first of all, the purpose of this thread is not to prove who is more "n00b" than other. i just want to start a friendly-manner discussion over the throttle reponse over all style of intake on maxima. there seems to be some disagreement between the orgers regarding which one is the best. so let's get this right and learn something today:

PERSONALLY, in the past i had 4 differet kinds of intake. i have to go with short ram for better throttle response. like i said in one of the thread, do the straw test, suck thru a normal straw, cut it in half, suck thru it again. this is just one of my metaphor represending the length of intake piping which affects throttle response.

ATTN DAVE B** i recalled something you said in the past about stock intake has better throttle response. would you please emphasize on that? thank you





any comments, opinions, objects are welcome. let's keep it friendly

 

After I installed half of my ebay CAI I did feel the throttle responce kinda suck... I've had it so long now that I dont notice the difference anymore, I believe the stock intake had a better throttle responce because of the resonator...

I think that was Dave B's reason, if I can re-call correctly... I've yet to cut a hole in my car to install the rest of the CAI...

 

Then again I have a midget filter that I have to change... Its tiny.

 

when i swapped out my K&N filter w/ JWT filter, first thing i noticed was better throttle response.

 

i would say stock intake for throttle response. it has a big old box that is constantly full with pressurized air. if you run better ducting too it (like spaniard), or hack it, you can get better flow to it, but it will still have that little air reserve factor going for it... i think stock, as strange as that sounds, would give the best throttle response

 

I think the best throttle response comes from running the stock intake resonator between the TB and MAF either teamed with the hacked airbox or POP intake. I prefer the hacked airbox because the intake uses the stock intake snorkel which helps pump ambient air directly towards the filter once the car is rolling. The CAI with resonator feels very torquey, but does seem to feel a little restricted above 6000rpms (non-MEVI owners shouldn't worry about this).

I've always noticed that with the resonator in place, the throttle response improves, the intial throttle bog is gone, and the VQ seems to run smoother (less vibration especially under WOT). As for performance, I can't tell any difference other than the intake is quieter. I know that with the midpipe, the increased noise and vibration makes it feel like you're going faster than you are. It's my understanding that the stock resonator is able to form a column of pressurized air right by the throttle body and when the throttle is cracked open, the air funnels directly. With the midpipe I believe the air is initially turbulent when the throttle is cracked open and that's why many people experience an initial bog. I also think the midpipe may introduce a slightly turbulent air flow overall which causes the deep loud roar compared to the stock resonator. Obviously the resonator cancels out some of noise reverberations because the resonator is definately quieter.

Which one performs best on the track? On the same day I tested the CAI with resonator, CAI with midpipe, POP with resonator, and POP with midpipe. There was no measureable difference (within .05 and .5mph).

Interesting note, the G35 sedan comes with a intake resonator whereas the 350Z/G coupe do not. Many sedan owners purchase the 350Z/G coupe intake pipe and dynos suggest no measureable gains (~1-2whp which is within dyno variance between runs).


Dave

 

hey Dave, thank you for your valueable inputs. in fact i totally forgot how the stocker feels. i am gonna try stock midpipe with my JWT filter later this week.

at least i am convinced that short ram has better throttle response than CAI. and stocker has better throttle response than short ram. it varified with my personal experience from CAI to shor ram.

any other inputs are welcome. and i will post my personal opinion on stock midpipe w/ JWT soon.

 

i still believe my injen cai has MUCH better tp than the hybrid i had on did, theres no doubt about it in my mind.. all in all i guess it doesnt really matter tho, because the difference is really small, and boils down to driveability

 

yea i know...but i just wanna clarify myself that i am not getting false information. i've seen enough threads regarding "intake ", so wanna make sure i have clear understanding about this small issue so i can go on and help the n00bs

anywayZ i'll get back on the stock midpipe.

