Intakes... are they ALL just a scam?
 

I've searched and searched through all kinds of different intakes. Stillen seems to have pretty good gains if you want to take your bumper off and I know it's not hard, but I just don't want to do it.

I had a K&N Typhoon on my Mazdaspeed 3 and I felt nice results with that, though it was never dynoed. On our cars it seems the K&N Typhoon has next to no gains... 6 whp... wow big deal.

Looked at the Takeda (don't know if that's spelled right) a few days ago and after looking through thread after thread it turns out that those gains are hardly worth looking into it any further.

I had read that the drop-ins with post maf tubes gave some people around 15 hp, but then others say it's only again... about 6 gained.

AEM is a great company, but their intake design just sucks and yields very little if any power gain.

Basically every single one I research turns out to be a let down.

I have nothing against Stillen, but it's 500 and some odd dollars for an intake... that just seems very high for possibly good gains, though some people only see 14 whp, while others claim 20 hp.

I know I know there are so many variables with heat, humidity, each car being different... it's very frustrating however trying to figure out what to do when it comes to this. I'm doing all my homework now so I know what to buy when i'm ready, but so far NONE of them seem worth the money... can anyone help me out here?

The main reason people don't see massive gains from intake mods is the fact the stock intakes are already pretty well designed. They draw air from in front of the radiator, and send it to the throttles. This is why a lot of people see good gains from drop ins/maf tubes... removing the accordion section of the stock intake improves flow.

Now with the Injens/AEMs their design is alright, but filter placement is poor.

With the Takeda/R2C short ram intakes don't do much since they pull engine bay air. (Top Secret claims to do better than stillen with a short ram design, but there have been no independent dyno's to back this up)

With the stillens yes you have to remove the front bumper to install/clean filters... but once installed, you only need to clean the filters every 30k miles or so... so it's not like once a month. I don't want to take off my bumper either, but that's not too unreasonable...

Just my :twocents:

Thanks for your input Chris reps for that.

A quick question, whats the best intake? :stirthepot:

By the way all... the stock spare according to the weight savings thread is 35 lbs. a car that weighs 3300 lbs with appoximately 260 whp (just a guess on the baseline) has 0.07492795389049 hp per lb... so taking out your spare is like adding about 2.6 hp... so remember when you add a mod that adds weight, though you are gaining some, you are also losing some.... i'm sure most of you know that... it's just a little fact.

*edit* actually it's 3470 lbs ... I also added my weight of 170 lbs. I guess it's time to cut again :-D

please don't start stuff in my thread... this is not why I made it.

/\ x2 good info right there.

:tiphat:

Yes weight savings can help improve a butt dyno, but on a rotary 'real' dyno, it won't matter. So its up to you... But when swapping intakes for stock ones, the weight 'savings' won't be drastic enough to notice. That's when you start swapping brake rotors, wheels, exhaust, interior panels, trunk, etc... And unless you're planning on taking it to the strip/track, weight savings won't really matter. This is why I don't mind my 150lbs of dead weight [stereo] in the trunk. :tup:

Best intake... Use stock with k and n filters. That's that.

^ If you want to take it a little further, stock with post MAF tubes and K&N filters. BANG.

^^ This is my current setup.

http://www.the370z.com/members/xwchr...gine-cover.jpg

GOD that looks ugly. i take it all back!

:roflpuke2: i kid, i kid.

:eek: :crying:

/wrists


:bowrofl:

How dare you post a picture of your car with the engine bay being so dirty!!!!!:shakes head:

intakes like the stillen are expensive, but gotta remember there are 2 individual systems. just one of the two is similiar priced to what you will pay for a comparable single intake for a single throttle vehicle.

to even get 10hp from an intake on a car like this is GREAT RESULTS.... so if you see people saying 16 or 20... well if you even get half that you are in great shape.

The HP per dollar ratio sucks when modifying a car such as this, thats for sure. But its either swallow it or sell the car.

No amount of NA mods is going to put the car into another league. You will inch away from a stock 370z, but its not going to make the 370z beat cars that it couldnt before, assuming same driver skill level and not taking into account the massive 1/4 times changes you will see based on the 60' time which would be improved with the right tires and alignment etc... im just referencing strictly how hard the car pulls.

you probably already know all this, but im just reminding you so you dont forget that in the end you will be spending a few grand to get 20-30hp.

what about the dry drop ins ? I forgot the name of them.

K&N?

as people said the stock intake is pretty good. The Stillens would be better. can you properly test the gains on a dyno, its hard.

Find a dyno that is in doors in a temp controlled facility and with a wind tunnel and the testing will show that the stillens are probably the best (just be design)

The OEM is probably on par with the AEM / Injen except for the rougher tubing / more restrictive filter.

The issue mostly comes up with gains/$

But, i can tell you that when i removed my stillen Gen III's theres definitely a flat spot in the power at the high end.

AFE Dry Flow Filters. I have them in with Post MAF Tubes... I like the setup and not having to oil the filter is a big plus in my book...

We're mixing up price with performance. When it comes to performance gains Stillen and Injen are the best, they place the filters far away or out of the way of hot air thus creating more power.

The bang for the buck intake has been the MAF tubes and drop in filters.

Personally I went with Injen but I got them slightly used from a forum member at a very good deal, haven't had a chance to dyno since the install.

