Stillen vs. Smoky: your take on intakes
 

So, the parts from Top Secret and Amuse are in and ready to go on Project: Mothra. We thought we'd take this opportunity to do a little experiment. As you may know from Project Mothra

we have Stillen headers and cats, NST pulleys and a few other things already on the car. We now also have a Stillen G3 intake on the car, as that seems to be the benchmark for performance.

Tomorrow, we'll do a dyno pull with the Stillen intake. Then, we'll swap out the Stillen with a Top Secret intake -- same car, same day, all things equal. We'd like to see for ourselves which one comes out on top. Check the Project Mothra web site for the official results beginning Friday and for updates on the build. In the meantime, what do you think we'll find?

UPDATE:

The results are in!

Stillen G3 CAI: 281hp, 217tq
Top Secret CAI: 286hp, 224tq

I think the G3's are in the ideal location and of all the intakes, they have shown the best gains, at best I think the TS intakes will be equal in power production.

Tough call, I think Stillen will edge out slighty since you have already opened up some of the back half.
Do we have pictures of the TS intakes yet?

in for results

We'll take plenty tomorrow at the dyno runs. Planning to do hood-open and hood-closed pulls for both intakes. The time it takes to do the swap will allow the engine to cool back down and equalize the test.

Check us on facebook, too, for loads of updates tomorrow and over the weekend. It's going to be very busy gearing up for Import Reactor.

Project Mothra | Facebook

I think the stock intakes are the best. However, it would be interesting to see what the "top secret" intake has to show. We'll see...

I gotta think Smoky has something up his sleeve. It'll be interesting to see the results.

Be sure you allow enough time for the ECU to adapt AWAY from the Gen 3's before you do back to back dynos. If you're not starting from a stock intake setup, just putting something on after the Gen 3's will require 7-8 wot runs to get the ECU to utilizing the new intake. Just as you would from the stock to the Gen 3's..

Thanks, Josh. We'll note that.

Our interest is to perform as unbiased a test as possible. We have Jason Langley, one of the top GT-R Certified technicians anywhere, working on Mothra and administering this test. He's going to make sure nothing biases our results.

This test is specifically for you guys here on the370Z.com. We hope you're as interested as we are in seeing how this comes out!:tiphat:

In for pics/results. I would also like to see what kind of results the exhaust will provide. What time tomorrow you doing this stuff ? I gotta be up in Houston tomorrow anyways !

We will be starting at 9am tomorrow at Secret Services.

9239 Alberene Drive, Houston, TX 77074
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Feel Free to stop by, meet all of us, and see everything in action!

In for the video results.


Interesting, this may explain my dyno numbers. I went from a stock setup straight to.......... with three pulls on the dyno.

Ifr

I'd go with Stillen's G3's...Would be interesting to see though

i know ur doing hood up and hood down... are u also doing bumper off and bumper on?...bumper off would give stillen the edge...

Nobody is going to run with bumper off and hood up so I personally only care about results with bumper on hood down.

Oh comn guys... YOu really wanna do stillen g3 vs TS intakes??

I can know the results from now... stillen will go over the TS easly...

lets see.... Long tube intakes.. vs Short ram intakes..
Stillen's long tube intakes give more power than Injen's long tube intakes..

so even if its long tube intakes vs long tube intakes.. stillen still the winner.. And now your comparing it with short ram intakes??

Im not saying that the TS sucks.. they are droll!! but you cant compare it with stillen g3

and in fact.. even if the TS gains more.. im sure that after 2-3 runs it will go very low bcuz it will suck hot air from the engine

I think the stillen intakes will still be better.

ok well the top secrets if they are anything like the g37s intakes will be rebadged HKS units with a different color foam so thats a loss in power right there on a hot hood closed run, and then gen 3's have shown over 10hp gains those conditions so my moneys on stilen in fact all 500 bucks of it that i spent on the stillen for obvious reasons. the only intake comparison that is really interesting is injen v. stillen.

All that aside it's good that you are doing a 370 build and great that you are going through the lengths of doing a comparison just be truth full run it hood closed with sae correction to get the closest real world numbers you can instead of trying to hawk the top secret name that they are so fond of.

Yeah i know i'm a topsecret hater, and i understand it's a good move on the part of your dealership to use the name as there are a bunch of uneducated racerboys that will eat that $hit like it's candy and shell out big time for the parts, but seriously everything they make costs twice as much as parts made by other companies and isn't worth a even a fourth of the 1100 bucks this intake will cost if priced similarly to it's g37 cousin.

the reason i asked is because the only dyno comparison from complete stock to stock w/ G3 I know is done by RCZ... and when he did that he had his bumper off, and i agree with your statement above...However, this is also the dyno numbers that most people are basing their assumption that the G3 has the most power gains over stock...

with that being said, i am pretty sure most people will just discredit this dyno study if it doesn't show favorable to the G3s... like what happened to Technosquare's dyno study of stillen bolt ons... and its actually happening already (see the posts after yours)... any case, im pretty sure these guys will be smart and independent enough and will keep scenarios in a constant environment.... so i am definitely in for the results :tup:

:iagree: I saw the same thing on the dyno going from the NISMO exhaust to the HKS exhaust.