 

well i don't know about which one is better, all I know is I just hacked my air box (using a screw drive, a hammer and pliers, and a hack saw) a pain in my bu*t it took me 2 hours to do the whole thing. But I did and it cost me $0 and it sound not just great, it sounds A......MA..ZING...

edit: my butt dyno tells me the it is going fast from 1st to 2nd, alot faster on 2nd, and some what faster on 3rd. if you drive it normaly you don't even notice much of a sound (for the untrained eye or ears) only when going WOT you hear a nice sound, tomorow I will try to get a litte video with the windows open, then some one can posted some when so people can hear it. I haven't driven on the highway, so I don't know. on 4th and 5th

 

cool let us know how it goes

 

dyno on 1st and 2nd is not accurate. u should be on 4th gear or possibly 3rd gear roll on dyno cuz the gear ratio is close to 1:1...

 

Are you talking about BUtt dyno, or $90 pay dyno.
Cuz I'm talking about BUTT Dyno, the one you sit in your car, put in first gear step on the gass, change to 2nd step on the gas then 3rd gear and step on the gas. While your Butt feels all the pressure of your weight being pushed against it.

and the differ. between the presure you feel in your butt from before and the presure you feel after is the amout of power your car added to it.

 

i'm gonna hack my airbox sometime this week, leaving the resonators and replacing the stock filter with a K & N Panel Filter(is this a good idea? somebody suggested this and I guess a K & N would be better than the stock filter)...hopefully i'll have something good to report...

Guinader, did you remove a resonator when you hacked yours?

 

Im thinking it may be best to leave the factory setup minus the filter and hack the resonator box and hook up some ducting from that to the bumper cover area and get a pressure tester to make sure there is a lot of air getting in the ducting or you could put an electronic thermometer in the resonator and use the 'hit or miss' method for finding the best air stream (results in temp reduction) that will go through the ducting into the resonator.
That IMO would combine the concept of a CAI with the natural advantageous throttle response of a shorter velocity stack.

 

that sounds logical, but I don't think i'd be capable of that and be willing to go through too much trouble.

 

I sometimes think, that when nissan puts something in a place, (resonator) there is a logical and safty reason, to be there, so all I did was cut the bottom of the air box, nothing else was done to it.

PS I notice today that the only time you hear the louder intake, is when you go WOT ( in any gear) but under normal driving it sound perfetcly normal.
I think that this is good because, the only time you really want to show off that your car is powerful is when you want to pass some car at a Hwy, or a drag race. But you don't want to show you have a cheap hacked air intake when driving your car to the grocery store.

 

hey i hacked my airbox 2 days ago and also shaved my emblems. love the sound now, like a throaty warble, starting from the high 2's. it didn't all go off without a hitch though, turns out my screws that hold in the lower airbox half WONT OPEN....i tried opening with the screwdrivers, stripped 1 screw, tried a wrench, no luck. so how did i hack the airbox? i took the sharpest kitchen knife i could find and stabbed it over and over and over....then use a pair of cutting pliers and tore off bits of plastic til i got a decent size hole...i think i'm also gonna file down the edges a bit cos it's really ragged.

since theres 2 holes now leading to the air filter, do you think that it's ok to have just a small hole? if i make the hacked hole bigger like you guys did won't that decrease the amount of air being sucked in from the main scoop?

i also just bought a K&N Panel Filter and am gonna install that now, tell you guys how it goes.

 

Just installed a Ractive cone pop filter with adaptor to stock midpipe giving me a huge increase in throttle response over the stock box, excellent. Unless at WOT this system is as quiet as stock, at WOT the sound is like a supercharger. I'm going to fabricate my own midpipe to see if there are any changes, as far as power I think it's like splitting hairs but totally worth it for throttle response alone... this set up is smooth! With the stock box I had a slight miss (hesitation) but with the larger surface area on the cone filter that miss has disappeared.

 

im feelin lag with my injen....

 

Hey, I have a question for all you hackers. Has anyone ever tried to swap the box with a stock box from a different car? I noticed that ours is much smaller then many other cars out there, so we have smaller filter. If we put in a filter with a bigger surface area and hack it, we might get all the advantages of the hybrid inkakes without any of the disadvantages.
Tell me if u guys have ever seen this done.

