Jsmith, here are the pics. I noticed that you live in OC. Do you live close to Stillen? I was just there today to pick up my intake. I installed it in about an hour and it sounds awesome. I was hoping for greater gains in power but oh well... I'm just gonna have to wait for the exhaust to be released. Anyhow, hope the pics help. I checked again and there is a little gap between the dash and the kit. I never noticed it before now. I have a feeling that this is common in all the kits and not just ours. It appears that this is a flaw from Metra. I'm curious now if the OEM trim fit the same way. I'm too happy with my system to have any complaints though. I trust you feel the same.

 

Edify, yeah I live pretty close to Stillen actually...did you get the Injen CAI? That's my next move...
Anyways as for the gap, mine's a bit bigger than that but as I said before, an aftermarket kit is never going to be perfect. It doesn't affect the look of it at all, you didn't even notice and you installed yours yourself!!
So I'm not really worried and yes I AM totally happy.
Thank for posting pics, I'll try to take some of mine to show you...

 

I got the Stillen instead of the Injen. Just wanted to be careful of water getting in. Front what I understand, the performance gains are comparable.

 

Do you really think that water would be an issue here in So Cal?
I thought that would be more of a rainy area problem??
But if the gains are the same then, better safe than sorry...
What didi they charge you anyways? That's my next move.

 

I spoke to various different people in regards to the water problem and I was told that it wasn't much of a problem here in Cali. However, they did mention that there were a few times when they were concerned about the rain levels here with the CAI. That was enough for me to keep away from the CAI. I figured better safe than sorry. At Stillen, I paid $170 for the intake and installed it myself in about an hour. The instructions are pretty detailed (although it was for a 02 Altima instead of an 04 Maxima, the layout is almost identical) and the install wasn't too difficult. Tools needed are a 10mm socket (two would be really helpful) and a flat-head screwdriver. If you'd like, I can e-mail you the instructions so you can take a look for yourself what's involved in the install. Let me know.

 

Well that's going to be my next move, but I'll probably have it installed professionally. Let me know how it's working out for you...