And the winner is... tie?

I went to Sound Performance in Bloomingdale, IL today for a dyno run of both intakes on my 5AT G35 Coupe.



First was the Stillen intake/Z-tube (short ram), the result was 238 WHP.


After the 2 runs, the guys at SP were nice enough to let me use some space in their shop to swap my intakes.



Now, the AEM... 238 WHP?????


Yep, as you can see, there are no difference between the two intakes. So whichever you choose to go with, you should get good results.



A couple of notes on today's test...

* The Stillen intake is brand new and the AEM has a new filter (the new dry synthetic version - which is supposed to be better then regular filters)

* This is the reslut of a 5AT. The 6MT, may get higher results.

* Because I had a 5AT, there was no way I could get an accurate torque specs (hence why the dyno graphs do not show torque) But it is my belief that the torque difference between the Stillen and AEM will be little if any.

*My 5AT also had the following breather mods equiped: Stillen cat-back exhaust, Crawford high-flow cats and Crawford plenum.

So there you have it... cold air or short ram makes no difference when it comes to dyno measured power. However, I should mention this: When I was driving to SP on the expressway I had the Stillen equiped. On the way back, the AEM. The Stillen intake had a slightly better response then the AEM.

Thanks again to Mike, Jerry, and the rest of the guys at Sound Performance for their help!!


You can check out Sound performance at: http://www.sound-performance.com/index.html
Phone# 630-893-5002

 

Very interesting results. I'd like to see the same kind of test done on a revup motor. From what I've seen, the torque curve gets all squirly with traditional CAI's.

Regardless, the CAI showed some decent gains in the high end. But you said the stillen seemed more responsive, which makes sense if you look at your comparison charts. The stillen made more of a difference in the mid range it looked like.

Cool test BTW. I love crap like this.

 

Hmmm . . . Can't wait for my Stillen Hi-Flow set-up to get here.

 

Thanks for the review. I have the stillen and have been happy with it. Your dyno runs look like I made the right choice.

 

thanks for posting man!!

 

Did you put a fan to your car to simulate the car moving at speed? You can't accurately test a true CAI on a dyno... when your car picks up and starts to move, you will get cold air moving towards the intake, giving it a true ram air effect. That's when it'll make a difference. Otherwise, it'll work the same as any short ram intake, if not worse because of it's longer piping. Nice try though... I'd like to see the Stillen go up against other short rams. I doubt there's much of a difference there.

 

With all the mods you've made I'm supprised you
didn't make this move sooner. Now you'll really
notice a diffrence that your MD unit makes.

 

Thanks JC79G35. This is the way you do it!!!!! Head to head. Never mind this other crap " Yeah it rocks" Compared to what???? You try any other???? Or my Fav...... "Sounds Awesome" WTF It's not a stereo!!! Thanks man, we need more of this at this site. No circle jerk for me thank you. A+ to you!!!!!

 

How did that compare to stock?

 

Ram air effect? Hogwash. Any engineer worth a damn knows that the bumper area, especially the lower portion, is one of the worst pressure zones on a car. You're not going to be finding any "ram air" with a CAI.

If you want a CAI with a ram air effect, keep the stock intake because it does exactly that. It's sealed off from the engine bay and becomes pressurized at speed. The Stillen and every single other intake on the market losses the pressure effect. BTW, the stock airbox can flow more than enough air for the VQ35. I thought it was common knowledge on this site that the aftermarket intakes were basically noise makers and nothing else. Every dyno I've seen on this site and my350Z seems to show that too.

 

I've not seen any dynos to support this, though admittedly I've not seen overwhelming evidence to the contrary either. However, I've seen plenty of empirical evidence to suggest that intakes like the stillen and jwt actually make some power.

There are plenty of z's that are trapping at 103 with nothing more than a jwt cone filter. What did these guys trap stock? I don't know. But, there's a local guy that was doing low 14's at 101 in his stock 04 6mt z. He put the jwt on, and his next trip netted him a 13.7@103. Some of that is better driving, but conditions(at least from his mouth) were nearly identical. To me, that's pretty powerful evidence.

 

Ammendment:

I highly doubt that the stock airbox creates any type of ram air effect. The airbox housing has the "power duct" that seems pretty useless. I actually think this region is pretty much sealed off when the hood is closed. But, just like the light in the fridge problem, we'll never know.

One reason I believe this, is that when I examine my air filter, the dirt gathers horizontally, across the filter striations. This tells me that the majority of the airflow is coming from the duct mounted centrally above the radiator.

Now, if we want to get technical(not my area of expertise), I think someone needs to contact Jim Wolf himself and post his words here. I have heard second-hand that supposedly Jim Wolf has observed a vacuum in the intake tract under load, until certain speeds were reached. I can't remember the exact details, including the speed. And that information is second-hand. But I have no reason to doubt said information, and if true, this should disabuse anyone of the belief that the stock airbox is adequate.

 

wow thanks for clearing things up...........next time someone posts a thread about this im jst going to show them this one!!!!! good job

 

who would have guess? thanks for the post.... the injen one looks good in your engine bay....

 

If you or your wife get a Stillen or JWT intake, post the results after going to the track. You know how to drive your car better than most.

Honestly though, I don't see how adding an intake will take you from lower 14s@101 to 13.7s@103mph. That would indicate a gain of about 30whp. I think it's a case of better driving and conditions. Both you and your wife have improved your times by well over .7 seconds 5-6mph by simply learning how to drive the car and finding better conditions to run in. It makes a huge difference as you know.