I recently purchased a Weapon R Dragon Intake for my 1999 Chevrolet Prizm. To give you some history, my choice for this upgrade was different than you might think. I didn't just go in to get a short ram intake because I wanted an upgrade. About 3 years ago my car got smashed and and I had to replace 1/2 of my headlights and signal lights...not to mention my bumper. ;) A had a large canister inside the bumper that was supposed to help get some cold air into the car that broke and could not be put back in. Seeing as how the whole system still looked sealed from the weather, I counted my lucky stars and left a gaping hole that could gulp cold air into my car rather than sip through 5 tiny holes that the canister breathed through.A couple months ago, I noticed that my wheel well was getting less sealed to the bumper and I was risking Hydro-lock. Hydro-lock is where water goes into your air intake system, combines with the fuel/air mixture and doesn't compress - water doesn't compress - and "BAM!" Your engine is broken and will often need replacement. So, terrified, knowing I was coming up on a typically rainy drive soon I needed to fix this situation fast.
I didn't even want to figure out how to replace the air canister. I didn't really know what it was called and suspected a very high price at the dealer or no availability for a part since the dealers don't sell much past 10 years. So....I went for the fix and upgrade replacement Weapon R Dragon Intake.
The Weapon R Dragon Intake came in a record fast time, a day before my road trip so I didn't have to spend valuable driving time on installation. Quite excited, I was in my car clothes within minutes and I was installing it.
I immediately noticed the extra loud noise that was new to my car. Everyone said online that the Weapon R Dragon Intake was the loudest intake on the market. (Most seem excited about that.) This worried me because I love performance but I don't like things being too loud. Turns out, once it warms up, it's pretty quiet. Plus, I really only notice the sound of the Weapon R at low speeds.
I immediately noticed that my 2.5 inch opened exhaust was louder, and that was driving gentle, since I'm all about getting the best car mpg possible, I was excited that this was a sign that my car was getting more air moved through it, dragon style :). On my trip, I had to go over mountains and I quickly noticed that when I came out of overdrive for these mountains that instead of my car sounding like it was working hard, the hills sounded natural.
Two days before my trip, I lost valuable preparation for my traveling installing the Weapon R Dragon Intake, I made up for lost time and drove faster. I usually notice a drop in car mpg when I do this, but my car mpg stayed the same even though I was driving faster. I'm not much of a speeder, I just more frequently did 80 in the posted 80 mph zones when I more often go about 75 because I get better mpg that way.
The short of it? I notice some areas where I believe I have more acceleration. It's hard to tell when I just replaced the valve that makes my 1999 Chevrolet Prizm have it's year 2000 motor with VVT-i fully functional. This valve syncs up the oil flow in the valves based on the RPM of the engine based on what the Cam Shaft Position Sensor is telling the engine what to do. This already opened up a lot more power 2 weeks ago, so not being used to that I can't really tell you. I haven't seen enough car mpg numbers to report yet, but when I do, I'll do less of a story and more of an article on my main autobravado website.
Car mpg numbers included now! Weapon R Dragon Intake Review - final review?
*Note: 1999 Chevrolet Prizm is the same as a 2000 or 2001-02, except that my 1999 Chevrolet Prizm has a 2000 LSI engine with improvements not available in 1999. Except the one improvement of a variable valve timing (VVTi), it's the same engine and parts for anything you'd replace except in association with those valves. This was during a time that Chevrolet and Toyota were in a joint partnership and made the car together, so it really is a Chevy and a Toyota, a 1998, 1999, 2000. 2001, or 2002 Toyota Corolla are the same as well.
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| Add snow to the AutoBravado car for extra beauty. :) |
