I contacted K&N wondering why thier intakes were so expensive.

Here's my letter:

"I have a question regarding the Typhoon air intake system. More
specifically, the pricing.

I have a 2.0L Mazda Protege ES and have been considering changing out the
OEM air intake and installing an after market air intake. Unfortunately,
there aren't a lot of options for Mazda Proteges.

In an on line club I belong to, we primarily talk about either the AEM short
ram air intake, or the Ingen cold air intake. Occasion someone brings up
Reactive. The main reason is that they are substantially cheaper than a K&N
Typhoon system.

Now, I know K&N makes wonderful filters. And I would be willing to put a K&N
Typhoon in my car, but I really can't justify spending $400+ on a Typhoon
system. I realize it probably all has to do with supply and demand, but it
is hard to justify the money when I see a Typhoon for a Honda Civic sell for
less than $200.

I'm sure if the Typhoon system was either a little less expensive or if you
could show how much better the Typhoon is compared to other air intakes, my
group would consider a Typhoon more often."


Here's the response:

"You are correct the new Typhoon ll system for your Mazda is a lot more money
than the old Typhoon system for the Honda. The new Typhoon ll system produce
twice the performance increase and is of a much higher quality than any
other system on the market. If you are restricted by price then the AEM kit
is the way to go. If you are looking for Quality and Performance then you
will not regret the money you spend for the Typhoon ll kit."


Just thought I'd pass it along.

 

Yeah dude, i've been working with K&N a lot lately because their HQ is right down the street from my college. I have the option of getting a Celica GT-S CAI or a P5 CAI. I was wondering if i should get one and install it on my car or get it and sell it, but NO ONE WANTS TO SPEND $400 FOR A DAMN CAI! So i was just thinking of selling it forl ike $300 or putting it on my car heh

 

was there a pic of the kit on their site? do you have a pic of it? is it a CAI?

 

It all falls back to the old "They've got it, and you want it"....supply and demand.

 

I don't think there are pics, but i could probably get a pic of it if i get it installed. The guy said it is more powerful than stock across the whole powerband and the max HP gain is 7 whp. I might be able to get a pic of the dyno if i'm luclky :P

 

if at all possible do so....

 

Promises of more power
"twice the performance increase and is of a much higher quality than any
other system on the market"

It is funny on this forum how name conciensus people are. an intake is in intake an intake. Call up your local metal shop and see how many different sizes of tubeing with the inner diameter there are around. with the same outter as the intake needs to be. They have to buy the metal one place or another. Steel mills only roll whats needed in large demands not oh lets roll a 2.1254 inner diameter someone needs 50ft.

Until someone can show me the drastic differnces between intakes, I think alot of hype has most of you in the viicous circle of supply and demand.
The amount of change in bends and how they are bent does not make that much differnce that has yet to be proven on any dyno.
To justify the cost of over 100.00 IMHO.


I will go down buy the die to make a custom intake and get the tubing, dependant on who wants a CAI that has the rubber from a shorty intake. All I want is cost of materials and shipping and the cost of a 12 pack.

 

I'm gona have to disagree with you kosmicride...
Well, for the Celica GT-S, i know K&N made the only intake that did what it was supposed to. Injen and AEM and a few others made CAIs, but almost all of them threw CHECK ENGINE LIGHTS, which was annoying as hell and make people question what the hell was going on. The guy at K&N was telling me that the CEL was coming because the MAF wasnt centered correctly in the intake piping.
Also, at K&N they fit check the CAIs on at least a few of every year and they make sure they check them on models that have had front-end accidents and models that have never had accidents because other company's intakes tend to rub on different places in the engine bay.
A lot of the difference in intakes may not be in the metal or the shape, but the quality of engineering and time put in to making a quality product.

 

That is very correct you need to make sure that the MAF sensor is getting the most accurate reading. You can also check your check engine light on most cars by taking off the intake just before the MAF sensor.
Fitment is a major concern and I think for the most part all companies had to do the same determining factors to find the bends correctly, where they need to be and what angle and such. When the manufacture actually made the tubing bends for the various bends it is all too possible that a die was not positioned correctly and or a degree was over exaggerated in the programming of the automatic bending machine. (lay men's terms)

 

what's the K&N website. I ran a search but only found places that sold them.

Thanks

 

K&N Filter


It was interesting that the K&N Rep recommended the AEM intake over the Injen intake

 

It really means nothing. He only said it because its the cheapest one out of known companies.

As for the typhoon II, I went on the website and couldnt find one for the protege in their applications chart.

 

It was there just last week.

The part numbers are:

69-6020TR for Red
69-6020TB for Blue
69-6020TS for Silver

I also noticed that they changed ther on-line retailers. At one point they listed 4Filters as a reseller. I just went to their website and they are still listing in for $400. Not sure why it's not on the K&N website anymore.