For $1.99 WHY NOT!

The Stillen Cold air intake is essentially a well shrouded pop-charger. It utilizes several of the stock ram air intake components to supply the filter cold ram air when the vehicle is moving at a good speed. But as many on this board have noticed, the box is not totally sealed from the engine compartment and is likely to ingest a significant amount of warm air from the hot engine compartment. The cold air box conforms quite well to the contours of the engine compartment to block out the majority of hot air, but if you have one your self you can see that it is anything but a good seal. Unless the car is moving at a moderate to high speed, the MAF is likely to ingest a mix of both cold ram air and hot air from the engine compartment.

Fortunately, the seal can be significantly improved upon with about $1.99 worth of foam pipe insulation from the local hardware store.

2004 G35 6MT Blk/Blk Sedan Stillen Air, Stillen Exhaust

303204-foam stick.jpg

With the foam pipe insulation cut and fit to form around the circumference of the cold air box, the leak path betweent the filter and engine compartment is almost entirely sealed off. The only remaining flow path to the intake is through the ram air ducts.


2004 G35 6MT Blk/Blk Sedan Stillen Air, Stillen Exhaust

303205-Stillen cold box with foam.jpg

Be sure to purchase the foam pipe insulation with the "Peel and Seal" adhisive, but do not use the sealant untill you have first done a pre fit check with the air box fully installed in the engine compartment.

2004 G35 6MT Blk/Blk Sedan Stillen Air, Stillen Exhaust

303206-Peal and Seal.jpg

Be aware the foam insulation will cause the cold air box to have a snug fit when first installed and may cause misalignjment of the bolt holes. Gently push the box back into alignment and drop in the bolts. After a few days the foam insulation will relax and conform.

2004 G35 6MT Blk/Blk Sedan Stillen Air, Stillen Exhaust

303211-cold box with foam installed.jpg

And that's all it takes to keep the hot air out of your cold air box.
Tony

2004 G35 6MT Blk/Blk Sedan Stillen Air, Stillen Exhaust<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by Hydrazine on 07/18/04 10:17 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

303213-Stillen cold box with foam 2.jpg

Hmm looks good!! How do you like it? Im finding out a lot of things about my injen that I dont like, such as maybe HP and TQ loss ont he top end which ive noticed and wondered why? I might switch for that.


Martin
2003.5 BS G35
Nismo Aero/Sport Package
Injen CAI
B+G Springs
ADR M-Classic 19's..

NIce mod.... it can only help....

I wish you had an ECU scanner and could have reported the intake temps before and after.

From the picture it looks like your a/c line is unprotected and looks as if it can rub against the MAF sensor when the car is on. Could just be the angle, but just informing you.

2003 6MT Laser Red Coupe, Premium, Chrome 18's, JWT Pop Charger, Z Tube- Going BYE BYE
Say hello 2005 Subaru WRX STI Obsidian Black Pearl =D

Calculate the surface area on the pop charger [as if it was pulled straight out, all the peaks and valleys ironed flat.

Then do the same thing to the oem paper filter.
Pleat depth thickness.

You will be surprise a which has the most surface area for filtration.........yes oil cotton is a tiny bit better flowing per square inch but not enough to over come the defect in area.

Anyway, I promote the < $20 Radio Shack wire [20'] outside digital thermometer [with high low memory] with plastic probe, as an excellant accurate way to measure temps.
Run the wire inside car thru window and drive in all situations.......don't be surprised if the injested air temp is 5-7F hotter even at 60 mph [car in front exhaust+ road heat].

I'll bet an engineering team spent a month designing oem air box.

Interesting mod, I'll try it out. Thanks.

I would say that cotton is a more than a 'tiny bit' better flowing than paper...at LEAST 1CFM per sq. in. Pleated K&N filter material will flow 6.03 cfm of air per square inch. By comparison, a single square inch of the highest flowing paper will allow 4.95 cfm of air to pass and the freest flowing foam will flow 4.38 cfm.

