” of past designs. They call it an ETI System or Electronically Tuned Intake System. The concept is to design the air intake for a great power gain, ignoring the MAF sensor. An electronic adjustment is performed by an included device that connects to the MAF sensor. Essentially the ETI system electronically communicates with the MAF sensor to ensure an accurate amount of fuel is being delivered even though the intake is a different size than the stock system. This allows the vehicle to maintain its calibration as intended by the factory while enjoying the benefits of a custom designed aftermarket air intake system. The result is bigger horsepower and torque gains!
The first ETI air intake released was for the 2008, 2009, and 2010 Scion tC with a 2.4 liter engine. The tC was tested for power at the wheels before and after intake installation by the intake manufacturer. A peak gain of 9 horsepower was seen as a result of the intake at 6400 rpm. This is a nice power gain on a vehicle with a 2.4 liter engine. Another quality air intake manufacturer has a traditional designed air intake for the same Scion tC. Their testing data shows an 8.09 peak horsepower gain at 5466 rpm. While the engines’ speeds were not the same at peak power for the two air intakes, the ETI designed intake made more than 11 more peak power than the traditional design. These are promising results for ETI technology.
It remains to be seen if these sensor altering air intake designs will take off in the automotive aftermarket. It does seem to open up the potential for creating greater power gains while not interfering with the manufacturer’s on board computer system.
Author Resource:
Mike Garner - Consider an AEM Air Intake for your vehicle. They come in Cold Air Intake, Short Ram Intake, Brute Force Air Intake , and ETI Air Intake designs. See http://www.aemintakes.com for details.
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