Engine Air fuel mix w/Intakes?

no, if it's a well made intake with the MAF sensor located at the right place the stock ECU will compensate. I have a friend that do aftermarket R&D at a race shop using dynopack percision dynometers and he say AEM V1 CAI are crap, he claims they actually restricts air at low RPM's. He recommend either a SRI with a heat shield or a Air Box type like the kind by ARC.

Air fuel mix w/Intakes?

First of all i have a '05 XRS. I dont have the bones right now to get either one, but i am torn between a CAI and a SRI. I have heard alot of + & - for both.

My question is, do i have to worry about my air fuel mixture if i take the stock airbox of and replace it with either a CAI or SRI? Wll the OEM computer make the necessary adjustments or do i have to get something like A'pexi's aftermarket controller?

no youll but burn more gas.

MAF sensor hate 2 things:
1 - lots of intake noise
2 - turbulence

It wigs them out and they send inaccurate readings. In reference to #1, the CLOSER the MAF sensor is to the throttle body, the more noise it will receive from the intake and the less accurate it will be. Generally, this problem is worse at low rpms.

In terms of #2....if you've ever dissected your stock airbox you'll have noticed the white plastic mesh. Well, Toyota put it there for a VERY good reason. ANY vehicle with a MAF sensor has one of these somewhere in front of the MAF sensor. It is there to straighten the airflow and reduce turbulence. Remove that little sucker and the MAF sensor sends yet again, less accurate signals. Generally, this problem is worse at low rpms also.

What this means: the MAF sensor will sense a LOWER mass of air than what truly is being aspirated into the engine. ECU sees X amount of air coming into it and injects X amount of fuel, when in reality, the mass of air coming in is larger and it SHOULD inject more fuel. I.e., you end up with a lean mixture, ESPECIALLY at low rpms since the MAF sensors are much more sensitive to intake noise and turbulence at low rpms AND since detonation TYPICALLY occurs in low-mid rpms.

What do MOST aftermarket intake manufacturers do???

They mount the MAF sensor about 4 inches from the throttle body and provide NO mesh to reduce the turbulence.

Now - you're NEVER going to find any aftermarket intake manufactured with any kind of mesh. BUT, you can find a short-ram intake that has the MAF sensor mounted on the end of the tube FARTHEST from the intake manifold and just cut out a piece of screen and cup it between the air filter and the tube and that will work just the same. I got an eBay generic short-ram intake and did this....never once detonated like the AEM CAI I had.

MY experience:

I had an AEM CAI on my 2003 Corolla and got HORRIBLE lean detonation from 1800-2800rpms if I was at 1/2-full throttle....ALWAYS. BAD BAD IDEA. It sounded great and I never got a CEL and my fuel economy actually went up 1-2mpg (surprise, huh?), but I sold it and returned to my stock intake. Detonation will bend conrods, burn exhaust valves, crown pistons, ruin spark plugs, score bearings, etc. For the record....name brand doesn't mean crap when it comes to intakes. It's all about that friggin MAF sensor...a tube is a tube - period.

Late,
Trav