okay...so i have an interesting observation....a few days ago i decided to take off the stock intake snorkel on my 02 max.....initially i did notice a small loss of low end torque.....but the midrange and high end was significantly more responsive.....

soooo.....to test if this was just my imagination playing tricks on me....i put the stock snorkel back on and the car ran noticeably more sluggish

Finally....took the snorkel back off today....noticed the improved performance again....car is much more responsive and smooth....I just can't believe that our stock setup is that restrictive and is choking our cars to death ....what gives....

Oh....forgot to mention....this is with a drop in K&N filter and NO GAB modification...just minus the snorkel

What do you guys think?

 

to be honest im not surprised IMO stock = never good enough, any plans to get a short ram intake?

 

Most stock intakes are designed to be quiet, not efficient. Any custom intake other than the factory airbox is usually going to see some kind of gain as far as our cars go. Nothing huge, though.

 

yeah...I am debating between the Berk intake and the weapon R secret weapon.....i know alot of the org members go with Berk...and that's likely what I will do also

 

do the gab mod and you can add "nicer sound" to the added oomph.
running my 3.5 with knn and gab as well

 

i have a hybrid berk/frankencar intake im selling

 

Your butt dyno does not quantify more mid/high end power. Put the thing on a dyno so we can see any real results.

Our cars actually have a pretty decent stock air system compared to some.

 

I'll give you a $1.25

 

I know.....I know.... The but dyno is blasphemy.... Heard it all b4....but You don't have to take my word for it...

And 4 the record.... Put the snorkel back on because was a little too loud for me without it.... Seemed to make my magnaflow exhaust sound louder than it already is... Go figure....

 

Hmm... I took off my intake snorkel a few weeks ago, and I didn't really notice a difference so I put it back on. But it seems like it would just be sucking up an awful lot of hot air. To the OP, what other mods do you have?

 

Hey Z...my car is pretty much stock except for magnaflow exhaust I put on last year.....seemed to add a little power...by....do I dare say it...the BUT DYNO....

I'm not sure why I perceived what I did....but as I stated in my updated post...I put it back on because without it, it seemed to have made my exhaust sound alot louder while the engine was under load.....don't really like that....

I agree with you though...I think this time of the year in the midwest....still cold out so maybe that's why...but I bet in the summer the heat soak from dragging in hot engine bay air would really kill performance....

 

I did the GAB long time ago...last year decided to remove the snorkel and decided it was a bad idea.

Didn't notice much besides some increased volume...and if anything there was less low end power after driving for more than 15-20minutes. Reason being, most likely, because of sucking in hot air that is sitting next to the engine.

Also, after about 3weeks of driving without the snorkel, I realized how much crap was getting into the filter because of the new opening.

Snorkel has been back on since, and currently looking for a Berk and Apexi and/or AEM


On a side note: What is the difference between the 00-01 berk vs. an 02-03 berk? Don't mean to hi-jack the thread, so you can PM me

 

I think I'l take the snorkel back off tomorrow and see if it makes a difference. And I wouldn't mind my Maxima sounding louder. My old car had an intake and exhaust so I miss all the noise.
A little OT, but which Magnaflow muffler do you have? I want to get an exhaust soon. Thanks.

 

Hey Z...sorry getting back to you a little on the late side...I got the dual 4" tip magnaflow exhaust...don't remember the exact model number....either 14807 or 14816...if you look it up...its that style....street performance muffler....sounds really good...gives a deep reverberating sound....not ricey...i made sure...listened on youtube...search maxima and magnaflow....

 

The main problem with removing the snorkel is that hot air from the radiator blows directly into it. At least with the GAB, the holes aren't directly in-line with the radiator.

 

Ok guys I'm old so I need some clarification on some of the terms your using.
#1 What is the GAB Mod? Is that where you have the stock air box and drilled holes in the top to get more air?
#2 Did you remove the snorkel leading from the front of the car and connected to the front of the airbox?