 

space is pretty tight round the box

 

YES. specialy when they say intake sounds like a supercharger. those people are n00bs !!!

 

ok, i just gave it a test drive and the results are what i expected. the restrictiveness of the stock filter gave the intake that really low sloww growl, now with the more free-flowing K & N, the intake makes a more "faster" sound, with a slightly higher tone, but still not like those intakes that sounds really zippy and kinda cheesy

 

Hey DoGGY, Normally I'd take offense when someone runs another's opinion down, but I guess you have to excuse the illiterate!

 

oh yeah, anybody have any idea if i should reset my ECU now that I've hacked the box and switched out to a K & N Panel filter?

 

I have learned stock is best. But for after market I can only compare my injen to my WR. I have 2 say my WR is better. just my $0.02

 

thx for all feedback guys. org was down recently and i've been lazy ditching my classes and sleep at home...i'll get back on this later

 

im just wondering what kind of intake would the "hacked stock" be?

 

A hacked air box is exactly that, you cut a hole in the bottom half of the stock air box. Thats it. I am running a HAB at the moment, though my hole is rather large. I started out with just the little triangular side removed but now I have no front or side. Works well IMO, but I have a Stillen intake comming cuz I got such a great deal. I used to have a Hybrid setup and after reading Daves post I decided to ditch the midpipe. All it does is make noise and it sure doesn't improve anything now does it? I really can't tell you which has better throttle response, but I do like the HAI best.

 

I went the route of ghetto/OSCAI intake evolving to a wanna-be Ram-air (hopefully) intake.

Meaning... First intake mod I cut the hole in the lower airbox but had a tube bringing cold air in from outside the engine bay, and removed the resonator and had a duct bringing air in from below the car, figuring the more cold air the better. Funny, it sounds like I might have screwed up throttle response for the sake of aggressive sound!

Still, the OSCAI with cold air inlet may have been break-even with stock performance wise, if you figure that you are accepting loudness with cold air (loudness probably being something nissan engineers wanted to limit while not limiting performance- too much)

Hmm hope that made sense I dont feel like getting into a long explanatory post right now.

 

Ok, every one here has being talking about how a HAB sounds good, or the CAi or Hybrid.... bla bla bla... but I haven't seen any real numbers of increased power by doing any of this moddifications.
Right now we have settle this.

1 The cheapest way to get a good intake sound is HAB (hacked air box)
HAB -----> HP = ? Torque = ?

2 CAI is the one that cost the most, and it gives the best looks. (sound = deep and loud)
CAI -----> HP = ? Torque = ?

3 poor mans Cone (just the cone in the place of the Air box.) (price = the cone you choose) sound = very loud specialy at WOT
Cone Air intake ----> HP = ? Torque = ?

4 hybrid, much like the PMC (poor mans cone) sound = ?
Hybrid ------> HP = ? Torque = ?

If any one knows the answer to any of this questions, it would be great since every one would have a good information before buying their intake (or making them selfs).

Gui

 

ok, sorry I was just reading the tread title and I forgot to mention the throttle response.

but come to think of it, has anyone ever tested all of this types of intake to actualy say if they increase the TR.

 

****, i've decided that i like the sound of my stock air filter better and i lost the receipt for my K&N Panel Filter(anyone want it for a good price?)

oh yeah, tomorrow i'm gonna take a small video of my Hacked Air Box with 2 different types of filters(stock and K&N) so you guys can hear the difference in sound, some of you who are contemplating hacking your box might be interested in that. think any of you guys would be able to host it for a bit? size would probably be a few megs, but i'll know for sure tomorrow

 

zealotnyc, I want that K&N filter. It is just the panel one right?
You got pm....

By the way, Guinader, Throttle Response is very important. That is why Happyricefob was talking about it in the first place. I would rather have bood TR than a couple of extra hp at high end. Just because I don't ever get to use anything over about 90mph. That means that everything right off the line is faster, if you have a faster TR. Very important.

Good thread, happyricefob. Thanks for this. However, we still need some conclusive facts to know how to teach noobs or to decide what we want for ourselves.