I am a new Maxima owner and have already caught the 'mod' bug. I am looking at the different options for replacing the stock air intake and have a few questions. Are the gains justified by the prices of each (K&N filter --> POP charger --> Cold Air Intake). I dont think I'll be attempting a CAI install quite yet, so that leaves the other two for me. Does a Pop charger come w/ a K&N filter, or does it use its own proprietary system? Does an OEM replacement K&N filter improve air flow / performance to an appreciable degree? I'd like comments from those who have chosen any of these. Thanks alot.

well since you eliminated then you have the 2 choices...POP...it's a conical filter that replaces your airbox and not the whole system...great price per performance gaines...the JWT can be had from courtesy nissan in texas at a good price...the K&N panel filter will improve air flow slightly but you won't see too much of a performance increase....i'd go with the POP charger...

I second the POP, I have a stillen filter kit which is similar. I bought mine used and it was one of the best $50 I spent. Power is noticeable, and the sound......it makes you wanna turn the stereo off and rev your engine to 5 1/2 K to hear it. Expect 4-5 high end HP with this; CAI maybe gives you 2-3 HP over the POP mostly due to the air straightening effect of the long pipe.

Don't bother with the panel filter replacement. Go for the POP or the CAI. I tried the filter replacement only to remove it as the MAF couldn't cope. You need to modify the standard airbox so you might as well go for the POP anyway. I would suggest trying to duct some cold air up to the POP as well.

Brent

Re: K&N Filters - Part 2 q45tech
(52/M/Atlanta, GA) 2/7/01 5:32 am
You have to understand that we sell the pop charger for Q/J/G and have for the past 5 years, having over 50 of our clients cars so equipt.
Every 3k-15k or sooner we see these cars for service and every 30k they get a throttle body clean $59 [plus a recommended filter wash, clean, and reoil for K&N] for which they are charged $29 + $4.50 =$33.50 for cleaning.
We see the dirty water/intakes and expend the time [more than 1 hour to properly dry oil/ filter]. Plus spraying [brake cleaner] the dirt from the MAF screen and elements.
Now we make about $50 selling snd installing the unit and generate another $100 in gross revenue per 100,000 miles helping to keep it clean so $60x50 = $3,000 in profit [big deal?].
But aside from the extra noise which is why most people run the unit, there is little if any HP to be gained. Plus a potential for instability and power loss in Summer heat.
A few years back air flow test were run to try to find more power at any cost on my Q...Extrude hone intake runners and plenun [$1200]= 4 HP, enlarged custom matched throttle body [$600]= 2-3 HP and popcharger [$150]= 2 HP cold NEGATIVE 13 HP HOT [100F ambient 173F underhood].
You can run a similiar test via monitoring the the voltage from the MAF as the ECU does with a Consult or other data recorder....this can be translated to grams per second of standardized air flow [5.0000 volts = 255 grams per second +- 1%] and 4.553 volts is a very high flow [super breathing] at 40F.
Remember a perfect clean Q engine has a very hard time ingesting more than 450 CFM under any conditions due to cam timing even after you've spend $2000 on intake mods.
So they are comparing apples to oranges in a way as big block Chevy 350-454 do use no more air and flow restriction is important especially with GM paper filters but Nissan filters are better at both air filtration -clean and dirty than the reference filters [GM] they chose to test for their advertisement.
If you're in the neighborhood and want to buy one we always have them available and will be happy to take your money.

Ummm......

So, in a nutshell, what you are saying is that a POP Charger is a waste because it cant draw enough air in hot weather, thus robbing the car of HP?

The problem with a POP charger is that it draws hot, from under the hood air (which can reach 190 degrees in the summer) into the engine. Being this hot, the air is not dense, and has less oxygen per volume unit. This gives you less power. In addition, the MAF/ECU is not calibrated for this temp air, and will give too rich of a mixture.
Most of the advertized dyno runs with these things are done on big block V8's with the hood up. If you drive around without a hood it may give 2hp at 5,000 RPM, and take at least that much away at the low end. The stock system is a carefully designed CAI. Anyone who thinks they are going to noticably increase power, as opossed to just noise, for $100 is kidding themselves.

The problem with a POP charger is that it draws hot, from under the hood air (which can reach 190 degrees in the summer) into the engine. Being this hot, the air is not dense, and has less oxygen per volume unit. This gives you less power. In addition, the MAF/ECU is not calibrated for this temp air, and will give too rich of a mixture.
Most of the advertized dyno runs with these things are done on big block V8's with the hood up. If you drive around without a hood it may give 2hp at 5,000 RPM, and take at least that much away at the low end. The stock system is a carefully designed CAI. Anyone who thinks they are going to noticably increase power, as opossed to just noise, for $100 is kidding themselves.

i was just curious to see what you think of some of the CAI's available for the max.......

Brubenstein,

You are basically recommending not to change the stock air system, especially if you live where it can get really hot in the summertime, like Texas....

Buy the Warpspeed CAI. Its only like $50 or so more than the JWT Pop charger and cheaper than the Stillen pop charger.

Take a look under the hood of 2nd through 5th gen Maximas, and look at the intake systems. You will see that they are all CAI systems to begin with. They all use about the same size panel filters (3rd - 5th use the same part). So they flow enough air, stock, to make over 220 hp. The biggest changes, from one generation to the next, are the intake mainifolds. Nissan spends a lot on R&D to get the most power possible out of these engines. Now, Nissan has more constraints when designing than an after market intake designer does. Nissan has to worry about noise, broad powerband, not ingesting water and making sure it doesn't fall apart. For an aftermarket maker the intake has to look and sound good. It may pick up a little hp above 5,000 RPM, but usually gives up power lower down. By making the engine loud and peaky, it gives the sensation of a power boost.
The best thing that most people can do to their intake system is take apart and clean their intake manifolds. This would at least restore the original power that the engine had, but lost over the years to a build up of gunk.
A better exhaust (better trade off of noise/power) and a JWT ECU is a better bet for a real (10-15) hp increase. There is no cheap, easy power to uncork on these engines. They just aren't 35 year old big block V8s.

Brubenstein, thanks for all of the straight scoop on intakes. You just saved me some cash.

It sounds like the best thing to do is put in a K&N air filter and be done with it?

I wouldn't even bother with the K&N panel filter. The stock one filters better. Just change it every year.

i dont have a 5th gen but i do have a 3rd gen and cai toke 20 dollars and 2 hours of labor. go cai, you wont regret it unless you live in area that has lots of floods.

wow! i am mad torn! to intake, or not to intake, this is the question. i was honestly thinking about a CAI and now i just don't know. where can you find the warpspeed CAI? i wanted to at least look at it. thanks guys.