Is this what you guys mean? If that's the case, I already did the GAB mod so all you guys are doing is removing the snorkel. Is that really inprove airflow & performance? See picture. Thanks

 

Ghetto air box: A mod that involves removing part of the air filter "Handle" to allow extra air in before the filter. It also involves drilling holes into the air box itself.


Yes the snorkel is that air intake that comes from the front of the air box and peeks over the core support. Basically you remove those two retainers and the snorkel comes out.

 

Froggmann said it right about Ghetto Air Box. But a metal cloth hanger will do the GAB as well. On the other hand, I wouldn't take out the snorkel just like what others said... hot air from the engine.

 

I agree removing the snorkel is not a good idea, but what I did the other day was I removed it and the snorkel takes a sharp turn down and forms like a cup.
I noticed that they have a small hole drilled into the bottom which I would assume is for any water that may get in the snorkel will run out of that little hole.
So what I did was I got a drill bit that was the same size as the existing hole and drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom of the cup area to see if more air could be drawn through there? And water would still be able to escape and the holes are small enough that debris should not make its way into the filter area.
What do you guys think?

 

The idea is to suck up cold air. If it is sucking up other than teh coldest air you can get, defeats the purpose.

 

I am not sure why you would want to remove the snorkel with an intake since it directs cooler outside air to under the hood.

When I installed my Berk years ago I kept it in and even added a metal pipe (from Home Depot) to direct the outside air right to my filter:

 

Did you cut the snorkel to add the pipe? Any other pics of your setup?

 

No, just removed all of the stock intake right to the snorkel. The snorkel curves down and that is where I attached the Home Depot pipe to.

 

Ahh, I see...in theory not a bad idea. Is that dryer flex piping? What'd you use for the rubber shield? Whatever SRI I decide to go with, I'll probably do something similar, although I doubt it makes any real difference.

 

The "rubber shield" is actually metal with weather striping around it and painted black. The piping is metal from the same area in the store and I believe it is used for venting (gas stoves/furnaces).

Here is another pic from the top to give you a better idea (sorry they are so big!):

 

Someone please help me, I installed my Injen"I know bad choice" CAI and now when you get on it pretty hard the car wont shift. It will hit about 5K rmp and just sit there. any ideas?

 

sounds like a blinker fluid issue















































OR, maybe you screwed up your MAF

 

There's only one gear in reverse. Try that thing marked D next time. Also try posting in the correct thread.

 

The identical post in 2 different threads, within the same forum, at the same time on the same day.

Um, what to say...? Welcome to the Org, I suppose.

 

Man please dont blame it on the Injen CAI I love mind and if they were going for 170 they would be out selling the Berk's they just say Berk's better but nobody never tossed the Cash to a dyno to see what's up. Just cause majority wants to save a 100 dollars good for you butuse the other 100 and go to a dyno to back up all that Berk Intake talk.

 

i did that cause i really need this to be fixed. This is my ONLY transportation.

 

Well since this thread is still being bumped around I figured I should probably share some of my experiences. I recently replaced my High Flow Stillen cone with a stock airbox. Yeah the ride got quieter but man the power loss was actually noticeable. I drove the car around for a week thinking it was just a placebo effect because I was missing the sound.

After a week I realized that the car didn't feel like a torque machine anymore. With the Stillen high flow cone, if I floored it from 3k rpm, the tired would instantly break loose and keep spinning if I didn't back off. With the stock airbox the tires wouldn't break loose at all unless I was popping the clutch or shifting hard. So anyway moral of the story, I cleaned my Stillen cone and reinstalled it and I couldn't be happier.

 

I could never figure out why you wanted a stock airbox instead of a SRI.
Sorry for the OT.

 

no problems guys.....to Z....i too wondered how much of our perceptions are placebo...but sometimes you just know and you really don't need a dyno to tell you so

 

i thought k&n is the best way to go unless theres a better one for out cars