Z1 smooth tubes worth it?

bat6wc

Ive had the tubes before and now I actually begin to question if the slinky/ribbed style tubes arent actually beneficial. if you look at several high performance vehicle engines (lamborghini, ferarri, vipers, corvettes) they all appear to have the slinky style intake tube. There must be a reason. I doubt its for sound, mpg or emissions. Maybe the ribs cause just the slight amount of turbulence actually needed for smooth air intake flow. I also wonder if maybe smooth tubes are beneficial on forced inductions vehicles? Ive had numerous intakes both CAI and SRI as well as silicone tubes on the VQ.

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xS || UpRev ||

tranceformer

I think they OEM tubes are there to allow for any engine movement.

Example, my old fox body mustang had an aftermarket cold air intake (drew air from the fender). It was old so the motormounts were a bit worn. Every now and then if I shift a gear hard enough the tubes would pop loose from the silicon couplers.

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Ray
2009 370Z Base Sport 6MT / 12.860 @ 109.09mph / 1.921 60ft / street tires
official 1/4 mile track times

chops

you know..i didnt think about that.

note for those who install these (like i have), check the tubes every so often for loose fitment! i check my oil levels religiously every few weeks so i'll just add this as another thing to jiggle to make sure its tight

tranceformer

I wouldn't worry about these coming loose after hard driving.

There were a few reasons why it would happen on my old Mustang. There wasn't much of the piping for the couplers to attach to, combine that with the old motormounts and you got a problem if you're not careful. It was pretty easy to tell when it was loose, CEL would pop on and it would run kinda choppy... almost sounded like it had a really aggressive cam in the motor.

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Ray
2009 370Z Base Sport 6MT / 12.860 @ 109.09mph / 1.921 60ft / street tires
official 1/4 mile track times