is it possible to convert z-tube to cai?

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Jul 22, 2011 | 10:14 PM
  #1  
i hope i dont get flamed for this but i kinda miss the intake sound lol. so i was wondering if i could attach the cold air extension part of an intake to the maf and make it into a cai. then when i feel like it jus remove it when i wanna change it up. where would i find an extention you may ask? well i was thinking maybe buy those cheap cai on ebay for jus the cai part. anyone done this? and no i dont want the stillen
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Jul 22, 2011 | 10:30 PM
  #2  
Saywhat? What are you running now? Stock? You can buy a cai and remove the ztube and run a cai if that's what you are looking for...

Your question is really confusing, I don't know if it is because you don't really know how a cai is setup or just the wording...
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Jul 22, 2011 | 10:39 PM
  #3  
I already have the ztube and don't wanna waste the mod n was wondering if I can jus convert it. And yes I kno wat a Cai is. From all the pics I've seen the piece from the tb to maf is pretty much all the same. The Cai part starts from the maf down which from wat I could see it boltable so long I have a maf adapter..
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Jul 22, 2011 | 10:51 PM
  #4  
Quote: I already have the ztube and don't wanna waste the mod n was wondering if I can jus convert it. And yes I kno wat a Cai is. From all the pics I've seen the piece from the tb to maf is pretty much all the same. The Cai part starts from the maf down which from wat I could see it boltable so long I have a maf adapter..
Errr I'm sure you could ghetto rig some metal intake pipes or plastic material pieces to do so but you would have to just find stuff that works and make it work. Plus you would need a cone style filter to attach. You could get it to work for not a ton of money using your ztube still but it is going to be ghetto and likely frowned upon by most of the members on here.

Why do you want a cai? If you want noise you can go with something more like a popcharger while retaining your ztube and not having to piece together some frankenstein ish.
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Jul 23, 2011 | 12:25 AM
  #5  
Another Home Depot mod with 3" plastic drain pipe between your z-tube and the maf sensor unit. Two seleves and 4 clamps but why when there are nice intakes out there for your rides?
Gary
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Jul 23, 2011 | 01:51 AM
  #6  
Lol I was jus wondering. Cus they have cheap cais on eBay for like $50 so I figured I could jus use the 2nd half of the kit which would be the piece that goes from the maf down. So I don't have a full on heat soaking metal intake. And I've always liked cais vs Sri.
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Jul 23, 2011 | 02:03 AM
  #7  
The stock intake is already cold air. It gets fresh air straight from the grill and the entire piping is sealed under the hood. It's also plastic which doesn't retain as much heat as an aluminum CAI.
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Jul 23, 2011 | 09:41 AM
  #8  
Quote: Lol I was jus wondering. Cus they have cheap cais on eBay for like $50 so I figured I could jus use the 2nd half of the kit which would be the piece that goes from the maf down. So I don't have a full on heat soaking metal intake. And I've always liked cais vs Sri.
That's why Stillen made theirs with plastic composit to keep from having heat soak along with a giant K&N filter to allow more incoming cool air....forgot you don't like Stillen.
Gary
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Jul 23, 2011 | 11:21 AM
  #9  
Quote: Lol I was jus wondering. Cus they have cheap cais on eBay for like $50 so I figured I could jus use the 2nd half of the kit which would be the piece that goes from the maf down. So I don't have a full on heat soaking metal intake. And I've always liked cais vs Sri.
You can, but like I said before you probably wont get much support for it on here. Also getting it on ebay is hit or miss because you'll never know if it is making the correct angles we need for our car until you buy it. Could work, but could also just be a total waste of $$.
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Jul 23, 2011 | 12:59 PM
  #10  
Why not just get a pop-charger?
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Jul 23, 2011 | 01:10 PM
  #11  
Why not buy a CAI and sell the Z-Tube in the Marketplace? Whatever you do, don't just rig something up. At best you'll only be as good as a regular CAI. At worst you'll be sucking hot air in from the engine compartment and/or restricting your airflow and losing power. Or messing up something expensive like your MAF.

If you were an engineer and had an idea for a better intake, that's one thing. But just trying to save $100 is a bad reason to mess with something so important to the car's performance.
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Jul 23, 2011 | 04:06 PM
  #12  
Get the K&N, which can be ran as an SRI in bad weather. The OEM Rev-up box alters the sound of the intake also. It's a bit more pronounced, I will record mine and post it.
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Jul 24, 2011 | 12:08 AM
  #13  
I didn't wanna waste the ztube n wanted to utilize it. I was looking at the aem Cai n from the tb to maf it looks jus like the ztube. Keeping the ztube would also prevent some heat soak. The only part I really need is the actual Cai part to convert it imo. Btw I'm familiar with wat intake options I have jus wanted to be a little cheap n creative at the same time. I jus miss the intake sound I had when I had a nismo Cai on my altima lol.
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Jul 24, 2011 | 08:58 AM
  #14  
As another person said, the tube wouldn't be wasted if you sell it in the marketplace
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Aug 5, 2011 | 04:01 PM
  #15  
so i took the plunge and ordered a nismo cai. on g35parts.com theyre only selling it for $233 which is the cheapest ive found and a pretty damn good price compared to everywhere else. its even cheaper than aem and better cus it comes with the bypass valve and comes black, which is wat i want. for the aem cai u have to buy the bypass seperately which is another $45 (yikes!).

so ima jus add the cai section to the ztube so i dont have heat soak. im aware of the whole intake mod so please dont lecture me about its performance on the g35 ive done my research. im jus doing it for the sound mostly and as long as performance aint negatively affected much im happy. plus i have a plenum spacer so it should help.

jus miss the intake sound and kinda dont like the NA sound where the engine sounds like its going to explode when i WOT lol kno wat i mean? some people like that sound tho but i dont.

btw the intake is pretty much not costing me much at all because of the discover card promo i posted in the other thread lol heres the link if anyones interested

https://g35driver.com/forums/lounge-...ack-promo.html
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