Was just a tad bored this weekend and I finally did the GAB mod! Amazing what a coat hanger can do. I know this mod has been out for years now but I finally drew up enough courage to try it. Everything in the engine bay is pretty much stock except for K&N drop in. I have not done any major engine mods because I have the extended warranty up to 100k or October 2008, currently on 89k miles, and we all know how the stealership can be when bringing in a modded engine bay for warranty work! I had done the mod Sat around midnite and installed it, did the first drive the next morning and Holy crap this thing sounds pretty darn mean above 3,000 rpm. Definitely feel the car pulling harder and stronger. Drove it on the highway as well and man it was flying and kept pulling with an agressive growl! Thanks to whom ever invented the GAB mod. This makes me want to start modding the engine bay up with even more goodies and possibly headers, y-pipe, etc. Thanks again and just thought I'd share my experience with the GAB mod.

 

make sure u have a proper seal on the bottom.. it will let debris in, like mine and damage your MAF.. i put the stock filter holder back on.. i think im just going to drill holes into the little plastic piece when i get my new MAF

 

Thanks for the heads up FlipCpt45, I actually was very concerned when doing this mod so I made sure that the K&N was very sealed against the MAF. Checked the fittings all around and it was pretty darn tight and sealed. It took some force to really get the hanger to move and even when I did get the hanger to move maybe only about 1/8 inch the hanger was still pressed very tightly against the filter keeping it in place. Drove around all day today and went over some dips and bumps and nothing moved in the GAB, filter and hanger stood in place very well, and I do not have the smoothest ride either, on S.Techs and GR2's. Thanks for the heads up though again!

 

GAB was pretty cool when I first did it. I believe you get pretty much the same kind of effect with a Popcharger.

 

Your butt dyno is lying to you...

You are not going to "feel" the gains from a GAB.

 

no problem, i felt it was very snug when i tried moving it, but i still had debris on the little "chain mesh?" that keeps big things from entering the intake.. it didnt budge at all from the top, i think the bottom goes in and out, did u try moving the filter on the bottom?

.. it sucks not being able to pass minivans moving at 60MPH @ WOT

EDIT--
Somebody posted putting wooden blocks on the bottom of the filter would hold it in with the hanger...

 

I had the hanger for a lil bit but once i noticed it wasn't holding it as good as it used to, i decided not to hassle myself and bought an extra filter holder, from the .org actually :-)

 

I had the Gab also for a while and like the guy above, mine shifted a little and I think it messed up my new MAF. I went back to stock after that, I think I will pull out the MAF tomorrow and see if I can see any damage. I never put two and two together, when I saw that the bottom of the filter had moved and was letting air through, I just took out the hanger. Maybe that's why my ride hasn't been acting normal. Crap!!!!

 

well i still have the "gab" its just hacked up airfilter holder now

 

Hmmmmm. Interesting, do you have any pics? Does it look like Irish's, with the holes on top?

 

i didn't have the tools or time to do it nice and neat so i decided to basically cut out the top part. I thought it would go nice and smooth with a hand saw but it broke on the first cut. its not even or anything, but there is an opening up top, and the filter holder still does its job like it did before.

no pictures sorry!

 

sounds like fun, i might try this one of these days.

 

I'm thinking the same thing. I have the day off tomorrow, I might go junkyard shopping.

 

OT: when i went to get my oil changed. i had three different people come up to me and tell me my "intake housing" has been torn apart and ripped off. I was like yup, and gave them a blank stare

 

filter holder lip removed > coat hanger for G.A.B.

no worries about the filter being "snug fitting"

 

There's are really easy way to fix that problem. Change your own oil!

 

Ok, I spent some time today cleaning the car and pulling the Maf and airbox out. What I found was that the screen on the MAF was full of debri and partially clogged. So I cleaned the screen and inspected the MAF. Everything looked good, so I proceeded with creating my own GAB. I borrowed my neighbors jig saw and removed half of the lip on the filter hanger. Looks realy clean! I'll post some pics if I get a chance, but I'm really satisfied.

