Taking the Long Way: Install and Dyno of AEM 5th Gen Cold Air Intake

It’s a simple concept: since an engine is basically just a big air pump, if you free it up to pull in more air, it can perform more work. That means it will make more power, and you get a bigger smile on your face when you smash the gas pedal. To further refine this idea, if you allow your engine to pull in air from a place located away from the hot engine compartment, you can typically make even more power.

This is the idea behind AEM’s Cold Air Intake for the 5th Gen Camaro. Unlike other intakes for the new Camaros, which typically feature a shorter intake tube, and place the air filter in roughly the same position as stock (and therefore could be defined as a “Warm Air Intake” since the filter is still under the hood), the AEM Cold Air Intake routes the intake tract as far as reasonably possible from the hot engine compartment, and places the filter where it can grab the coolest air available. It’s a commonly known fact among automotive enthusiasts that the cooler and denser the air is that makes it into your engine, the more power you can make.

AEM Intake Features:

  • Mandrel-bent 4-inch aluminum tubing
  • Gunmetal gray finish
  • Dryflow synthetic washable filter element
  • Includes MAF extension harness and replacement washer bottle

The AEM intake doesn’t take the easy way around either. To get access to the coolest air possible, and to squeeze out that extra little bit of power, the install of the AEM Cold Air intake is a bit more involved than other intakes. But is all the extra effort worth it?

To find out, we took a bone stock 2010 Camaro SS L99/6L80E to our good friends at Sunshine Performance, in Killeen, Texas to get a baseline horsepower number on their Dynojet, and then do a few pulls to see what the AEM Cold Air Intake can bring to the table. Read along with us as we walk you through a step-by-step install of the AEM intake on this Camaro SS, and find out exactly how much power this extra bit of effort is worth.

The stock air box on the L99 does well enough keeping up with the engine's air flow demands... but we never were very good at leaving well enough alone. Its time to find out just how much power this chunky black box is leaving on the table.

Our test mule for our AEM Cold Air Intake install is a Victory Red 2010 SS with the L99/6L80E combo owned by Mr. Brett Halstead from Killeen, Texas. The car is completely stock, right down to the paper air filter, making it an ideal subject for our test.

 

Once we got the SS safely strapped to the dyno, we let the L99 sing. The completely stock SS spooled up the Dynojet's drums to the tune of 312.9 rear wheel horsepower, and 331.5 pound feet of torque.

After we had our baseline, we removed the stock intake and airbox in short order. We won't bore you with the blow-by-blow details of how to remove your stock stuff, but suffice it to say that you shouldn't have any problems. However, its very important to remember that you will still need the factory MAF sensor that is installed on the airbox.(On a side note, yes, that is a K&N Drop-In Panel Filter. It was used as part of a forthcoming intake test, and was not used to get our baseline HP number.)

Here it is - the star of the show - AEM part number 21-8029. The intake comes with AEM's Dryflow Air Filter that never needs oiling, and everything you need to install the intake on your Camaro. As you can see, AEM includes a replacement washer fluid bottle, since the stock one gets right in the way of the intake tube. They also include an extended MAF sensor harness that allows the MAF to be bolted in down near the filter, where it should be.

After you get the stock intake removed, the next step is to safely jack up the car and remove the driver's side front wheel. This will allow you the best possible access to the factory washer bottle. We were lucky in that we didn't even have to remove the Camaro from the lift. Sunshine's Dynojet lift is equipped with these cool plates that allowed us to safely jack up the car and place the jackstands with no problem. Remember to always use jackstands and never work under a car that is only supported by a jack.

Next, you will need to remove the lower 3 Torx T20 screws that hold on the plastic fender well cover. Luckily these come out very easily. Just be sure to put them some place safe, like a zip lock bag so you don't lose them.

You'll also need to remove this little bugger to be able to pull back the wheel well liner enough. Like most of these plastic tab things on modern cars, ours was a pain in the butt to remove. Nothing a little prying with a flat head screw driver couldn't solve though.

Once you get the Torx screws and plastic clip out of the way, you will have easy access to the washer bottle. Even though it's not totally necessary, we found it much easier if someone can hold back the fender well liner back while you work on the washer bottle.

You could easily plug up the washer bottle after you disconnect the hose, but we decided to just let it drain into a clean container. Next, unclip the small wiring harness connected to the washer pump, and remove the three 13mm bolts that hold in the stock washer bottle, then you can easily lower the bottle down, and open up all that extra space for the intake.

Comparing the two washer bottles side-by-side, the stock bottle seems like a bit of over kill, don't you think?

If you want to actually still be able to clean your windshield, take your pump off of your stock bottle and mount it on the AEM bottle.

One of the mounting holes for the stock washer bottle will be re-purposed to act as the lower mount for the AEM Intake.

Now we're getting somewhere. Put the supplied large coupler over the throttle body, and loosely install the two hose clamps. Install the factory MAF sensor to the AEM intake with the supplied M4 Allen head machine screws, and you are ready to drop the big tube down in the engine bay. The tube will really only slide down along the outside of the driver's side frame rail one way, so just take your time and be careful not to snag any wires. Then, just hook the lower mounting bracket over the rubber mount you installed earlier.

Next, simply connect the MAF harness extension, and route it down to the MAF, being careful to keep the wires away from any moving parts.

 

Here's a look at how the tubing routes from the throttle body down to the drivers' side fender. The tubing on this thing is just plain huge, measuring 4 inches in diameter all the way through.

 

The replacement washer bottle gets mounted to this black bracket, which slips over the factory mounting stud for the air box. Its important to note here that you will need to reuse the factory retaining nut to mount the bracket.

Here it is, all buttoned up on the top side with the clamps tightened down and washer bottle installed.

Moving back down to the fender well, all that's left to do is install the AEM DryFlow Air Filter.

AEM's DryFlow Air Filter is a little different than the high flow filters you might be accustomed to in that it never needs to be oiled, and is rated at 100,000 miles of service before it even needs to be cleaned.

Not the greatest pic in the world, we know, but you can get a good idea of where the air filter gets placed in relation to the bumper, fender liner, and wheel.

 

Once we got the front wheel back on, and the car safely strapped down to the DynoJet it was time to claim the fruits of our labors.

The AEM Cold Air intake was worth 17.2 horsepower, and 15.4 pound feet of torque on our L99 Camaro. That's a pretty decent increase, and keep in mind that the AEM intake will perform even better in the real world where it will be able to capture cool, dense air as the car is in motion.

So there you have it – a little bit of work got us a respectable bump in horsepower to the rear wheels, and incidentally a car that sounds better at wide open throttle as well, thanks to getting rid of all the silencers in the stock intake plumbing. AEM claims a 16.53 horsepower increase, and that’s actually slightly less than what we actually observed at 17.2 – it’s nice to see an intake company under-promising and over-delivering. Beyond that, AEM’s quality is top notch, and we were really pleased with how well-designed the kit was, right down to the installation instructions.

Special thanks to Mr. Brett Halstead for letting us flog his “Rouge Racer” SS on the dyno, and to Sunshine Performance for helping us with our install and testing.

About the author

Clifton Klaverweiden

Clifton has been a car fanatic since his late teens, when he started the restoration of his '67 Camaro. He considers himself a student of automotive science and technology, and particularly loves all things LSX. And, although he has an appreciation for everything, from imports to exotics, his true passion will always be for GM musclecars.
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