Quote:
Originally Posted by Zteven
Maybe someone can help me out here, if it's a stupid question I apologize in advance I know there's a lot of discussion/argument over what intake is better between short ram in the engine bay and true "cold air" like the stillen gen 3 but isn't it a pain in the *** to get to the stillen filters to clean them? Are the aem intakes by the water reservoir any better ??
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OEM filters are shielded within an airbox, with ducting to draw cool air from the bumper. It could be improved upon (with at least high flow panel filters and smoother intake tubes), but it a reasonably well designed intake system as is.
Short rams offer higher flowing cone filters, which improves airflow, but do not come with perfectly sealed airboxes, so there is some debate over their effectiveness without better heat shielding. In theory, using a short ram without an airbox means air temps will skyrocket at idle, although they will drop to ambient when moving. However, the constant heat up cool down may skew AFR corrections and possibly affect driveability (others may wish to chime in on this -- I have had this happen on other cars, but can't speak with authority as to whether or not this occurs with the Z).
The Stillen Gen III's (and similar) get around the heat shielding issue this by positioning the filters out from under the hood -- but, that also means there is at least some small risk for drawing in water (more so if the filters sit down by the wheels, obviously), which would be rather bad as water doesn't compress like air...
Anyway, an ideal aftermarket intake would have a CNC machined circular or oval bellmouth velocity stacks and highflow cone filters to improve airflow, excellent heat shielding, look and fit like OEM, and make use of the OEM ductwork to draw in cool air without any risk of hydrolock.
Still waiting on that.
Most intakes are simply pipes with a place to screw in the MAF and a cone filter... which is why I recommend smooth tubes and high flow panel filters as one of the best bang-for-the-buck mods.
Anyway, that said, I picked up a set of short rams that have nice velocity stacks, but I have to build fiberglass airboxes for them to get the most out of them... maybe over the summer.