Cold air intake worth the bother?
 

I saw one at fabspeed for 225 and one at vertex on sale for 99

(for 02 996)

It usually depends on where the "upgraded" system gets its air, compared to where the OEM system gets it. A lot of the "upgrades" are just open cone filters in the engine bay that suck in heated engine air. I good cold air system ducts cool, fresh air. That said, I don't know beans about how the 02 996 usually gets its air.

It's ducted in through the engine lid, so outside fresh air. Agree that the cone filters sucking up heated engine bay air are less efficient than the stock fresh air system, and basically useless.

X3. Intaking hot engine bay air does you no favors.

It will impress the ricer crowd and may impact intake sound. As mentioned, it needs to draw in "cold" air to be most effective. I'd vote for saving your money for when something goes wrong, like the ignition switch ;)

I have a nice cone filter on one of the 964 will be replacing it as soon as I can

I have that on my '02. Agree that cones suck. But this "cold air intake" kit is not a cone. All it consists of, is a silicone hose and a block-off piece.

The factory air box has a huge long air filter, but the motor only uses half of it. If the restriction gets to be too much, a spring plate opens and it can use the other half.

The fabspeed cold air kit simply eliminates the spring plate thingie, the airbox sound muffler, and replaces the factory corrugated plastic hose with a smooth silicone one. It allows the motor to breathe through the entire surface area of the air filter, all of the time.

You're welcome to come take a look at mine if you want to see it.

That's what I don't get. If Porsche could get more power out of the engine by using 100% of the filter 100% of the time, wouldn't they do that? What's the trade off?

Actually on 996 /997 they do work but make more noise too. P sells cars all over the world and as a relatively small company often makes cars to meet the highest standards. It's the Swiss, hat the Swiss!

Edzachary. Engine noises are amplified a bit above stock with these kits. IMO 996 is too quiet from the factory, so a bit more engine noise is a welcome "side effect".