I have an 03 sedan with an Injen CAI and am getting a Kurookie bumper soon... I am not sure if this would be at all beneficial or worth pursuing but I think it could be interesting.

Basically I was wondering if this would work:

I would make the bumper have some kind of airbox where the intake cone is, (not exactly sure how I would do this yet, I might actually attach a piece of aluminum to the Z speed aluminum underbody panel) Then I would use the OEM ram air collector, and attach that to the top of the underpanel / bottom of bumper, and then put piping from the ram air to the intake

No idea if this would work, I wouldnt pursue it unless I knew it would be beneficial and had a sturdy, clean looking design in mind. I have attached my rough idea, with the vertical green line being the piece of aluminum, and red being the CAI that I have and the OEM air collector + piping

I know how ridiculous this looks, I wont do it unless it looks better and actually makes a difference, I dont really know how air flow works

Any feedback would be appreciated! Whether this is a stupid idea that I should ditch all together, or if a different kind of air collector would work better, or I should add something to make it work! I want to know :P

 

PM me if you are in Socal...I offer this product to locals.

 

It won't make a difference. The stock system becomes pressurized at speed because the setup sits in a high pressure point and is sealed off from the engine bay. By going with a CAI you'll loose the factory pressurization effect.

CAIs and most any other aftermarket intake are pretty much worthless on this motor and could result in a loss of power. Numerous dynos have shown the stock intake is the best setup for power, driveability, and MPG. It's great to think outside of the box, but in this case, the modification is not going to improve performance.

SxExCx's intake modification is probably as far as you need to go and shouldn't negatively impact performance.

 

I already have the CAI lol so thats not going to change, Im wondering if this addition will contribute to the CAI

I bought the CAI before I was a member of this forum, and was completely willing to believe the claimed + 10 hp numbers, now I dont but I dont really regret the purchase because my engine bay looks better now, the sound at WOT is musical, and I like the hiss the intake makes when I go WOT or change gears

 

It won't help. The CAI piping tends to heat soak badly which heat soaks the MAF sensor and ultimately the MAF wires. The current position the CAI pulls in stagnent heated air from the bumper, near the radiator. The system you're proposing would pull in heated air off the road (spring and summer). Additionally, the funnel would have to be of a design that can handle highway speed air without creating turbulence at the funnel.

I'd strongly reconsider the CAI unles you have no issues with the CAI sucking out 5 to 10whp from your motor. Seems a bit silly to loose power just for induction noise. If you're dead set on the sound, you could simply remove the Powerduct cover from the OEM airbox and put a big piece of foam around the opening to seal off the airbox from the under hood heat. Removing the Powerduct cover results in a significant increase in induction noise.

 

Ive seen multiple dynos that just show no gain in power, Ive never seen an actual loss in power from the addition of a CAI on the G

 

After some more research, now Im considering switching to the Stillen Airbox

 

^^ My tuning shop offered me some reassurance, definitely staying with the injen now:

"Injen intakes are good – I wouldn’t worry about them not making power. There is lot of speculation on the internet about intakes and most of it is untrue. We actually run an Injen intake on our racecar!"

 

Consider your source of information. There are very few "shops" I trust. A few years back, one of the major Japanese road mags had a spread on some road race G35 coupes and 350Zs. The VQ35s in these cars were built to varying degrees with many making over 300whp. Only two out of the 10 or so cars had aftermarket intakes. The remaining 8 had OEM intakes. That tells you something right there.

Also, have you looked at the Dynoing the Myth Out of Intake Mods thread yet? The Injen intake saw a pretty significant loss in power in the low and midrange. Not until the last 500rpms or so, did it make any gains. A gain over the last 500rpms will do nothing for performance. The gains must be realized for the entire powerband for it to improve performance. The Injen saw a loss of over 10whp/10wtq from 2000rpms to nearly 6000rpms. That's going to slow the car down.

https://g35driver.com/forums/intake-...s-results.html

http://xbcustoms.com/Rob/intakedyno.htm

The end result of the intake test showed, once again, stock is best for most NA applications. The OEM can flow WAY more air that the VQ can suck in. While not terribly sexy looking, it's not a bottle neck. If intakes were bottle necks and made legit gains, Motordyne would have made one years. Tony at MD recommends not using them based on his own R&D experience (he has an in-house dyno).

 

Dave always has the info that is needed. i am now selling my Pop Charger

 

That test is using the Injen SRI though, not the CAI, and this is my shops car, I think I trust them, since they managed to make their NA 350Z have over 320 whp with their own parts...lol
I do have vast respect for the guy that did that dyno, and Tony at Motordyne, I see where you are coming from, but when I look at those results, the Injen SRI (not CAI like what I have) had an average loss of 2 whp and 3 ft lbs, thats like 1% of the 189 avg hp it has. Since mine is the CAI and not the SRI, I would expect the average horsepower numbers to be a bit better then that, and the avg torque to be around the same or maybe a bit lower. Not that Im greatly lacking torque, as I have no trouble leaving long skidmarks when I hammer the gas. Its not clear where you are getting the 10 whp/10tq numbers from though

Would I do it again?

Not sure, it cost me a fair bit but I do love the induction noise, that whistle when I change gears, and how it looks under the hood

Am I going to change it now?

No, I am going forced induction at some point so this doesnt have to be perfect. It needs to put a smile when I pop the hood, or go WOT, which it certainly does.

 

I was under the impression that they used a custom intake that feeds into a custom intake manifold, topped off by a tune.

That's far different that throwing on a CAI and calling it a day.

From now on it should be CAI + Tune as a necessity, not just a recommendation.

 

They do have a custom manifold, which is another one of their impressive fabricated parts, but I dont think they customized their intake, they dont mention it on their ride specs: http://my350z.com/forum/garage/2003-...89-SGSash.html

+I am getting my car tuned in the near future, once my headers and HFCs are on, Im going to get an Osiris tune from Uprev.

Also, keep in mind that the Injen CAI uses the stock MAF housing, and shouldn't cause it to run lean

 

Yeah, for some reason I always thought they ran a custom intake that was either 3" or 3.5". Either way, I think they had it hooked up to a ported throttle body before the new manifold. They also tune all of their mods, it's never a stock tune + a part. The tune will change everything, but I think the main point is that throwing on an intake and doing nothing else won't yield gains.

Moreover, there are a lot of crap intakes that don't incorporate a velocity stack, expose the filter element to excessive engine bay heat, or use too small of a filter. In theory, a good intake would make power with a tune, many of the Mustang CAI kits require one, but just throwing it on the stock tune might not be the best idea.

 

What do you mean by stock tune? The way that the car adapts to the intake?