If you really want to wake up the Z and you plan on staying NA throw down for some gears 4.08's will really wake you up.

Not exactly as clear cut as you make it seem. There are far too many variables to determine how much hp's translate to weight. Its more relevant in race type environment like a drag strip.

The thing to consider about breather mod's is that they do add up. It's a give and take. There's only so much you can do with intakes in general. $500 or so for the Gen 3's is a lot, but so are most CBE. Technically I can see why they would charge that much since essentially you are buying two intakes.

The drop-in's will likely net you 6-10 hp @ the wheels which translates to a few more at the flywheel. Not bad for under $200 IMO.

What are the downsides or disadvantages to getting 4.08 gears, especially considering a Z that is DD and driven mostly on the highway? I've asked this question around in a couple of different threads but never really got an answer. I'm interested in getting them, but not if they severely affect the DD capability of my Z.

you're engine will run at higher rpms with the 4.08's. This will lead to decreased gas mileage, and more wear on tear on the engine. (it takes more energy to drive at 3400 rpms than 2800 rpms)

your first gear will also be super short, and all gears after that you will move through quicker.

ive been back and forth between getting them and not.

also, you have a 7at so you will also need a manuel rear end to run 4.08's.
It will run you close to $4k including labor to have this done just so you know.

Well that makes my decision easy! :icon17:

How much would it be not including labor? I may have some friends who are very skilled with working on cars and maybe able to help me do it for a lot less.

i was quoted at like 3500 but that included an LSD i think, so 2500 ish


apparently its not a very easy job. especially for the auto guys.

That sucks. Eliminates that mod as a possibility for me.

The gains are already proven: Stillen still makes the most peak power, second Injen and third are the K&N drop ins and post MAF tubes. However, to get the most out of the Stillen intakes in particular, I still believe that a tune is necessary in order to tune the A/F ratio for safe and optimal power as the different diameter of the G3 intake pipes will cause the MAF to see a higher total volume of air flow.

There are numerous threads on this whole debate already, I think the title of the thread only serves to stir a well documented pot.

I thought ive heard that these gains are like 14 - 18 or whatever but thats on stock cars. Once you put exhaust pieces on they drop to close to what the Post MAF tubes create with exhaust pieces on. Thats why people go for them. Has anyone with exhaust pieces on their cars dyno'd before and after with any intakes?

I think you can gain some of it back with a proper tune and net a larger gain overall with the Gen 3's.

so.. why would the stillens gain be lower when you have an exhaust and not the post maf tubes?

truthfully the gains by both would be lower (if the post maf even gives any gains)

From what I understand lets say the g3's claim 16whp and that's your first mod, you may reach that. FI TDX claims around 22whp and you add that next, you're not gonna see a 16whp gain and then another 22whp gain. So on and so forth from each future mod, at least that's what's been explained to me, I could be wrong about that but just trying to help with some of the confusion of whp gains people have gotten from the same mod.

It's not a scam. It's just how engines breathe. I'm not technical enough to explain it, but the advertised hp gains are noted against a stock setup, assuming all other parts are factory. When combining the parts, they do not simply stack those hp numbers, because both parts effect how the engine breathes.

From what I've read, I think usually for most combinations of intake/exhaust/HFC or TP/tune there's around a 30 whp gain. Please correct me if I'm wrong about this.

I was trying to find some actual numbers for the R2C's, but there's nothing. It does look like quite a solid design and a very nice fitment.

However as said... there's no real numbers on it.

Correct, which is why peak power should be considered. At this point in time, the cars reading the most power regardless of mods with a set of Stillen G3 intakes still nets the most power.

There is a law of diminishing returns as you stack up mods as the engine reaches peak volumetric efficiency. This is essentially because the engine has a set volume (displacement) and while it is impossible to achieve 100% VE due to turbulence/friction/leaks, you can get closer with breathing mods on the intake and exhaust sides. I'm not an expert on this at all, but one of the variables in getting better volumetric effeciency is not only total air flow volume, but also density.

Since the G3 intakes sit in the best location of all intakes, they can intake cooler air than the Injens or stock airbox just on the location alone. Cooler air is denser, therefore it will make slightly more power in all conditions on that quality alone. But it then comes down to a few wheel horsepower between intake setups and whether a person believes pursuing those couple horsepower is worth the extra cost of the G3s or Injens over the K&N drop ins/MAF tubes.


For me, the sound, looks and peak power/torque of the G3s made it worthwhile. However, I also picked them up from a forum member for a fair amount less than a brand new set. I still believe they are the best intakes out there at the moment in my opinion if cost is not an object.

Thanks for the info, this is why I will be picking up a set of G3s in the future :tup:

Guys just me talking,

You want to play you gotta pay. We have all heard it before. If you want true answers on parts look for people with the same setup u want and get the numbers. I found one guy and the only difference is I have a stilled ud and he has nst. So u want real numbers do it that way, im just saying.

I used to believe this too, but after this thread http://www.the370z.com/intake-exhaus...e-intakes.html im kinda confused on how intakes work.

Unless there is another factor involved in that test, I do not believe those dyno numbers. While the TS intake shroud will block a lot of radiant heat, it is still not sealed and is sucking in hot air from the engine bay. The TS intake is still an expensive glorified short ram intake most of which have been shown to have no power gains or even hurt power.

Get the lighter flywheel and Clutch. it will have similar effects. i totally loved mine personally over the gears.