Ractive heat shielded air filters - opinions?

I take it you haven't tried a CAI then on your Saturn? There is a noticeable difference. Not HUGE but it is noticeable, mostly the powerband shifts slightly. Also Lane a member of this group has stated repeatedly that members of a club he belongs to have had their Saturn's dyno tested with and without the CAI's and an average of 7hp was gained. Throw on a nice catback exhaust and everything really opens up though. My power with just the CAI used to start really tapering off about 5500rpm on the 1.9 DOHC engine but with the exhaust it still has full power now at the 6500rpm redline.

Charles

Well, none of these really answer my question, but for the sake of conversation with my fellow Saturn owners:

Yes, there is proven (via Dyno testing and more) documentation that addin or modifying certain components of the OEM Saturn intake/exhaust system will enhance performance. Lane should definately be considered one of the authentic sources of such information, as well as quite a few other people in this board and others. There are some ppl that just slap anything on thier car and jsut because it's noisy or looks cool, to them it made thier car faster. Then there are ppl like Lane, Qksltwo and Kallisti Motorsports and many others who took the time to actually test each add on component vs a base oem setup to measure the results as accurately as possible. You can find alot of these results at thier websites.

That said, yes a CAI will add an average of about 3 to 7 hp gain depending on the car. Adding an aftermarket or custom intake system allows more air into the throttle body, ergo more hp. By itself you cant expect much of a hp gain, but every little part adds up. Just adding a K&N drop-in filter in the stock air box has been dyno proven to slightly enhance hp performance (.05 to 2%). Not sure what you mean by " the car's instrumented like crazy" , but its a fact that the airflow is purposely restricted in factory. These filters, whether underhood or cold air simply free up the air flow which anyone who has hot-rodded up a car knows equates to an increase of air-fuel mixture. This applies to old school carbueretors or the newer FI engines. Trus the Saturn 1.9 is fine left alone, but some ppl like to push it that one little step further. My hat is off to them, its amazing the things that they have done to such a meager little 4cyl grocery getter.

So to return back OT, I have an automatic, CAI is out of the question. I hate cars that sound like fart cans or pissed off bumble bees and the cops here ticket ppl for that too so an open filter is out of the question. I have already modified my airbox and added a K&N drop-in filter and a Dynomax Turbo muffler, my car is loud enough at 5K rpm! Unfortunately, the Dynomax was the quietest that I could get being an open flow muffler, the noise is just a consequence.

I would like to balance out the sound and performance by adding a cone filter to my stock intake pipes. Why? the stock pipes wont get as hot as metal nor be as loud, even though the resonator is already removed and I will enjoy some added performance without heat soak, even if the boost is minimal it all adds up. Let me repeat that "even if the boost is minimal it all adds up". And it is fun to drive too! ;-)

Thats why I am looking into a cone filter that has a built on heat shield. Ractive seems to be the best known company selling these. So, does anyone have one of these? How are they?