Fujita Short Ram Intake Impressions

[bzouiden]

Well I hope I don't get flammed for this post but I wanted to give my impression of the Fujita Short Ram Intake.

First of all I am not a mechanic I build & maintain computers and don't claim to know much about cars other than what feels right and what doesn't. I've owned an 93 RX7, 2 Eclipse GTS (99 & 94), and an 01 Jetta VR6. So nothing too special except for the RX7 but all pretty sportty cars. I've added performance parts here and there again nothing too complicated but I've done intakes before.

I picked up my AT NHB Fit on 11/10/06 drove it stock for a while about 1200 miles. Coming from cars with a more power I was really looking forward to getting the intake installed. The Fit is perfect for my wife & two kids other than during the week when it's just me going back and forth to work. The first 1200 + miles it seemed a little pokey but it's a little engine and it works really hard. I was also trying to break it nicely. I installed the intake on 12/10/06. It was very easy to just install but nearly impossiable to get to line up straight with the throttle body. Every night for the past three weeks I've been out in my garage messing with a little. It's kind of hard to explain it just never looked right. There is a vibration damper the bolts on to the battery post. If you follow the instructions that vibration damper pulls the intake and either doesn't come straight out from the throttle body or hits the top of the hood. Finally I had an idea to
flip the L bracket over which kind of worked. I called Fujita twice and told them about my experience and the guy just said well the fitment is really good keep playing with it and it will line up?

All of this would have been OK if the performance was there. I really wanted it have this profound boost in throttle response & HP. So generally if your mind wants to see a difference if will start fooling itself. After awhile all I noticed was:
1. the noise
2. it didn't feel like it was shifting right especially in sports mode
3. vibrations
4. during up hill climbs it would shift up down like it confussed
5. I would say I lost any power but I certainly didn't gain any

The big one was absolutely no gains under 3500 RPM. Since I pretty much live in the 2000 to 4000 range I really see no benefit for me with this product. So I sent it back, luckly where I purchased the item has a good return policy. I was actually going to go with the T1R carbon intake but it was twice as much and after talking to a few people I decided to get the fujita and I guess I was wrong. I think I'm going to wait 6 months or so and see what is out.

Again I am not brand bashing or anything I've had a Fujita product on my ecplise and it worked out great and they make good product I just don't think this part is worth the money.

Bryan

[Chikubi]

Personally, I think your disappointment comes more from not putting in enough research to choose the best part for your needs, coupled with maybe too high expectations of what it should do gain-wise. Everybody's guilty of this at some point, so no big deal really -- it's just a learning experience. If you'd have checked out the dyno chart on Fujita's site first, you might've seen that the SRI shows no gain until ~4200 rpm and then opens up nicely after that. That there's nothing gained below 3500 wouldn't have been a shock and you could've opted from the get-go to not buy the intake. Live and learn, ne?

[MERLYNMUZIK]

I HAVE A FUJITA SR ON ORDER ....SHOULD BE IN BY NEXT WEEK. I HOPE I DONT HAVE THE SAME INSTALLATION PROBLEMS. I HAVE A MANUAL FIT AND I WANT TO HEAR MY INTAKE...I LOVE CRANKIN' IT OVER 5K !!!!!!!

[LiL Wee FIT]

Please turn off your cap locks!

Butif you love to hear your intake, why don't you get a CAI instead?

As for bzouiden, maybe sell your SRI and look for a lightweight pulley or something. Those helps with your low end more than intakes....

[bzouiden]

Personally, I think your disappointment comes more from not putting in enough research to choose the best part for your needs, coupled with maybe too high expectations of what it should do gain-wise.

Well I did a lot of research I was looking at intakes while my car was on order. I was out here looking through posts before I even I put my deposit down. But yes you are correct I was expecting too much out of it. I guess I wasn't really thinking about how I drive so It's not really Fujitas fault. I'm either looking at saving my money until I can justify the T1R or waiting until the T1R TURBO Kit - Honda Fit 07-up GD3 is available.

I HAVE A MANUAL FIT AND I WANT TO HEAR MY INTAKE...I LOVE CRANKIN' IT OVER 5K

I would cancel it and either get the T1R or the FUJITA CAI. This was my first SRI as this is my first Automatic tranny (I'm getting too old and I was in aww of the paddle shifters).

Anyway my FIT runs a lot better with the stock airbox back on. If you are perfectionist like me you will be messing with that SRI forever. It just doesn't line up like other intakes or like the pictures.

Speaking of stock airbox has anyone used the Mugen or Spoon air filters?

Thanks,

[Paulo107]

i use a K&N drop in filter...also check what K&N sent me on my email
i have always like there quality might be considering it

specs you can see here:http://www.knfilters.com/search/prod...Prod=69-1016TS

[Wave]

Originally Posted by MERLYNMUZIK

I HAVE A FUJITA SR ON ORDER ....SHOULD BE IN BY NEXT WEEK. I HOPE I DONT HAVE THE SAME INSTALLATION PROBLEMS. I HAVE A MANUAL FIT AND I WANT TO HEAR MY INTAKE...I LOVE CRANKIN' IT OVER 5K !!!!!!!

Want to hear it? Change your order to a Fujita Cold Air Intake or get a T1R. I currently have the Fujita SRI on my VBP Sport AT but that'll change as soon as Jackson Racing releases their supercharger kits.

[mustang8918]

I like the looks of that K&N.

[LiL Wee FIT]

Whoa! 5.72whp increase? Anyone have that on their fit?

