DIY Intake

Jordo!

It depends on where and how much tho'. Many OEM MAF's have airflow sraighteners to reduce tumble effects and thus take more stable readings as air passes over the hotwire. Ours doesn't and is thus very sensitive to misreads when pre-MAF turbulence is introduced.

Also, we're talking air ingestion into a system ("suck") not the mixing and compression of air and fuel ("squish"). At that point, turbulence is not really an issue again until we get to its expulsion ("blow") to facilitate optimally timed post combustion (bang) events to re-create vacuum inside the cylinders (ready to "suck" again). However, internal turbulence can work against effective mixing, its just less of an issue as the aim is compression at a fixed point (timed spark event).

VE is another issue entirely -- effective cylinder filling, usage of the mixture, and ultimate emptying of post-combustion gasses. With a turbo, some of that is re-routed, to be used to spin the turbine, but, yes, restrictions or poor flow characteristics matter there too.

On the intake side of things, its a balance between smooth flow and speed vs. volume (faster in a narrower tube, slower in a wider tube, all things being equal), provided the engine can optimally accommodate the volume of air being drawn in.

As to the flex-tubing on the Z, that's strictly convenience (and maybe a bit of extra outer cooling) for Nissan -- "smooth tubes" definitely make a bit more power than the OEM ones as verified on several before and after dynos -- same diameter, smoother transitions, less flex, less internal turbulence, more airspeed, improved flow, better power.

Straitened vs greater turbulence is also a factor even in filtering incoming air. Straightened air simply flows faster, all else being held equal.

On a somewhat related note, you will have greater filling with hot over cold air, as the gasses expand, but you have less oxygen (reduced efficiency) taking up the same volume, thus, less power to be made during combustion events... same is true at higher altitudes as well.

BTW, compressors work by functionally improving VE by cramming more oxygen into the same space (available volume of each cylinder), not by simply creating a greater volume of gas. It's the number of oxygen molecules (and, well, a concordant volume of fuel) that matters.

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