There are a few intake systems I considered when we approached this upgrade early on in the modding process for our FK8 shop car. To be honest, the Eventuri is an absolute unit and should not be looked past. I almost went that direction but the PRL is more suited for what we're trying to do with the car. With a full custom airbox, a smooth, radiused entry into the MAF housing, and so many already tried and true units on the road, this decision wasn't that hard.
The PRL intake is the most popular intake system for the Honda Civic Type R, both 10th and 11th gen. Relatively speaking, it's somewhat easy to make an intake system, which is part of the reason why so many exist for any given car. What's not easy is making a good intake system. Too much of how a car performs has to do with how well the intake system and the MAF sensor jive in these modern fuel injected cars. It's easy to get it wrong, it's hard to make it perfect. PRL took the road less traveled and gifted the community with an intake worthy of your hard earned money.
But it's not our style to tell you to "take our word for it". We sort of know what to expect, but we want to show you, not tell you.
Feel free to skip this part if you already know. This is for someone who hasn't been there, done that. We all sort of know an intake is where 99% of builds start that are focusing on getting more power. It's usually an easy install, there are plenty to choose from, and it's not really a full commitment type of part. You can easily reverse course or just stop there and still be satisfied.
The concept of an intake is to give you more power and support future modifications, plain and simple. So if you're after more power, it's a great place to start. The PRL intake does that by way of upgrading the filter to a higher flowing version, radius the inlet edge right before the MAF sensor to promote smoother and more airflow, and building a box around it all to separate the hot engine air from the area the intake is pulling from. Cooler, denser air is better. More air = more power. Aside from that, you get to hear your whirly boi (turbo) a little better, which is all gravy.
The absolute biggest reason why the Type R needs one if more power is your goal, is because in stock trim, the car has the ability to be tuned and reach the peak of how far the MAF sensor can read in COMPLETELY STOCK TRIM (FK8s are a bigger problem than FL5. Frequency output MAF is used on FL5, extending the range of the sensor). No bolt-on parts are necessary to reach the limit of the MAF sensor range. What this means is, if you want to turn up the boost and let it rip, you need to allow the MAF sensor to read more air within its 5 volt reading limit. I'm not getting into the details on that here. Just know you need a larger diameter MAF housing if you're going to make about 350whp or more - not hard to do on a Type R. There is an alternative to this by way of a new MAF sensor unit from Hondata that's calibrated differently and can still utilize a stock size MAF housing. But if you're getting a new intake, my theory is to spend the money once and just get a MAF housing that will extend the range of the stock MAF sensor, which is exactly what the PRL Intake with a Race MAF option does.
All this said, you can have plenty of fun without upgrading the intake. I'm not trying to scare you into getting an intake. In fact, it takes a particular set of circumstances to actually reach that MAF cut. We've reached it when it was fairly cold out and the density altitude was at sea level or even lower. It also typically happened for us most often at around 6800 rpms. If it's a hot summer day, it probably won't ever reach that limit with stock turbo. If you never go WOT to redline (😏), you probably don't need to worry about it. But we're modding for a reason, you know?
No, you cannot just bolt on the Race MAF version. Yes, you can just bolt-on the Street MAF version. But if you plan to sneak up on 400whp or just blow right through it with a bigger turbo setup, you'll need the Race MAF.
In order for the larger MAF housing to be used, the ECU needs to know how much air is coming into the engine, which is based on the relationship between the MAF sensor calibration and the housing size. Recalibrating the ECU file containing this information is a requirement. You're basically telling the ECU what the new amount of air is based on how much voltage the MAF is showing. The 3 easiest ways to do that is through a Cobb AccessPort, Hondata FlashPro, or KTuner device, all of which plug straight into the car and rewrite the stock ECU files to make this all happen.
If you plan on using a stock MAF housing and never approach high enough power levels to max out the MAF sensor, you can really put it on whenever you want. If you'd rather hear some nice rumble from the exhaust first and you're not tuned yet. Go for it. Even if you want to tune and use a basic, off-the-shelf map, you're fine with the stock intake. Even if you get a custom ECU tune with an intercooler, downpipe, exhaust, and even flexfuel, you can do all that with a stock intake. But you just have to keep it in a happy at the top of the RPM range, where the MAF has the ability to max out. If you keep the boost lower up there, you'll be fine.
We don't want to purposely keep the boost lower. We never intend on being negligent, but in the case of the Type R, getting to the MAF limit doesn't necessarily suggest you're being negligent. It doesn't take much to get there.