DDM Works

DDM Works Jackson Racing Supercharger Cold Air Intake

[4/19/2009] Reviewed by: Dan Lahrman - espressomaker@yahoo.com

Applicable to: '90 - '97 1.6 liter

The Cold Air Intake made by DDM Works is well-constructed of 304 stainless steel with rubber strips covering most exposed edges. The CAI kit consists of two main stainless steel pieces, a long lasting UNI foam filter, adapters which enable the round foam filter to be fitted to the square opening of the air flow meter, and all necessary nuts, bolts, and washers. The only thing carried over from the old intake is the cork gasket that joins the new pieces to the air flow meter. Product photos found on store and manufacturer's websites do not show any markings on the visible surfaces of the CAI but mine came with a large "DDM Works" decal plastered on the top (most visible) surface. I was slightly put-off by this as I don't consider my car to be advertising space for products. The same logo was laser-cut into another, less obvious portion of the box which I thought was more appropriate and should have been left at that. The design of the CAI allows cooler air to be drawn into the supercharger from behind the driver's side headlight.

Instructions for installation are well written. I was glad to see that they did not seem to be written by someone with English as a second language. My car does not have cruise control so my installation did not require the relocation of the cruise control actuator. I had no real problems with installation but did have a few issues that weren't expected when reading the instructions. For example, the instructions say to "gently" remove the original four studs from the air flow meter. Being gentle was not an option for getting those things out and it was not immediately clear if I'd be re-using them again (instructions made this clear up front in a couple earlier steps). But getting those out made reversing the installation impossible without having replacement studs. Also, the instructions make it sound like placing the main box in place will be challenging but I found it to be one of the easiest steps of the installation. Two areas of concern that I'll be watching are the clearance of the CAI with the supercharger's crossover tube and the filter staying fastened in place. My supercharger's crossover tube actually comes in contact with the CAI at the point where the tube clamps onto the supercharger's outlet. Also, I couldn't get the air filter to tightly fasten onto the adapter. When I try to really tighten the clamp of the filter, the filter pops off the adapter. Maybe I'm tyring to tighten it more than necessary but I'm not sure the filter will stay in place as it is. I'll have to keep an eye on both these areas for future problems. Total installation time for me was probably about 1.5 hours (I had a couple things going on at the same time). The longest part was trying to get those studs out of the air flow meter. Many short turns of the pliers due to limited space.

Although the DDM CAI is a bit pricey (IMO), it is well-made and looks good in the engine bay. I already had a pretty good supply of cool air being fed into my supercharger due to a NACA duct and a homemade device that helped shield hot air from the intake so I can't say that I notice a difference in performance. The DDM CAI definitely met my intent of cleaning up the appearance of the engine compartment while continuing to provide good, clean and cool air to the engine.

Under 30 minutes to remove completely