I just installed the first major mod on our Z. I purchased the R2C Intake with black nickel finish from forum sponsor Tunerz_Store at a great price. Seriously awesome purchase experience as paid to received was like 4 days and same week.
I took about 30 minutes the other night to unpack and put together the intakes. I took me about an hour this morning to uninstall the stock intakes and replace them with the new R2C intakes including removing the strut tower brace and engine cover. I was able to use both the existing intake hoses by simply rotating/rerouting them and adjusting the existing clamps slightly (I have pics of this, so just ask). At this point I checked the hood and it didn't close at all. It took me another hour to adjust the heat shield enough to get the hood to close, mainly because I misplaced the wrench I was using to adjust the L bracket mount.
Anyway, I finally got to close on its own using gravity from the height I normally drop it closed (about 4 inches), but it seems much tighter than before. I know the heat shield is supposed to contact the hood, but I am wondering how pressure is being put on it - if the hood is being stressed it is not obvious to me. So I am also wondering whether its worth trying to rotate/adjust the intakes back at the throttle body since the heat shield bracket is pretty much a low as it can go right now. Anyone think it's terribly harmful to leave it even if it is a bit snug?
I never heard back from the local auto shop about baseline/no-tune dynos, so that didn't happen. I do not notice any significant difference in the feel, but I would not expect to notice even a 10 whp gain in this car - a 3% gain is pretty minimal. The sound however, is very different at about 4K RPMs and up depending on the throttle and, to a lesser extent, the gear. I am very pleased with the sound, especially for my wife, since it is just about stock sounding the way she drives the car. I have the upshift indicator set at 4K, which she says is perfect for her. She'll hear it occasionally and didn't mind it at all when I had her listen to the difference on the way to drop her off this afternoon.
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Ok, so I finally got the videos edited so you can hear the intake compared (poorly) to stock. No YouTube, but these Dropbox links should allow you to watch the video on the linked page or download the file to watch at your convenience (look in the upper right for download button).
I realize the stock video is pretty lame comparison, but I figure most people know what stock sounds like. And if you don't, my comparison won't help you anyhow, since I was bone stock except for the intakes. I was also doing this in a parking lot and found a longer path after doing several stock videos, so I felt comfortable opening it up a little more with the R2C.
Stock Intake 1st Gear to 6K (slowly)
R2C Intake 1st Gear to 7K, 2nd Gear to 6K (bit quicker)
I finally did a dyno for this intake:
R2C Intake DynoJet