This is a modification for anybody who has a Injen CAI.. I noticed when i went to install mine, that there was a brace on the bottom piece of tubing (the one that the filter mounts to).. and it braces to the coupler for the radiator hose.. and i thought for a minute.. the whole theory for having a CAI is to eliminate hot air.. and to provide colder more denser air for your motor.. so when you brace a metal intake system to probably the hottest part of the motor you totally eliminate this CAI theory (once your motor is hot).. this is mainly due to the fact that there is a sensor on your intake that tells the computer how hot/cold the air is that is coming in.. yes you will still have and easier breathing setup (rather than stock) and probably more free flowing.. but what is the point if you are going to brace it there.. you might as well save your money and just buy the adapter and JWT popcharger or something along those lines.. so after i installed the CAI i started to notice that once it got hot it would have a slight lag like it was choking for air.. this would mainly happen when i was going down the road and i would slow down (not stopped) and then go to speed back up.. the throttle response was lost and even after it started to speed up it would just bog and take forever to gain speed.. but i noticed that this wouldnt happen if it was cold.. so after trying to find someone who could weld aluminum.. i finally went to get it fixed.. we cut off the old brace (with a saw-z-all) then we went to make a new brace and had an idea.. instead of welding a new brace on we were going to try to make it into a "L" shape, where one end butted up flush to the intake tubing and then clamp both together (intake tubing and new brace).. i mounted my brace to the battery tray.. there is a fuse box that sits in front of your battery take out the screw that holds it on and mount the new brace in between the battery tray and the fuse box (you will have to drill a hole in the new brace to do this).. and after all that i bought some heat shielding off of summit and wrapped my intake tubing with it.. to eliminate and heat absorbtion from the motor heating up.. so after all this work i went to go for a test drive.. let it heat up and it acts completely different.. it acts just like it was cold all the time.. the throttle response is back also.. so for the 2 hours and maybe $20 dollars spent this to me is a must if you have this setup..

 

any pics? this would be helpful

 

 

I did not waste my time like that, I basically took out the Good Looking INJEN HAI intake, and bought a short ram air Intake.
Two things happened after I did that.
1) I get much better gas mileage.
2) I have steady power from low to high RPM.

Also I don't want to suck any water into my engine.
If you think about it, your INJEN intake is sitting behind the radiator. When the Radiator fans go on, Your Injen Intake takes some of that hot air. The tube gets hot as well.

That's about it. Good luck With HAI Injen intake......

 

FYI, the coolant isn't the hottest part of the engine. LOL. If it was would it be "coolant"?

Why couldn't Injen think of that? Hmm...

 

ill try to get pics of it asap.. i just got all this done a couple of days ago.. but as soon as i get some ill post em..

 

CystumMaxsaid: When the Radiator fans go on, Your Injen Intake takes some of that hot air. The tube gets hot as well.

this is true.. that is why i put on the heat sheilding (it is suppost to deflect up to 1200 degrees) i know that it probably wont get all of it deflected.. but i ran it down the road to get the car heated up and came back and touched a part of the tubing that is bare and it was perfectly cool.. you also have to remember that aluminum cools off very quickly.. so since i put this on there it deflects most of the heat and whatever it doesnt the airflow through the pipe will take care of..

 

I don't know, I think Injen has the worst design when it come to maxima....

 

I too noticed the lag with the intake on the low end. I installed a larger K&N filter and it went away.
I posted up about it before, others seemed to have don the same thing and noticed a difference in thottle response.

Ive driven through many puddles and havent had any issues with sucking up water. The puddles arent 3 foot deep neither just normal puddles. The filter actually sits above the splash gaurd so it does have some protection against a normal depth puddle.
If you drive through a puddle deep enough for you to suck up water thats your own fault you should know better. The maxima isnt a truck.

 

You have a good point, but I am selling mine. That's my opinion on Injen intake. You don't have to take it from me. I don't like it. Its shiny and all, but not worth $210 that i paid for.

And I don't feel like spending more money on something that I have already spent a lot on. Adding the filter is about $40 + $80 for the shield. This puts me around $330 not including s&h.

 

Flavor-
i also have the k&n filter on mine.. forgot to post that.. i put mine on whenever i first installed it.. i agree with you too.. unless you are completely submerging the filter in water it wont just suck up water.. i have never had a problem with it doing this.. and ive driven though some pretty bad rain.. and went through some crazy puddles.. and not once had a problem.. just like you said it has that splash gaurd right below the filter so that blocks most stuff.. plus youve got to figure the only other way it would come in is through the front and it would have to pass thorugh the radiator and also through the a/c radiator.. and plus it doesnt sit exactly in front of these (acutally off to the side) so it would have to be blown sideways to get to the filter.. so its highly doubtful..

 

I like the injen, i have it and have the heat shield to go with it. A K&N filter will be better as others have said. I love the way it looks and sounds. As for HP gains, i think only turbo cars will profit from a CAI.
If i had my stock airbox, i would go with that.

 

The Injen intake was the worst mod I ever did to my car. Throttle response was horrable, especially in the summer, the car was a complete dog. It really shouldn't be called a CAI, it pulls in hot air because it sits right behind the radiator. There's no way around that fact. You'd be better off with a JWT POP charger or the stock intake with the resonator box under the battery tray opened up.

 

i dont know what to say about the injen intake ? i like it and i dont. i keep thinking back to the days of the frankencar midpipe and the jwt popcharger. the injen intake looks the best but i suspect sucking in all the hot air aiding in causing some mild pinging with the car. i still have the stock injen filter, you guys are saying go out and get a k&n filter and the whole setup is a bit better ? might just do that, but then again i just might sell it and go with something else.

 

ok.. im a newb.. i finally got some pics of what i did.. but i cant figure out how to post em on here..
any advice is appreciated..

 

You need to have external link, post your picture on cardomian, then put the link on this site then we can see it.

User the option for Insert Image, this options puts the HTML tag for the picture.
[img] [/img]

 

ok thanks..

 

here you go guys.. here are some pics of what i did..

Intake Modifications

ill get more pics of all of my car later.. just made this page today to show these pics..

 

You can also use photobucket.com to post pics.

 

The Injen is a horrible intake. I had it as well and I couldnt see how there would be anything but hot air being sucked up into it.

Our cars will benefit from a CAI not only if its boosted... but the only true CAI we have is the Place Racing CAI.

 

thanks cystummax and keyser skoze for your help.. i was hopin i wouldnt get flamed on that question.. just never done it before..

 

ebay CAI rules lol

 

the injen feels lagier because the air has a longer distance to travel then some other intakes. n guys the 1-3 whp isnt gonna make your car feel like a dog.

 

werd to the mothership!

 

i agree totally..