2016 Honda Civic 1.5T: Injen Cold Air Intake Adds 29 HP And 25 Lb-Ft
By Paulo Acoba
Injen Engineering just released their Cold Air Intake for the 2016 Honda Civic 1.5T and it adds some major power across the rev range.
For those who’ve bought your standard bolt-ons for naturally aspirated four-cylinder engines, it’s a colossal achievement to net more than 15 horsepower from any one singular modification. But Honda’s new Earth Dreams turbocharged motors changes that for fans of the brand. According to CivicX who broke the news earlier last week, it looks like veteran of the aftermarket industry, Injen Engineering, has released a cold air intake for the 2016 Honda Civic 1.5T that adds a whopping 29 HP and 25 lb-ft at peak power. Check out the dyno graphs below as well as their install video.
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The 2016 Honda Civic EX and EX-L equipped with the 1.5T is rated from the factory at 174 HP and 162 Lb-ft at the crank. Injen used their rolling dyno to come up with a stock power rating of 151 HP and 126 Lb-ft to the front wheels. Keep in mind that all dynos are different and are merely tools for measuring before and after data. After a couple of runs to get the new cold air intake acclimated to the dyno conditions, a final power number of 170 HP and 151 lb-ft was achieved at peak RPM. At that peak RPM, the L15B7 was putting out 29 HP and 25 Lb-ft more to the wheels.
Some critics of these results might cite the fact that Injen is merely inflating numbers to sell more intakes. If you look back to their 2012-2015 Honda Civic EX power gains, those intakes were making just 5 HP and 4 lb-ft, hardly discernable to your average Civic driver but by no means is Injen Engineering in the practice of claiming big gains from small motors.
It’s common knowledge that with stock turbocharged motors, there are large gains to be made from simple bolt-ons that free up restrictions put on by the factory to appeal to a wider audience. While your average Civic owner might prefer a quieter sounding intake and is satisfied with a stock setup, the enthusiast is willing to make power at the expense of increased engine noise.
And if you look at the area under the curve, there are significant gains in power through the entire rev range (not just at peak HP.)
According to the owner of the Civic whom Injen prototyped this intake from and who happened to pop up in the CivicX thread,
"The Civic you see in the video is actually mine. So far, have seen a great improvement in power. Loving it so far, only thing is if it rains, gotta be really careful since the filter is at the bottom, can’t get any water in it but easy to take off when it rains."
Retail for this intake will set you back $288 without shipping and handling. That’s a downright bargain for how much power you’ll be making. We predict this price may go lower as similar products from competitors aim to undercut each other on price. And more importantly, it’s power you can feel throughout the rev range.
More cars: Dynapack Confirmed: 2016 Honda Civic 1.5T CVT Makes 177 HP & 190 Lb-Ft
If this is the first indication of what potential these motors have with just a simple intake, we can’t wait to see what the aftermarket produces for other bolt-ons and hardware.