can you get the fpik with the SSRA? I also have a whisper lid, j/w bc I know the fpik can see some nice gains. Any info greatly appreciated.

 

Just drop the washer reservior and the shroud underneath ... it'll feed much more air to the FIPK than the SSRA, FTRA, FRA or any pother CAI ever could ... M

 

No they can not be used together. I would recommend using the whisper lid you have with a SSRA (now known as ARA). You'll get more HP out of that setup at highway speeds and I think it looks better IMHO.

Good Luck

 

I gained more with a Lid and FTRA than the FIPK and even more with the ARA lower half.

 

lid + ARA is win.

/tek.

 

Whats the difference between ARA and FTRA?

Also On the side, what does ARA stand for now? ___ Ram Air...

 

The FTRA uses the airdam to get the air and Austin Ram Air (ARA) uses a scoop.

 

but can you have both?

 

No.

 

You don't need to nor want to ... read my post ... every bit as effective as a CAI/Lid combo if not more so ...

 

IMO the lid/ara is more effective at highway speeds then the FIPK minus winshield washer reservior. If you have a lid all ready then the ARA would be cheaper and IMO more effective.

Good Luck

 

Do you have a rational for that??

 

ARA = Austin Ram Air......formerly SSRA

 

But of course,

The FIPK II is a good design but it has only one real flaw. Since you can't drive with the hood open the air is still being drawn from under a closed hood. The restriction albiet is minimal but the air will be a tad warmer then outside the car. Now put a FIPK II under a WS6 hood and you may have something but with a normal Z28/TA hood It's not the best design IMO.

Now take into account that by removing the reservour you add more air flow from under the car. Definately a bonus but you have to be willing to accept that you can't wash your windows while driving anymore. Most LS1 owners would be fine with that but for some uf us that drive them in the winter with salt residue building every 25 feet we drive it's just not a great idea. Also the FIPK II has been proven to cause cars to run hotter at idle. This also is of little concern to most unless your in a hotter climate state and see a fair amount of traffic jams. I also hear if you over oil them they can make a huge mess and under oiling them is supposed to be bad as well.

But with the airflow from the removal of the reservour and properly oiled they make decent airflow with minimal restrictions and show a nice gain. 18-22 rwhp is not unheard of.

Now with the ARA/lid combo you have the give and take too. The Lid greatly reduces the restriction of the silencer baffles in the stock design. With a proper fit you should gain 10-12 RWHP just with the lid being replaced. This is in no way better then the FIPK all by itself. But if you add the ARA (formally SSRA) it works very competitively. You cut the bottom of the airbox out as part of the install (aka FRA mod). This opens up a lot of fresh airflow from under the car. Then the first scoop goes right under the airbox and runs alongside the radiator on a slight angle heading towards the front end of the car. The second box scoop fits into the first one and runs forward to the front of the car actually attatching the the bottom of your front bumber.

Now all you have to do is seal off the original factory air intake area in front of the airbox. The kit includes a rubber strip for this but some cheap weather stripping can be used as well. Now the car will be at risk of "hydrolock" in very heavy rain. So this is a concern and a block off plate or foam insert should be used for piece of mind in wet weather. Most cases of hydrolock occured when a car with a CAI went through a 1-2 foot puddle of water which we shouldn't do anyway.

But it is a concern and a drawback to using the kit. Now at city driving condidtions the FIPK II setup is probably gaining you better performance gains because the ARA is doing nothing more then feeding cooler air to the engine but without any preasure. It's still helping but the FIPK is probably outperforming the lid/ARA setup a little bit here.

But get out on the highway/drag strip and hit speeds of 75+ mph. Especially speeds of 100+ mph. Now the outside the car air is getting into the front scoop at some decent speeds and forcing the air into the engine with some preassure. The faster you go the faster the air gets in. Most of us have had our hands out of a window on the highway before and felt that preasure of the wind against our hands. The ARA allows you to use that to make your car faster. But it only will work to it's fullest potential if you have the kit installed properly and most importantly have the old 1" x 20" air intake sealed off so that the "ram air" affect does not lose it's force by having large "leaks".

Now once 100 MPH is reached you should be seeing another 13-15 RWHP from ram air. That with the 10 from the lid should give you just as good of numbers as the FIPK if not a few better. But those are not HP numbers you can dyno and the FIPK is. Some people used industry style fans while on the dyno but it's impossible to measure accurately what 90 mph, 100 mph, 120 mph and oh dear god 140 mph.

So even thought the FIPK II may dyno better numbers the ARA with a lid may give you more SOTP at highway speeds and beyond. I know the pull from 120-140 in my A4 with just a lid was slow going. 130-140 was a dogg. But after the ARA the car pulls much much harder from 120-140. The difference was amazing. But from 0-80 I didn't really notice much difference. That is the other drawback.

It's all give and take. Each method is effective with it's pluses and minuses. It's my belief that the FIPK II works better at low speeds but the ARA works better at high speeds. But ultimately they both work well enough to allow anyone to base thier decision on which one looks the best to them and whether they need thier reservoir or want to deal with installing a blockoff plate or foam when it rains.

Since the original poster said something about having a Lid (at least I think they did) then the ARA kit would only cost them $200 vs the FIPK II that runs $300. But to anyone with a stock setup the cost is the same at about $300 either way since most Lids are around $100.

That is my rational.

 

Actually the FIPK alone has been proven to run at idle no hotter than stock. And once in motion the temps drop immediately to ambient.

But the question was in reference to your statement that the SSRA is much better than the FIPK + !washer bottle.

Some facts ... first the removing the washer bottle solves the heat problems ... took over 20 minutes to raise my IAT temp 20 degrees over outside temp, with the hood closed and reving the engine to 3000 rpm. It never went above 100*

Second is air volume ... as you pointed out the FIPK is proven to produce rwhp gains of up to 23 rwhp. By dropping the reservior .. those gains are sustainable through out the speed range. You now have a 2 foot by 14 inch opening feeding air to the entire surface area of the filter. With the SSRA or any other similiar designed CAI, no matter what you do you will limited to a 2 inch by 14 inch surface area on the filter.

Third as far as needing the washer bottle to wash of your windows driving in winter slush ... wouldn't you also be blocking off the SSRA scoop in those kind of conditions anyway? And I doubt you will be wanting to push your car to 140 anyhow in that kind of weather ... not to mention that washer fluid tends to freeze in the winter anyhow, as well simply ice up when it hits your window ...

Fourth as far as the oiling issues ... 90% of the people running a SSRA will be running a reusable filter anyhow .. so they would be dealing with the same issue. But, that aside lids are frought with fitment and durabilty issues, simply due to the nature and material of their construction.

Last as far as cost, agreed if you already have a lid, adding a SSRA is less expensive.

Personally, the FTRA/SSRA/FIPK are all pretty close ... enough so that you can rationalize one to be better over the other in your own mind, but it can never really be quantified ...