Intakes... are they ALL just a scam?

[Methodical4u]

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?

[XwChriswX]

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

[Methodical4u]

Thanks for your input Chris reps for that.

[Trips]

A quick question, whats the best intake?

[Methodical4u]

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

[Methodical4u]

Originally Posted by Triple's

A quick question, whats the best intake?

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

[FL 4Motion]

Originally Posted by XwChriswX

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

/\ x2 good info right there.

[XwChriswX]

Originally Posted by Methodical4u

Thanks for your input Chris reps for that.

Originally Posted by Methodical4u

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

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.

[Jamaica]

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

[phelan]

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

[XwChriswX]

Originally Posted by phelan

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

^^ This is my current setup.

[phelan]

GOD that looks ugly. i take it all back!

i kid, i kid.

[XwChriswX]

Originally Posted by phelan

GOD that looks ugly. i take it all back!

i kid, i kid.

/wrists

[V8Killer]

Originally Posted by XwChriswX

^^ This is my current setup.

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

[phunk]

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.