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A Look at Injen's SP Series Cold Air Intakes

Injen Technology is no Johnny-come-lately in the tuner market. The company has bee making cold air intakes for our beloved Hondas, Nissans, Mitsus, and other rides since 1998. Injen is serious about airflow, too. Instead of slapping a high-flow filter element on a big shiny tube and calling it an intake system, Injen spent the time and money to develop intakes that not only improve performance, but intakes that are actually tuned for their specific applications. This is one company that doesn't mess around with just "good enough."

The crown jewel of Injen's line of tuner air intakes is the Speed Pro (SP) Series. According to Injen, the SP systems are the world's first bolt-on intakes that are tuned to each specific application. The idea behind the SP system is to provide maximum power gains within the limits of the air/fuel calibrations the OEMs designed into each vehicle's Engine Control Module (ECM)--what Injen calls Factory Safe Limits. This isn't as easy as it sounds; throwing huge amounts of air at an engine without regard to how the ECM can compensate for it can cause poor driveability and throttle response, reduced fuel economy, and even accelerated engine wear or damage due to a too-lean air/fuel mixture (more air than fuel). Fortunately, Injen had the solution--MR Technology.

The Mega Ram Effect
The concept  behind MR Technology--Mega Ram for short--isn't hard to understand. Using the vehicle's OEM air/fuel ratio as a baseline, Injen tunes the intake tube by controlling airflow through it with a combination of restrictions and bends. This tuning allows an SP intake to feed the engine enough air to achieve sizeable power gains without affecting engine reliability, fuel economy, or causing the ECM conniption fits by pushing the air/fuel ratio beyond its ability to compensate for the additional airflow. Injen says that the Mega Ram effect does sacrifice absolute peak power, but points out that low and midrange horsepower and torque gains--power that you will actually use on the street--are considerable.

A Better Filter Element
Injen doesn't skimp when it comes to the filter element. Each SP intake features a two-stage, four-layer cotton gauze element. The filter's urethane housing minimizes heat soak and enhances durability; Injen tailors the airflow rate of the element by dyno-tuning its dimensions and pleat size to each application. Of course, the element is washable and reuseable.

The real genius behind the Injen filter is the two-stage design. The first stage is the Air Stabilizer. Essentially a secondary inverted cone filter located inside the main filter. The Air Stabilizer pre-filters and smoothes out the air as it enters the main part of the element; it also directs leftover air inside the main filter toward the intake tube. the air then goes into the filter's velocity stack. The stack has two jobs; increase the amount and velocity of the air entering the intake tube, and keep the airflow as stable as it possible. Injen is the only intake manufacturer we know of that goes through that much hassle to make horsepower.

More Airflow Choices
As awesome as the SP Series intake systems are, Injen recognized that it isn't for everyone. That's why it offers two other intake systems for tuner cars:
The Race Division Series (RD) systems are designed to push large amounts of cold air into the engine to help maximize midrange horsepower. Most systems are routed to draw cold air from behind the front bumper or the inner wheelwell. The RD systems feature the same two-stage filter element as the SP intakes, plus a tuned aluminum intake tube and all neccessary connectors and hardware. Get one of these if you have other power upgrades like a header, cat-back exhaust, and larger throttle body.
The IS Series Short Ram systems are designed to replace the factory air intake system. The Short Rams flow more air than the OEM setup, but are not as optimized as the SP systems or as hardcore as the RD systems. That  makes a Short Ram system a good choice as first upgrade.

No matter which Injen Technology air intake system you choose, it is backed by the company's limited lifetime warranty. You'll also sleep better at night knowing that virtually every system is either CARB-approved or CARB-pending for use in California. Add it all up and putting an Injen Technology intake system on your car is one of the smartest moves you can make in the horsepower game.