New 04 Vibe GT! Question about air intake systems

[bigwonder]

First, let me say that I love my GT! This is the first new car I have ever bought and it is perfect! I have done modifications to my dirt bike but never to my car so I do not know a lot of the different products available. I would like to modifiy the air intake system.I have been reading in the forum about modifications to the air intake system. What is recommended for the best price and performance? Also, I have tried to find information on the Injen CAI but I could not find anything. The Matrix was mentioned, will this CAI fit in a Vibe GT?Does anybody have any other advice about increasing performance?Thanks a lot, this site is awesome!

[pa-vibe]

The single best performance increase per $$ would probably be the exhaust, next would be the intake. I personally will go with the intake and then the exhaust because of money reasons. Try http://www.INjEN.com. Also check out ebay.All of the Matrix Xrs part except the body parts and the eletronic parts should fit the Vibe GT

[AKLGT]

Quote, originally posted by pa-vibe »The single best performance increase per $$ would probably be the exhaust, next would be the intake. I personally will go with the intake and then the exhaust because of money reasons. Try http://www.INjEN.com. Also check out ebay.All of the Matrix Xrs part except the body parts and the eletronic parts should fit the Vibe GThmm. i would disagree w/ you. the cai is by far the best bang for your buck. which is why i haven't gotten an exhaust yet. (not to mention, i want a custom dual exhaust). a full cai will cost a little over $200 for a good one and approx 12 hp increase, while an exhaust will cost $300-500 and approx 4-8 hp increase. you do the math....

[syclnjr]

big wonder welcome to the site. You are like me I have a new 04 and I want to go with a cold air intake. everything that I have read the everyone is saying that you should do the intake first then the exhaust. I am just at 5000 miles on mine and I love it more everyday, little stuff plagueing me at the moment, i.e the moonroof leaks a bit, the drivers window makes this hellaciouse cracking noise sounding like it is going to break when I roll it up or down. But other than that it is awesome.If you get the cold air let me know how the install went. The 04's that I am sure you have read on here are down in horsepower from 180 tp 173 which is all due to the new airpump that they put on just behind the foglight. I have tried to get anyone that has installed a cold air on there GT to meet up with me so that I can see how it looks but there is noone. The reason that I haveconcern is there the pump is right below where you have to run the CAI pipe and filter and I am not certain that it is going to fit. With Injen you always should shop using 04 Matrix as the search, it has yielded me better results. I am personally thinking of going with Cosmo since there are quite a bit cheaper, I know, I know people are going to say Injen has a full warranty, that is the only benefit that I see to it. It looks like all the same tubing the same route so the horsepower numbers should be the same. So when I do get one it will most likely be with them. I think that you can get them for 124 bucks shipped to you door on Ebay. But anyways enough of the babble, drop me a line and let me know how it goes installing one if you get to it before I do. Later

[ScottS]

I just thought that I would chime in for what its worth. I am personally too paranoid to put a CAI on my car, so I got a short ram for it off of ebay. That way I don't have to do anything with the air pump. I have read too many threads about CELs to want to attempt putting a CAI on my gt. Also it's tough to beat the price of the short ram... $55 delivered. I figure I'll buy a K&N replacement filter cone for it in a couple of miles, as that is the only part of the cheep 'BOMZ' short ram that bothers me. I might be giving up a couple of hp (which is debatable), but I'm pretty sure I won't see a CEL.

[goodvibe]

Intake is most power for the buck but a true catback like magnaflow exhaust won't lose torque below 3k where there isn't a lot to begin with and still give gains. Most exhausts don't do too much on the GT since they're axle backs even though they may call themselves catbacks. The stock bits (in and out) on the GT aren't too bad. If you race get the intake first. If you don't then do what fits your needs best.

[pa-vibe]

I may have misspoken. Typically an exhaust system will do more for a stock vehicle than an intake. After more research it appears that the intake will indeed give you more bang for the buck. Sorry about that, I'm more in tune with other makes and have alot to learn about Toyota evidentlly.

[AKLGT]

well so far, the only member that i know of on gvc w/ an 04 gt and cai, has run into the CEL issue w/ his injen. the short ram will add some hp and low end torque, but it's very minimal. possibly 5-8 hp diff and i don't think the torque was enough to even mention. mayb 2-3 gains. someone correct me if i'm wrong, but you will still get a nice extra oomph but not the full potential. if you want an overall increase in torque and power, don't mind spending $700, then i would go for a unichip like goodvibe and i have. i have a trd cai that threw my CEL but the unichip took care of it. total cost for both ran me about $900... but looking at the #'s, it seems to be the best option for the GT if you don't want to risk a TURBO blowing up our engines! LOL. add an exhaust and get the unichip retuned, and you got yourself a pretty nice ride!

[Keely]

Hey bigwonder, welcome. Last weekend the VMX.ca group did a three-car install of Injen CAIs on our cars, all slightly different - VC has an '03 5-spd base, I have an '03 GT, and SWiRv has an '04 GT.Unforunately, SWiRv's the only one that's had some problems so far. His install was first and took the longest - there's an additional airflow box absent on the '03 GT that caused quite a bit of consternation at the time and might be part of the issues SWiRv's having now. You should stay tuned to that thread and see how he resolves them - I'm sure you'll learn a lot from his experience.

[bigwonder]

I am north of Detroit about 35 miles and south of Port Huron about 10 miles. St. Clair is about 4 miles away from my little country township of China.

[bigwonder]

Ok, thanks! I am still in the research stage, I do not want to rush into something and make a mistake. I was wondering if anybody has talked to their Pontiac dealer or an auto shop about altering the computer sensor for the amount of air that is being used by the engine with a CAI so that the check engine light will not come on. Is this possible without having to buy something like the Unichip?

[AKLGT]

no. and the chips on ebay are not worth the $5 so don't waste your money. there are actually very few people w/ CEL probs w/ their CAI. swirv has an 04 GT w/ the new smog pump (which i guess is the culprit for the odd CEL), TRD has a 50% shot at throwing it on the GT model, and very very very few base owners have ever thrown a CEL! most issues lie w/ the GT engine. you are talking about 5% of CAI owners having a prob w/ theirs out of hundreds. if you're worried, then buy a cheap one off ebay, install it and if the light comes on, just reinstall the stock airbox.

[blk182@n7]

I changed the exhaust first to flowmaster form the cat back, then got the AEM short air intake, then replaced the stock plugs with the denzo IK-20 plugs and replaced the stock rubber bushings to brass ones. i have to say My GT is much better then i could have ever anticipated, I love to leave cars in the dust on the freeway from 70 to 120 SWEET.... still haven't had her over 125 as of yet. only thing i want now is low end TQ. I will most likly have get that out of the Unichip

[blk182@n7]

i read somewhare that there is no difference in the gains between the short intake and the CAI. But as everyone knows more cold air more power.....