So it's possible that installing a better air intake alone or switching your muffler alone can potentially make the engine run incorrectly and backfire, but would installing both theoretically solve that problem? Or is finer tunings needed also? Obviously 2004 Honda Civic DX
I have not dont much work on exhaust but in theory yes .. the faster the air can escape the better it for exhaust.. problem with back preasure occurs is if the exhaust bends to much so you get swirling effect.
The same principles applies to intake.
You want a nice straight path to the front area of the car ...
Think of it as water flowing down a pipe and when it hits a corner one side speeds up other side slow down creating vortex which you want to avoid.
I have seen some people put corrugated intake pipes.
That my view
I agree with Klob,
Theoretically yes, but the car systems are much more complicated than that and any major modification (specially to the air intake) should be done with a good tuning, if you want the peak performance. Good luck.
To be clear, installing an intake or exhaust alone doesn't make your engine run better or worse. What could happen if you install an intake is you MAF getting oiled by the filter (in case of an oiled air filter). This could make the engine run poorly. What you also need to know is that, depending on your ECU type you might loose power. If you want any gains with air intake and/or exhaust, you have to get it tuned to work properly with those upgrades. Flammes coming out the exhaust could be a symptom of bad ECU behaviour.
@chrisf30
I’d you have cold intake, the more dense air gets in your engine, it makes your engine run better.
In theory yes, but in the real world it's an other story. Most cold air intake systems will shown little to no benefits when compared to an oem cold air intake.