i have been saying for months that they are pointless as for as performance.
but no one wants to listen to me!!!!!
and dont tell anyone but a CAI doesnt do much more. see my earlier post.

GAB does same thing - all for the price of a K&N filter.
check my homepage

 

same thing with my GAB (no low end lose, no hesitation because i removed the scoop, better gas mileage, and a nice growl.)
all for ALOT less

 

i agree the gab is a good mod. definetely cheaper but when i bought the intake, i was not comfortable hacking up the box. when i got it, i had plans to install nitrous and tap the midpipe. plans changed and i stuck with the intake since i felt gains and wanted to keep the stock box in case i had maf issues so the dealer would be able to warranty it.

 

I got a half-GAB (K&N, no scoop, that's all) and I am positive with repeatable results that it gives me noticeably better power on the highway, especially in 5th gear at >60MPH... it's not night and day but IMHO it's worth all the $$ and effort.

 

I love my intake. I got the Injen Cold Air. Would never get rid of mine. What kind of intake do you have man? I would never go back to stock on the intake... I love mine too much, especially the sound.

And just to let you know, the intake improves on gas milage, doesnt degrade. It also free's up the intake of air for the motor. When adding a aftermarket intake, it is like taking your hand off the end of a vacume hose. The stock airfilter really restricts the motor. Which is why you get a horsepower gain from the intake, less restriction.

Also, the low end torqe, you should not even feel a difference when installing the intake, unless your filter is incredibly dirty to the point where very little air is passing through,then yes, you should notice a big difference. When is the last time you cleaned your intake???

 

yeah i have BERK and couldnt be happier
nice growl
no loss in low end tourque (that i can feel)

great product
-J

 

I'm totaly satisfied with the Berk. Getting 1-2 MPG better, no loss at low end, and did anyone mention the sound.lol I plan on keeping it for long time.
By the way I was at Nissan to purchase a tranny gasket at the parts counter and looked over and saw a K&N intake for the 350 Z price: $350,
gains claimed 10-15whp!

 

10-12whp??? Is that Possible? I know intake can do a lot in some cases, but 15 at the wheels, I dont know bout that... But if it does... rock on, good for Nissan...

 

Did the intake you saw for the Z look like the Berk?

Maybe of interest, I can across a comparison of CAI and WAI at this site:

http://tprmag.com/issue/1/1_intakes.shtml

I was surprised to see that the HP gains were best for the WAI. Look at the 2 tables comparing WAI & CAI, and also the individual dynos.

Also seems that compared to the stock intake, the HP is the same until after 4,000 RPMs, then the aftermarket intakes show improvement. That's nice but my RPMs in daily driving never go above 3,000, so I guess I would never notice a change with an aftermarket intake, correct?

 

I am in the process of trying to create a "cold-air scoop" similar to the GAB except it will just funnel cold air directly to the Apexi filter on the end of the Frankencar....I am trying to find a fitting that will go all the way around the filter....this could get interesting! Will post pics if I ever figure out an effective and non-ghetto way of doing it...BTW I currently get occasional low-end loss with the FC but it is more than made up for with the high-end gains, in my opinion.

 

i had an 02 gle and now have a 03 se auto. i have never got better then 21.5 mpg on either car.i do drive very hard almost always.i just put a berk intake on and have gotten small gain in mpg even though been revving more because i like the new sound.i averaged 19 to 20 on almost all highway miles but i drive very fast in and around traffic.now i havent gotten under 20 since i put intake on.maybe next week i will try to drive slow and see what kind of milage i get

 

Before and after intake...no matter what type of driving I do, I almost never get more than 22mpg and almost never less than 21mpg.....obviously, I also have the roof rack which probably knocks it down a little because of wind resistance. Intake didn't seem to affect mileage at all.

 

IM not sure i believe those dynos comparing HAI vs. CAI. Think about it when you dyno your car, you have a fan blowing air on the engine with the hood up. So your getting the same temp air with both intakes. Having the hood up doesnt allow any heat to build in the engine bay. Its just not realistic to compare the two just from a dyno.

 

If you read the article, it says that the tests were done with the hood closed.

"The Test
After each intake system was installed on the vehicle, the factory ECU was reset. The tests were run with the hood closed. Each intake system had three chances to lay down their best performance possible. Seven minutes was given in between runs for cool downs."

 

Ok i just read it all. Fair enough to say that intakes dont do much but it was also done on a 99 Honda Civic SI which has a 160hp 1.6l 4 cyl. Who knows what the tests would show for a 3.0L maxima. All im saying is that we dont know what the tests would show.

 

My friend was the tech for that article. The reason why they explicitly tell you not to compare the short ram intakes to the cold air intakes is that they don't want you to know that CAI are not always the best way to go. Once you step into the arena of magazine articles and print media it's a whole different lense you are looking through.

You will never see any magazine explicity show that CAI aren't always the best. If they do they are hurting their advertisers and thus shooting themselves in the foot.

There is no real way to test an intake in exact real world conditions. On a dyno with is fan is pretty darn close though. The only way to simulate it accurately is in a wind tunnel..... with a dyno inside. I think F1 would only have the money for that though!

 

Oh and one more thing about hacking your OEM air box to make a Ghetto Air Box (GAB). I'm sure it works, it's just like making an open element air filter, but when it comes time to sell your car you might be kicking yourself in the pants. I make sure that any car I modify I can bring it back to 100% stock if I need to.

 

Yes, that has always been a concern for me since I know someday the car will be sold.

BTW, I'll be putting my Berk intake on this weekend. (thanks for sending it out so quickly! ) I'll post my impressions for those that are interested.

Steve

 

Well, I just decided to do this for ****s & giggles... and I am impressed. I've been running with a stock intake, K&N panel filter but no ramscoop for the better part of a year so far. I put the ramscoop back on, mounted the 2 sensors where they're supposed to go, and duct-taped the ramscoop-airbox tube connection (it always used to come apart), and I also installed the elbow pipe going into the white plastic resonator beneath the battery.

All I can say is, HELLO TORQUE. The car feels so much better in almost all instances, although I might have lost some top-end, but the low-end and midrange have more than made up for it.

I'd love to prove this with a more accurate measure than the butt-dyno, but I don't have any good areas around here to test it with the stopwatch method, and I don't feel like driving out to a 1/4 track or pay for a dyno

 

I also replaced the stock intake, but I did not put back the elbow to the resonator. Instead I got a 3" diameter aluminum flexhose from homer depot, and attached it there. I did not make it stick outside of the engine compartment but positioned it as close as possible to the hole at the bottom.

 

Since the search function isn't enabled, I can't find the thread, but someone did a nice test on temperature inside the engine bay where the FrankenCar and Berk sit and also down where the Injen and PR sit. The temps were almost exactly the same. The WAI and CAI thing has been debated to death. Both give almost the same exact hp and tq gains. The WAI's are usually on top by 1-2hp at the dyno. I did notice low end torque loss. I then got the FrankenCar and now Berk midpipe and a UDP and the low end is back. My dyno's show it's working just fine. I am however, going to take my midpipe off and put the stock resonator back on. I've never experienced pinging until I put the midpipe on. Now unless I use Amoco or Sunoco gasolines, I get pinging. I frequently clean the TB and use BG44k every 10k.