great job on the cutting and fitment

 

I don't think it's forcing air to the intake either. I have one on the way, I know more when I get it. I didn't want one for the intake. I want it because of the diversion to the radiator.
Air also enters the intake from beneath the car, depending on your intake system. I have the Stillen which has a duct at the grill (we'll see how that's affected by the plate) and a port through the bottom of the Stillen box. Since my system is enlcosed, I'm not too concerned with the "stagnant" air. Besides, the "stagnant" air is only at a stop. Not to start a air flow discussion in this thread, but the air is cycled out of the engine bay rather fast at speed, if not by the flow through the grill, under the engine, ducting, etc. then by the intake system.

 

I still don't believe in this mod as being anything beneficial performance-wise, and is mostly for aesthetics. I say this for two reasons:

1) The intake above the radiator really only funnels air into the intake when the car is moving.....and when the car is moving linearly, without this plate installed, how would this "warm" air from the radiator migrate into the intake that is directly above it, if you're driving forward at a high rate of speed?

2) Even if the plate does function and prevent warm air from entering this intake, I really don't see how you can feel a difference or measure this performance.... I say this because of one of the marketing ads for the '07 G sedan.... There is a magazine ad where they market the dual intakes, and state that they've positioned them out away from the radiator, away from the warm air..."resulting in an additional 3 horsepower", and claim this is "free horsepower"...... Well clearly this HP is @ the fly...and when translated to the wheels, doesn't amount to anything.

Truly an aesthetic mod IMHO..... Though I'm curious for someone to prove the gains w/ this mod in the form of a dyno or the like.

 

There will be no gaines, period. The only bnefit is possibly cooler radiator temps. Realistically, it is a decorative piece only.

 

I can assure you that air that's coming in through the bottom of your intake is not what you want. That air is coming from a very hot radiator. By having the plate in place, the only real source of moving air will be that hot air from the radiator. At a stop, the issue is only compounded. I've done tests with the datalogger with three different types of stock intake setups, two of which emmulate the POP/Stillen style intakes. Intake #1 was the OEM setup, intake #2 had the Power Duct cover removed, and intake #3 had the Power Duct and intake snorkel removed. At a stop for 30 to 60 second on a 60 degree night, intake #1 saw an increase in intake temps by about 20 degrees. Intake #2 and #3 saw increases of 40 to 60 degrees over ambient. Just imagine the difference on a 80+ degree day. Now imagine punching the car from a stop. The ECU is going to see 120 degree intake temps therefore it will retard timing and add fuel to cool the combustion chamber. That's why these intakes feel super laggy around town in warm weather. At the track, this brief lag could be mean the difference between running a 14.3 and a 14.5.

 

You don't think, but you also assume? Youre either a wise man or just like the decorative piece of metal?

I'm guessing that not many people will see under my hood, and when they do, it won't look pretty with extra uselessness under the hood... sorry just my $.02

 

 

I think it will look better than the cheap-o plastic/ABS material. As to whether I am wise or like or decorative metal...I like shiny metal. I don't expect any performance gains, though better flow to the radiator would be nice. Extra usleness doesn't bother me, no apology needed for for your $.02.

 

I don’t often agree with DaveB but in this case I do... I can’t see how sealing off airflow to the intake through the grill is going to help. I have done a bit of tweaking to keep intake temps low - this mod seems to completely defeat that purpose.

 

I still believe the OEM w/ K&N set up is the best scenario over the POP charger (with the exception of CAI). It is because the OEM filter box system is closed off from the engine completely. The engine is basically a vacuum. When you step on the gas, the engine will "suck" the air from the external surface of the filter. With the OEM system, the only place is in front and on top of the radiator. The air does warm up before going into the filter due to the warmness of the filter box. It is better than the POP system because the heat shield of the POP charger does not cover the cone filter completely.

And btw, I checked on the weather seal, it is actually sit on top of the center snorkel instead of in front of it.

 

I see your and raise you a

 

As Dave B said, The plate cut-off the fresh air that was meant to go into the OEM front air dam from the front grill. It looks neat but will hurt performance.

These fresh air will be forced to go into radiator & will make it slightly cooler,
for a NA car, it's useless. For a FI car, may be useful as it may have an over heating coolent due to Intercooler blocking coolent in most FI applications.

 

I painted mine and the first finished one!!

 

^^that looks hawt

 

^^that looks hawt