 

hmm, are the intake boxes the same all throughout the years? (95-03??)

 

Same box from 00-03, same filter from 95-03

 

After all these years, I finally gave the GAB a shot today. I gotta say, I really like the throaty growl you get around 3500 on up. It sure makes me smile! However, in my (very limited) testing I do detect some loss of low RPM torque that others have mentioned. I'll have to give it a few days to see if the great sound and minimal top end gains are worth it. I'm not comfortable trusting the hanger long term so I'll hunt down a factory replacement from the local junk yard if I decide to stick to a GAB.

 

if put incorrectly, the bottom WILL lift off and let in debris, and you will get a growl @ 3500up, but you wont be moving anywhere.. speaking from experience hehe

 

after I did the mod, the sound was great, now when i drive it, it still makes me smile . I took my brothers stock maxima for a drive the other day and i was like . where is it! where is the sound! too quiet for me

 

Can someone submit a pic of what this looks like (the lip removed off the stock airbox)? I actually have one just laying around and I want to put it to good use. I've seen irish's with the holes on the top, but i cant imagine how the filter would stay inside the box with the lip removed. Thanks to anyone who can provide pics.

 

Ever read the stickys?

http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...&postcount=107

 

I think Pandaxpress is talking about a pic of the airbox lip cut off holding the filter in. GJohnson said he would hook us up with pics when he can. This is a very interesting mod I may do next. The coat hanger has held in there pretty strong and I do notice a small loss of low end power and a small gain with high end power, but I have to sit and think now how many times am I really going to be keeping the car over 3500rpm and up, (more gas being used). I may try to find another air box filter holder and chop chop, chop it up. Is there any notice of low end power loss with the chopped air box holder does anyone know?

 

someone said sooner had pics on his cardomain...and as of right now i don't notice any low end loss with my set up (see sig).

if no one post pice i can try later when i get done with work

 

yes, I do read the sticky's...thats for the coat hanger

BLUEMAX01SE is right for explaining that I was talking about the filter holder lip being removed. Hence when I say (the lip removed off the stock airbox), I didn't say the hanger replacing the filter holder.

 

Then you meant the PAB, not the GAB.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=209887


Or maybe irish44j's derivation.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=459861

 

I had the lip cut off for almost a year, holds the filter supertight, and the top lip is not necessary because the metal clips are actually what keeps it in place

 

what if you just drilled holes in the plastic peice before the actual air filter??? Would that also work??

 

. . . .

 

Sorry it took me so long, I got busy last night. I feel really secure that nothing will happen with my filter now, this thing fits snug and couldn't go anywhere if it wanted to. No I just need to buy a K&N filter cleaning kit, and go to town!

The first pic is the peice that I cut off the hanger.


How it looks now!








Let me know what you think!

 

wow..actually looks like it will work perfectly. Thanks for the heads up and the pics. Very nice IMO. Need a new filter through..lol AGAIN Thanks for the pics!

 

looks good, just like i did it

but clean that air filter asap LOL, its almost as dark as the black plastic filter holder

 

Thanks for the pics GJohnson! I may do that next if I can get ahold of a spare filter holder!

 

couple of more questions..anyone attempt to do both GAB (the cut off lip version) and this intake mod (click here) Do you think there will be a loss of power? Or maybe it will be beneficial, due to more air intake? If so, should there are be a bypass valve to avoid the risk of damaging the MAF?

 

No problem, I guess I'll pick up a spare filter holder sometime too!

 

I dont know about it. Id rather have the cold air from the front of the vehicle...then modify that so it is less restrictive.

 

I have a stock air intake on my 01. Is anyone here sporting the version that Irish did by drilling the holes in the top of the airbox? I am thinking of drilling four holes like Irish had and see if it makes any difference. I know most people have either an Injen or a Berk and I probably will in the future. Just wondering about the Irish "hole" version............

 

Double Post - ack!