hi I was and researching how too increase horse to my max and I was under the impression that a CAI helps you with bottom end speed and a y-pipe will help you with mid, too high I plan on getting both soon budget y and possibly a placeracing cai what are you your suggestions???? for 98 autotragic... also would a udp be really worth it with these mods????

here's my point of view
why would you want to increase low end horsepower?
you don't use low end when you race...
and when you use low end...its for daily driving, and can easily go faster if you wanted to...by using the high end rpms.
when you race, other than first gear, the race stays in the high end rpm band.

people say CAI's are better for auto...but either way, i'd go short ram (high end and cheaper)

well thats the thing I dont really race all that much but when and if I do I want to have the power available alsoit just seems to be even cai enhances lower end torque and y-pipe enhances mid to high which = more horse and balanced

You don't need the low end power, when I race from a light, if my car is faster overall, I take them from the light and thats it. It has plenty of power in 1st and 2nd, but needs work in 4th and 5th

In my opinion, why would you drill a hole in your wheel well to install a CAI? Why not just get a frankencar or something home-made? The only thing you have to do with those it take out your old intake box, and tubes. Easy!

Or, if you really want to, you can test it. You can buy the bomz cai off of ebay for not too expensive and experiment because i believe they come in 2 parts. Sorry to get off topic, but is it possible to stick a jwt to the end of a bomz somehow?

I took the piping off mine and left the box on there, it sounds better, real nice at like 3500-4K, doubt it does anything but it's easy sound

i think all these questions "which intake for low end, which for high end" are getting ridiculous! unless you have a 20-foot long CAI, the difference between a frankencar-type intake and the CAI intake is minimal!!! you are not trying to match the airflow of the intake manifold to the heads and appropriate cams!!! there the airflow becomes a concern. but whether to use an intake tube a foot long or 3 feet long has no real-world difference! will you feel that 1 or 2 extra horse-power pound feet of torque that either would provide? no.

so pick one that you like and be happy.

All the info on all those mods:
http://drewm.dyndns.org/~drew/maxfaq...imaPerformance

personally i have BOMz CAI + budget Y setup. it works perfectly durin normal cruising and agressive driving...

Has anyone tried fabricating a heat shield to isolate the conical air filter from the rest of the engine compartment? One major thing that I'm worried about with RAM setup is that it pulls all the hot air in from the engine compartment into the intake. Since CAI is a bit of a pain to install and many people are not into cutting their inner felder, why not go with a short RAM setup and use a heat shield? If anyone has tried this, is there a place where we can get this heat shield specifically made for the maxima?

Yes some people have made their own heatshieds. The picture below is 96sleepers custom heat sheid. It is just a plastic piece. It looks a little ghetto but i am sure it gets the job done.

just buy this http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2420570313

Hey thanks for the link Nismos14, this heatshield just gave me a wild idea. However, I wish I have the know how on body panel cutting. Imagine the exposed part of the shield mated to an opening thru the hood panel (driverside). That would be a true cold-ram air system.

im sure u could rig something of that sort up if u really wanted to and no prob for the link

Get an automatic and you'll know why...

Really???? Steve (DMBMaxima) and others dynoed a while back showing that CAI's fall off dramatically more than the hybrid. That's what makes the hyprid popular especially with autos. There's no low end loss and better throttle response. Plus the hybids on average showed a 10HP increase over stock. It's all been proven.

mate that with a dryer hose that draws fresh cold air from the bumper and you're set!!

CAI all the way! I've had it all and love the low and mid range of the CAI. There's definately a loss of lowend with the WAI and you can definately feel it after some time driving in stop and go traffic. Plus with the y-pipe it will be a perfect combo! Also, get the bombz cai from ebay with the k$n filter though. I think they go for about 110 shipped now a days. Don't waist your money on the PR CAI it's the same thing for more.

Good luck.

i have the PR CAI and budget Y-pipe and couldnt be happier. I switch from hybrid to cold air every once in a while. all you have to do is take off the lower piping and reattach the filter. there you are hybrid. leave cold air for everyday driving so you dont get bogged down on hot days, hybrid when you go to the track.

My CAI is also much louder than a hybrid setup. it is because the sound echoes and is amplifies in the fenderwall. very nice sound. sound is the first compliment i always get on my car.

wassup everyone, get injen.

I was thinking that perhaps the reason for the CIA's dramatic falloff over the hybrid is because the air has to travel further thru the longer intake pipe. And since most intake pipe conduct heat (because its metal), the once cooler air that entered the airfilter, picks up heat along the way and by the time it enters the TB and into the engine, its just as hot. I dunno if this is factual but my common sense has led me to come to this conclusion.

So I'm thinking of going for the RAM (short) setup and fabricating a heatshield made of some type of material that doesn't conduct much heat.

I have beat myself up over this too, im going the frankencar midpipe route and when I have some change to spare I will try a good CAI. I presently have a JWT Popcharger on my 5 Speed.

It's not factual. If you know someone with a CAI, have them open their hood and let you feel the pipe after a good long run. It's ice cold in comparison to the temp in the engine bay.

Every picture of a CAI pipe that I see is usually aluminum, painted or polished. How can it be ice cold if its been cooked up inside an engine that's been running for a while? Metal conducts heat, even an aluminum engine head feels very hot when you touch after running it for a while

get a cai, SRI have a disadvantage when regular driving is switched to a race, Too much heat builds up, A heat sheild does work, Maybe a full steel one will

What's to not get here? It doesn't matter how hot the engine is. The air coming in is (much) cooler, and there is a lot of it. That's the whole point.

OK, now it makes sense. You've confused me by stating on your previous post that the CAI pipe is ice cold in comparison to the temp in the engine bay. That would have meant that the air going thru it will be ice cold as well. I figured if its ice cold there must be a freezer in your engine. Thanks for clarifying that the air is much cooler instead.

hehe...no thanks...

but seriously...an intake adds what? 3-8hp (approx) - yeah some have dyno'd 10 but whatever...

so say an SRI gives 6hp and a CAI gives 8hp (which i highly doubt)
you think that 2hp does anything at all? its negligible

jargoone: about CAI's having ice cold air, i read somewhere (forgive me i forget the reference) that CAI's average 4 degrees F cooler air than a short ram. not much of a difference there. BUT from all that piping, there is a lack of airflow which stunts the highend.

when the car is moving, air is travelling through the engine bay from outside anyways, so short ram's don't induct much warmer air than a CAI.

my $0.02

Maybe there is a lack of airflow. But I would guess it makes no more difference than the small temperature difference you mention.

Your first point was dead on. You might "feel" the difference between stock and aftermarket intake. But the difference between SRI and CAI is splitting hairs and not worth debating. Get what you want and be done with it.

or perhaps cause the car is on a dyno and your not going 80mph to force air through the bumper to the cai....just a thought....i doubt that fan the dynos use simulates real world air flow. all i know is i had a cai for a year and then switched to a hybrid and now im back to a cai and im not switching

Keep in mind also that the filters on CAI's get terribly dirty too.

to be honest with you i have a foglight in that hole and when i had it under the hood it got a lot more dirty and damaged....i only get pollen stuck in it when its in the fender