HyundaiKitCoupe

Well guys,

I just wanted to post this as a heads up to anybody buying the AEM Bypass valves. No doubt it works, and it's a great product. But I do have some withdrawls from installing it only because the sound levels had decreased.

I took a saw and cut my AEM Cold Air Intake in half. It wasn't that bad cutting it with a regular wood saw, but it was a pain in the butt piecing everything back together back in the car (because the radiator interferes with the bypass and has the potential to rub against the flaps.

Not only is the entire structure of the intake system weaker, but the Bypass Valve is structured in a way that it creates drag in the vital tubing of the CAI obviously decreasing horsepower.

I didn't notice much difference when driving. But the according to the rule: Sound = HP, it's more than evident that just by installing the Bypass Valve on the intake system, there is less air being sucked in the filter meaning less sound. YES, the sound level decreased by about half.

Before I had installed it, when revving that mommy up, the Cold Air Intake just plain sounded BAD ASS. It even hurt your ears like some Formula 1 machine! When I pulled up to people and revved my engine, it sounded so sexy, so LOUD that it would make them think I had a turbo in there or something! Now, you can hear more of the stock engine sound itself and now it definitely sounds like I have nothing but an intake.

Just a compromise I had to settle for just in case some rain fell on my street... :roll: Now I really need that exhaust. I miss the Formula 1 sound!

Just an insight. I'd take REDZ' advice, just go around the puddles.

HKC

hamhead

Bleh, there really is no need for it unless you live in like Malaysia and try to drive around the roads during the wet season. Your filter basically has to be submerged in water... if your at stock height you'd have to hit a really big puddle. Just don't drive it around in a hurricane and try to go swimming through those flooded roads just cause your car is a shark. tongue.gif

HyundaiKitCoupe

...it was a mistake. a very stupid one. the bypass valve is rubbing against the radiator causing the flaps to stay open. that's a leak. that's why there's no sound anymore. i think i just threw out $250. why oh why did i wake up today?!

when i rev my engine, it's a retarded sound. i can't do anything about it! i should have listened to REDZ. just drive around the deep puddles. the splash guard will do the rest...

lol and yes, if you live in malaysia than you should definitely get it shipped over.

hamhead

How far up did you cut it? You could stick the filter where you cut it at maybe. sorta a mini ram/cold air intake thing lol if it fits where you cut it at. Or just go turbo so you dont need cold air. ;P

majik

first, your comments are stupid

Sound = HP? :roll: 7" exhaust = much louder than 2.5" exhaust. Which has better performance on an N/A engine?

Bypass Valve rubbing against radiator? Why the crap did you put it there?? Did you take any measurements before cutting?
---------
hamhead - you're wrong. Sorry to sound mean, but that's the only way to put it. I've known people to hydrolock their engine by driving through a puddle. The filter wasn't submerged, but it was dirty and the dirt had damaged the filter allowing water to get in. It doesn't take much watter to mess up the internals. There are quite a few Hyundai owners who have posted about hydrolocking their Hyundai.

I don't like to quote Kirk often, but there is one thing I agree with.
$50 for a Bypass Valve and lose MAYBE 5HP... or $1200 for a new engine after hydrolocking.
--------

My CAI with a Bypass Valve is JUST AS LOUD as my friend's intake with no bypass valve.

KayJai

HKC : You HAVE TO make doubley (is that a word) SURE that both ends of where the Bypass is, is PERFECTLY Parallel. If not, it will open up and be "activated" And yeah, like Majik asked, why is it by the Rad. Should be higher up, near the MAF.

HyundaiKitCoupe

hamhead, i was thinking of going turbo but that requires a lot of maintenance and i'd have to run a higher ocatane gasolene to run it. that plus i'm a newb to turbos. i wish i knew more than i currently do.

majik, it's cut where the manual showed it to be to cut. but i'm also thinking that there is one last solution and that's because during the second installation i noticed that the CAI was far away from the battery and the Bypass Valve is resting tightly against the battery tray. i'm also not suggesting that more sound = more hp overall, but only in this case with my problem since the more air being sucked up in the CAI would mean more sound. i figured there is a leak of some sort in which is preventing the air to come in from the filter itself but rather from the bypass valve. it's soch a stupid mistake.

either the manual i recieved is just wrong, or i should have cut the piping around the second bend.

Kayjai, this might be the problem since the bottom of it is resting against the transmission (very bad thing) and therefore bending the rubber portion at an angle. i'm sure that's where the leak is, and that's likely a problem. i will have to see tomorrow morning. i noticed the filter is not in the same exact place as it used to be.

thanks for the input guys... believe me, i need the pros to help me out with this. by the way... my engine is also studdering during acceleration, but was fine before i put this Bypass in :roll:

hamhead

Generally speaking I meant if you kept the filter clean, most people try to, if you don't, bad things can happen. At least on mine, the AEM sits nicely beneath the splash guard and would have to go in through the little vents in the RD2. Its going to take more than a few teaspoons dabbed on the filter to effect it much. If you think about it, your filter is always sucking in water if its a humid day outside smile.gif although very little .The car would have to hit a puddle really hard and the water go through the openings in the guard, or have a whole poopload of water go thru the little driver side vent thing. The dirtier the filter, the more prone you are to locking it up. So your right, I probably should've mentioned that.

I think you said the bypass is stuck open. If so, there's a leak, probably why your acceleration is bad now. Make sure your AEM is still anchored onto that little bracket thing down by the splash guard, that might be why your intake is offline.

REDZMAN

This argument will never end.

I personally say save the $50 for going in on the header group buy, and DRIVE AROUND THE FREAKING PUDDLES!!!

Seriously.


Someone tried to justify to me about it awhile back.

One of these...

"Oh, it floods here bad, and you CAN'T drive around the puddles/rivers/lakes/arroyo's/monsoons/tornadic water streams/hurricanes."

Yes.

You can.


Or even easier.

DON'T DRIVE THE PERFORMANCE ORIENTED CAR IN THAT WEATHER!

When it floods here, what do I do?

Drive around it.

When the weather man says "18 feet of rain expected today" what do I do?

Listen to the TRAFFIC GUY NEXT and avoid the washed away bridges with vanloads of pockmarked single moms floating past.

You can ALWAYS drive past.

Oh.

Well.

I guess not, if you live in a Court.

wink.gif

HyundaiKitCoupe

hail REDZ lol... damnit. "enjoy the extra horsepower" my arse now. ah it's not looking as bad as i thought though. i just have to find a way to keep the bypass from the radiator. it did sound pretty f*cking bad f*cking ass--i mean enough to scare the pants off someone when you gave that sucker some gas...



for some ODD reason, the tubing had not fit there either way. i KNOW it's because of the REV A model tiburon because it has a back panel to the mounting panel completely making it impossible to mount the tube in the first place.

now, believe it or not, the Bypass Valve is the actual mount of the tube. it's actually quite snug between the radiator and the battery tray. it won't budge however, i also think that the tube is bent at that point :roll: and the radiator is still pushing the Bypass Valve flaps open. There is a solution. there are areas where there is no flaps. so if i just turn the Bypass around a few degrees the radiator may not rest on the flaps anymore and i might be able, as Majik said, hopefully get my sound back to the way it was.

I do think this is a leak, so it completely changes the subject. but overall, unless your area suffers from flash flooding, just stick with the CAI because it will save you some HP, some nice airflow, and some butt.

my advice? try to stay away from the manual and just decide for yourself where the best place to install this is. oh, and do try not to scratch your tubing up! evil.gif