Well put but it will still be interesting to see, especially if the results are not close like most people say they should be. I think the best way would be to allow for adaption, hood on, bumper down, same fan in front (replicating driving conditions).

However it turns out, thanks again for doing the test!! +rep.

Of course it would be, but when selling anything it's pretty normal to create the conditions that best support the product you are selling. In other words, you never really know if the numbers are real or not unless there is full (and honest) disclosure. This is an area much of the aftermarket seems remiss in (not aimed at Stillen BTW)

Testing will be done soon. We have the last run going now with the TS intake, so we will post all the results shortly. Since we are talking about disclosure, I can let you all know that we are actually putting the Stillen Intake on a different 370Z that we are tuning, so all we hope for is a good test, and that both perform well since we will be installing both. Once everything wraps up, we'll let everyone know how it goes!

Subscribed for results.

Awesome, and +1 rep :tiphat:

Question, will the testing area maintain the same temp and humidity during both tests? I note the testing was due to start at 9am.

I'm watchin!

The results are in!

Mothra is heavily modded at this point, an indication that Jason has been working overtime. Wheels are on, but rear brakes are off, due to a fitment issue that arose late yesterday. New wheels in the same style will address this. The suspension pieces from Top Secret are also on with about a 2” drop all around. The catback is also now on, which drew attention up and down the block. We’re in good shape to have her ready for Import Reactor and a tune by Smoky Nagata.

But enough about that. What you asked for is the straight story on intakes, and we are here to deliver:

Stillen G3 CAI: 281hp, 217tq
Top Secret CAI: 286hp, 224tq

We started our testing around 10:00 this morning, Humidity was measured at 58% with an outside temperature of 56 deg on site. By the time it was finished, conditions had changed to 48% humidity with a temp of 66 deg. The shop is mostly enclosed except for the garage 2 garage doors to let the cars in and out, but it is not 100% climate controlled, so everyone will need to keep that in mind. This timing and temperature actually seems to favor the Stillen pulls, if the differences affect this test at all.

The car was driven approximately 25 minutes on two separate trips between the tests (equal to the time it was initially driven to Secret Services). So, the ECU should have adjusted and the warm-up should be very similar.

So, what do you think? We were honestly surprised! Our Stillen G3 will go into another 370Z we’re having tuned by Smoky. We’ll keep the Top Secret one in Mothra.

The complete photo set is on facebook: Project Mothra | Facebook

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no way?! your short ram is better than cai?

no chance. A short ram w/o heat shields will only lose power.:rofl2:

great publicity though!

See the dyno PDF attached. That's the closed-hood run for each setup.

It honestly surprised us too. One thing it proved is the Stillen is an excellent value, producing similar gains for a whole lot less money. That's why we're keeping it for the second Z!

Smoky says his intake and exhaust are optimized for the tune he's going to give us. We're excited to see! Stay tuned!

I heard the results initially and was shocked. So much so that I made Jason to go back to Secret Services and do the run again (after he was all the way back to the shop). Honestly I fully expected the Stillen to win. The bottom line is that reguardless of reaction, these results are legitimate. I checked the temperature myself. If need be I'm sure we can get someone from secret services to verify the legitimacy if anyone would like, they don't care either way.

ok, the question I have is this, the JWT pop chargers and Takedas share the same exact tube shape/location, both lost power, yet this one gains? hmm...

Wow! Nice job to all of those involved. Sorry we couldn't be there this morning, some of us have day jobs!

It looks identical to the HKS one which did much the same. What is different? More importantly, could we see a dyno compared to stock (or at least without the intakes)?

I'm willing to believe they are better, but I am still suspicious.

The question which should be asked is how was the AFR for each run (Stillen v. TS)?
Stillen really runs the car lean which hurts it with other mods while the TS (similar to other SRI) keep the stock tune in check.

Did you guys get AF numbers?

Okay, 'fess up. You guys inserted a Turbonator in the pipes of the TS intake, didn't you? :p

I don't think the endgame here has anything to do with "keeping the stock tune in check", though. This car is getting a tune especially designed for the quirks of this setup. So, it only exaggerates the divide between it and the Stillen from here, right?

I think somebody tweaked the dyno a bit when somebody wasnt looking!

The only one tweaking the dyno was Smoky, with his awesome intake:rofl2:

It's a funny thing. Most of you guys will swear by dyno results unless of course they don't agree with what you want to see! Then somebody did something tricky, just live with the fact that there could be something better than the Stillen!