[sonorliteman]

Originally Posted by bzouiden

Well I did a lot of research I was looking at intakes while my car was on order. I was out here looking through posts before I even I put my deposit down. But yes you are correct I was expecting too much out of it. I guess I wasn't really thinking about how I drive so It's not really Fujitas fault. I'm either looking at saving my money until I can justify the T1R or waiting until the T1R TURBO Kit - Honda Fit 07-up GD3 is available.



I would cancel it and either get the T1R or the FUJITA CAI. This was my first SRI as this is my first Automatic tranny (I'm getting too old and I was in aww of the paddle shifters).

Anyway my FIT runs a lot better with the stock airbox back on. If you are perfectionist like me you will be messing with that SRI forever. It just doesn't line up like other intakes or like the pictures.

Speaking of stock airbox has anyone used the Mugen or Spoon air filters?

Thanks,

Bryan, looks like we're neighbors.

Initially I got really excited about moding and getting more power...but common sense has so far prevailed and several folks have counseled me to not touch the car and just drive it. After seeing the kind of money people are shelling out for this little engine with little return in power (except for the up-coming turbo/supercharger kits), I've decided to hold off. Only thing I did was get a K&N drop-in filter. Not much difference at all...although I think you did a good thing by putting the stock air box back on...it has some special stuff going on with air chamber size and pressure equalization which really gives this engine a torquey low end (unusually good power at lower RPM for such a small engine). I've thought about the T1R, and I think this would give the same response or better but is too much $$ for what you get in my opinion.

[firstshadow]

Originally Posted by sonorliteman

Bryan, looks like we're neighbors.

Initially I got really excited about moding and getting more power...but common sense has so far prevailed and several folks have counseled me to not touch the car and just drive it. After seeing the kind of money people are shelling out for this little engine with little return in power (except for the up-coming turbo/supercharger kits), I've decided to hold off. Only thing I did was get a K&N drop-in filter. Not much difference at all...although I think you did a good thing by putting the stock air box back on...it has some special stuff going on with air chamber size and pressure equalization which really gives this engine a torquey low end (unusually good power at lower RPM for such a small engine). I've thought about the T1R, and I think this would give the same response or better but is too much $$ for what you get in my opinion.

since your looking for major horsepower, why not just do a k20 swap?

[sonorliteman]

Originally Posted by firstshadow

since your looking for major horsepower, why not just do a k20 swap?

The reasoning behind not wanting to mess w/ my car is because it is my daily driver. If I had another car to drive, and the Fit became my toy, then we could discuss the options like K20 vs built L15, etc.

But, I have to say, if I had an alternative means of transportation, I probably would not want to put $$ into a Fit. I'd prefer to get another old Mustang and build it. I suppose the Fit could grow on me over time though, and who knows, it may eventually be my next project car.

[milano sol]

wow this looks nice! i may reconsider getting the T1R

Originally Posted by Paulo107

i use a K&N drop in filter...also check what K&N sent me on my email
i have always like there quality might be considering it

specs you can see here:http://www.knfilters.com/search/prod...Prod=69-1016TS

[MarkB]

Originally Posted by LiL Wee FIT

Whoa! 5.72whp increase? Anyone have that on their fit?

If you noticed it says "Estimated" on their site.

[ebcspace]

I think that a big part of your issue is that you're comparing the Fit to much more powerful cars as a reference point of experience. You simply can't squeeze that much of a power increase out of it to bring it up to the league that you're used to.

I can identify with you on one of your cars... Jetta VR6. I owned a '98 Jetta VR6 2.8L . I believe it was rated at 174 HP. It was the quickest, nicest car I had owned yet. I smoked many a BMW, and V8 cars/trucks on occasion.

A big difference in that VW engine, is that you've got torque from a very low rpm... in my experience, from around 2000 rpm's, you've already got some power going.

A Honda engine, in particular the 4 cylinder 1.5L engine of the Fit, in comparison, does not really kick in until maybe 4000-5000K rpm's.

This took some getting used to for me. But for me, the only way to drive it is in sport mode, with the paddle shifters, get to know the road speed for each gear, then have fun with it, down-shift to match rpm's, ride out the rpm's to at least 4 or 5K, and discover what it has to offer. The more you get to know the character of the engine, the more you have fun with it.

I've got the Fujita Short Ram Intake, and also the Skunk2 cat-back exhaust. I started with a K&N drop-in filter, which gave a slight noticeable boost, then upgraded the exhaust with the Megan racing bolt-on axle-back exhaust, and at that point I still wanted more, then ended up with the Fujita Short Ram Intake and Skunk2 exhaust system.

I had the same install challenge with the bracket. You have to reverse the bracket so the adjustment side is toward the intake rather than the battery side, which allows you to move the filter end downward to allow clearance for closing the hood of the car. The intake body doesn't really line up straight with the throttle body like you might expect.

At this point, with the intake and exhaust, I'm satisfied that I got more out of the engine, to a nice point of modest fun. I won't try to take on a VR6 VW, or most cars, for that matter, and expect to come out winning. I just try to enjoy the Fit because it is its own car and personality, something to be appreciated for what it is.

e.b.

[Whitehybrid]

you can't expect real noticable gains from just an intake...the reason it feels more powerful after 3.5k is a lil' thing honda calls Vtec...i'm super satisfied with my Fujita Sri, mainly because my expectations are realistic...accompanied by the fact i'm famailar with heavily modding cars...

its not like you are strapping a rocket to the back after you install the sri...i have a feeling your next intake purchase will leave you with the same complaints...if you want instant gratification, try nitrous...