The following is taken from the K&N site:

Paper vs K&N

By comparison, paper filters are made from compressed fibers. The spaces between these fibers provide microscopic holes the air must pass through. One by one, these holes become plugged with dirt and dust particles. Once a hole becomes plugged, the air must find an alternate route through the medium. As the filter collects more dirt, its resistance to air flow increases because there are fewer and fewer holes left open and as restriction goes up, horsepower and fuel economy go down. But to meet minimum filtration standards, the paper must be thick and/or the fibers must be tightly compressed and dense. Therefore paper elements that provide adequate filtration are restrictive to air flow by design. Any paper element that could flow as much air as an equivalent K&N would not provide safe filtration. Additionally, as a paper filter becomes more and more clogged, the pressure inside the filter drops while the atmospheric air pressure (approximately 14.6 psig at sea level) outside the filter remains the same. It's like using your lungs to draw the air out of a plastic milk bottle. When the pressure differential becomes too great, the bottle will collapse. The same thing could happen to your paper filter, although it is unlikely. But what will happen could be just as severe. An excessively high pressure differential created by a restricted filter can literally pull dirt particles through the paper medium. In other words, the performance of a paper filter, i.e. air flow through the filter and its ability to protect your engine decreases near the end of its service interval.

The K&N air filter is somewhat more complex. The unique design features an oiled cotton fabric which holds airborne dirt particles. These dirt particles cling to the outside of the filter and actually become part of the filtering media. The cotton fabric is sandwich between pleated aluminum screen. Pleating increases surface area which in turn promotes air flow and prolongs service intervals. Pleating exposes five times the surface area compared to a flat element like foam.

The dirt particles collected on the surface of a K&N element have very little effect on air flow because there are no small holes to clog. Particles are stopped by crisscrossed cotton fibers and held in suspension by the oil. As the filter begins to collect debris, an additional form of filter action begins to take place because air must first pass through the dirt particles trapped on the surface. That means the filtration efficiency of a K&N element actually increases as the filter collects dirt. Tests have shown a K&N E-1500 filter will flow 60 percent of its maximum flow capacity after 50,000 miles of street use. And, considering a new K&N flows half again as much air as a comparable paper element, that same filter will provide all of the air the engine needs even after 50,000 miles.

Conversely, dirt trapped by a paper element will impregnate the fibers which will impede air flow at a proportional rate. In other words, performance decreases dramatically as a paper element gets dirty. At the service interval, say 14,000 miles, air flow through a paper element can decrease as much as 70 percent. The efficiency of K&N's oiled cotton gauze medium has been proven time and time again. The condition of the filter can be monitored with a vacuum gauge. The vacuum reading increases as the filter nears its service interval. A high vacuum reading means the filter is dirty and needs to be serviced. Some trucks have logged over 100,000 miles with no loss in air flow as reported by the service technicians. Again this is due in part because a clean K&N filter will flow half again as much air as a comparable paper element.

A K&N will provide superior filtration without sacrificing air flow for a longer period of time-PERIOD.

'04 G35X Graphite/graphite, NAV, wood, premium

the service dept told me that the OEM paper element has some sort of special chemical on it that helps it filter. dont know if its true as i have no faith in the dealership anymore, but does anyone on this board know if its true?

G35s6mt/TSecu/350Z Springs&Struts/K&Nfilter+Z-tube/StillenDualExhaust /6WireGroundKit/KinetixHighFlow

That may be right, it's been a while but I remember when I installed my Stillen airbox, the stock filter felt a bit "oily" I'm not sure what exactly the special chemical is though.

I wonder if Stillen ever calculated whether "Ram Air" was even a factor. Here's a great link to understand what Ram Air really is and how it can or cannot help our cars.

http://www.chrysler300club.com/uniq/.../ramtheory.htm

2004.5 Coupe/5AT/Ivory/Everything but front spoiler/Nismo CAI/Crawford V5/Crawford Cats

After all the prior talk about AC lines being damaged from after market air systems I checked that area very closely and the MAF on my car is at least 0.5" away from the AC line.

2004 G35 6MT Blk/Blk Sedan Stillen Air, Stillen Exhaust