Hey guys. New here and my first read-through of the thread. I didn't see much about the comparison of this intake to the 3G Stillen system (on a G37 sedan rather than a G35). If I can get nearly the same performance as the Stillen for much less, I'm in!

Another big plus is if this is truely a bolt-on kit. The stillen requires some modification that I'd rather avoid if possible. I hear it can be a pain. This is my thinking, please feel free to correct if I'm wrong. If I don't have to pay for someone to install the kit, I'd rather get my hands dirty and do it myself, so long as I don't have to do anything stupid like remove a bumper or other hardware to access the area.

So in summary, if it's cheaper out the door, is plug-and-play, is dooable by a noob, and produces comparable power, what reason do we have to not jump on this right now? (...besides it not being polished, and having pretty intake covers like the Stillen :P)

 

Ruyken09,
It is a plug and play type, no hole enlargement of any kind needed . Stillen produces more HP at top end of rpm range. From the posted dyno chart, K&N produces no top end HP, but give you little more HP through out the range. You have to decide what you need.

 

Where is the spec for this kit?

 

quick, go to costco and get her some nice, and cheap bouquet. You can also get some wines and steak, then have a party.

 

The K&N actually produced about 5 HP at peak (289 HP vs. 294 HP). The figures at the bottom of the dyno chart show both post K&N figures, so you can't really look at those for comparison... You have to look at the blue line Vs. the red line in the chart.

Also, as I mentioned before, KulG35 gained about 6 - 7 peak HP on his car with just the K&N, so the gains will definitely vary from car to car.

 

No specs yet, as it is still in the design stages. I live about 10 miles from their shop, so I'm staying on top of this project. They're hoping to have the full kit ready to release sometime this Summer. I'll definitely post more info as it becomes available.

If you want to know more about Kraftwerks, you can go to their web-site here: http://cms.kraftwerksusa.com/

 

As Tex mentioned, teh K&N is a complete bolt on system... it uses all the factory mounting points and there is no modification required. It took me about 45 minutes to install mine, and I was in the parking lot of my local dyno shop at the time, so it's a pretty easy install (I give it a 2 or 3 on a difficulty scale of 1 - 10). The only thing that I don't like about the kit are the heat shields. They are really more there for looks than anything, as it doesn't really seal off the filters from the rest of the engine bay. I actually plan to complete the heat-shields myself, so they give a true cold air intake and then I will have a local shop duplicate them out of carbon fiber to match my engine cover eventually.

 

Thanks, guys. My next comment was goint to be about those heat shields. So it does appear that Stillen has the only effective cold air intake at this time. Oh well. I like your idea about fabricating them, 2GoRNot2G. Let me know how they turn out! I'd like 'em just in black plastic, so long as they work!

 

I take a look at their price for the s2000 kit, around $6k. It is going to be in that range for our engine. I remember the Vortech SC kit is selling around 3-4K for the VQ engine.

 

Yeah, I'm guesing the kit will be around $7K, but unlike the Vortech, it will come with the full UpRev software and full fuel control. I"m being told that it will also include a pretty large intercooler with the kit. Also, I would expect the Vortech kit for the HR motors to be quite a bit more because of all the extra piping that needs to be done with the dual throttle bodies. I'm sure the Vortec will still be the cheaper kit, so it may end up being the better option for some, but it's still a centrifugal style SC and I would never put a centrifugal style SC on my daily driver.

 

The included K&N heat shields are steel, so I plan to weld onto those to complete the cold air box and once I have a nicely sealed box for each intake, then I will use my fabricated heat shields as molds to have some nice carbon fiber duplicates made, so they'll look pretty too.

FYI... Injen probably has the best cold air intake for our cars, as it places the actual air intake points outside of the engine well... It is probably the most expensive intake, though.

 

ORLY? I thought I had heard that it's gains weren't very significant. Maybe I was mistaken... So what's the consensus on hp gain w/ Injen?

 

I don't think the gains with the Injen are any better, but they definitely pull in more cold air than most of the other designs, so heat soak will be less of a factor with them. Th main problem I have seen with the Injen's is that all of their gains are in the high rpm range, and not in the mid-range where the power is more usable on a daily basis. I've actually heard that some people have lost power in the mid-range with the Injen intake... This is most likely due to the long tube design of the Injen.

 

I tried ordering mine from the group buy website (still up) and said they had it in stock. I just hope it's truly in stock and not back ordered (like it is everywhere else).

 

hey Adrian, if you are fabricating Cf heat sheild, let me know I might be interested!