i was referring to an intake like Bee R, injen, or fujita. not the z tube.

 

not bashing here, but you might as well save up for it

 

there are so many used intake setups you could buy for what you would spend on time and labor to rig up something

 

Use a muffler patch and some epoxy and cover the 2 resonator holes from inside. Rip off the canister that goes down into the engine bay and rip off the catch canister below the intake for even more z-tube like growl on WOT.

No need to spend more than 5 bucks if you want to work a little.

 

Well, I couldn't find anything last night on the site about making your own intake pipe, so my buddy and I figured what the heck, well make our own. Looked at the Zpipe in online pics, and thought what a rip off. Im not spending 50, 60, or 70 bucks on a piece of plastic.

Took the Gtube out, and took of the rubber connectors at either end. Took all three pieces to the store.

Found a thin walled 3 inch PVC pipe - its not the standard PVC pipe, but the sidewalls are about 1/2 as thick. Then we had to figure out how to make the connector for the vacuum hose (or whatever it is) that goes on the pipe.

Found a one end threaded 90 degree plastic pipe connector/elbow (Watts A394, 1/2" by 1/2") - drilled hole in pipe with a 3/4" drill bit - had to "wabble" drill a smidge to make it a hair bigger. We actually got the treaded elbow thing to cut its own threads into the pipe - It sealed itself adn is airtight, but the next time i take it out (to paint it - not gonna keep it white) im gonna put RTV around the bottom of it, just for added piece of mind. The red letters and words on teh white PVC pipe make for handy refernce points to cut the pipe to length, and to find the exact location for the nipple to be mounted for the air hose.

The zip tie is on there because the nipple is a smidge smaller than stock - Im gonna replace the squeeze clamp (it holds it, but its slightly loose) with a screw on hole clamp, when I take it out to paint it and change my spark plugs. I didn't have any handy last nigth when doing it. Im still in "testing mode"

And Im quite happy with the results! The car sounds awesome, I hear a growl at all RPM's now, but it is much louder above 4k or so. My NAV Fuel Economy meter (I know, woefully inaccurate) is showing actaully about 1.5 or 2mpg higher than it did before (i reset the avg MPG at every tank) - I have driven about 100 miles since putting it on last night, both highway and city driving (mainly city, but about 10 miles of 80 or so MPH on the Garden State Parkway), and it says 18.3mpg. Usually it would be about 16 or so. Again, thats on the NAV screen, I got gas last night and am curious what my mileage will be for this tank, both on the NAV screen and real MPG.

As a note though, my MPG's are always way different than each other, but all pathetic - I don't have a consisant driving method - sometimes a tank may be 100 percent highway, other times, it migth be 50/50 highway/city, other times, it might be 100 percent city. but i always keep a record of miles and gallons.

No Check Engine light, no whistling or anything from it, no problems at all. The one screw and corner of the intake just barely makes contact with the pipe, im going to get a metal strap to wrap around the pipe there when i take it out so the intake won't be making contact with the pipe.

The car does run slightly better - it seems to smooth out a smidge between the shifts, and jsut rev a little smoother and quicker

Say what you will, and yes, I can afford to spend the $$$$$ for the 'REAL" Z tube, (I just spent 1600 bucks on the NISMO complete - front, rear and sides body kit) but im smart with my money, and just because I can spend it, doesn't mean Im gonna. This whole thing, the pipe adn the nipple (a 10 foot piece of pipe, btw) cost 4 dollars. I already have a can of black spray paint, but if i didn't, that would cost me another 4 bucks. It took about a half hour to do (make 2 cuts in pipe, sand down plastic, adn drill hole for nipple) - the longest part was taking the damn stock pipe out!!! And it was a hell of a lot of fun as well!!!



So if you wanna try it, go for it, and the hell with everyone else, and you can have 46 more dollars in your pocket for beer and food and of course, other mods to the car!!!

 

stillen made a replica of the ztube for like 50 or 60 bucks..

actual ztube will run you about 75 bucks (brand new)

or just find a used one..

not worth the trouble of making a custom ztube..

just my two cents..