Top Secret Dual Cold Air Intake 370Z
 

Hey Everyone,

Top Secret has just released their Dual Cold Air Intake for the 2009-2010 Nissan 370Z:

http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/...37_intake1.jpg



As you can see and hear, Top Secret has perfected this Intake to be the best possible Intake for your Z on the Market.

Swat Performance is offering this Intake for $1,100.00 plus shipping to you.

If you would like to purchase this Intake simply email Ken Sanders at info@swatperformance.net or order directly from www.swatperformance.net.

Thank you,

Ken Sanders
Swat Performance

Cold air intake? How you figure? It's sucking air right off the engine.

Price is kinda steep

Considering these short rams have proven minimal gains on the Z, if not HP losses, yeah, you could say that's a tad pricey.

Price has everything to do with quality and end result. When you consider the overall gains, materials, testing, and who made this Intake, the price won't matter much. This Intake is not for everyone, I understand. You have the proof now against one other manufacturer; Stillen. Their product is half the price but on a dyno run, overall can't compete.

I only offer another option. Top Secret is just simply one of the best choices you can make if money is not an option.

Ken Sanders
Swat Performance

Increased HP definitely may warrant higher prices, but unless I missed something both here and on your website, I don't see even a dyno by you, much less an independent dyno.

If you mean for 2x price, then I'd say "Increased" HP better be 2x the competition... So say +50 HP? That sounds about right...

yeah, I may chip in $1100 for those gains.

But seriously:

"When you consider the overall gains, materials, testing, and who made this Intake, the price won't matter much."

1.We don't know the gains
2. Is the idea that your materials are far superior to stillen? What are these costly materials? It can't be quantity, because your pipes are less than half the piping of stillen's system.
3. Testing? So you do have dyno sheets to provide?

Also, I know it's just Wikipedia, but I found this hilarious:
"However, the term "cold air intake" is often used incorrectly to describe an air filter system with an exposed filter in the engine bay, which actually increases the temperature of the air entering an engine."

:wtf2:

Top Secret Intake
 

I appreciate your opinion, however, here is your proof:

http://www.the370z.com/intake-exhaus...e-intakes.html

Top Secret makes nothing just because. If Top Secret makes a product, they take everything into consideration and begin to create something that is simply better. I applaude Top Secret for taking the time to manufacture something that is simply overall....the best for your car.

It is my love and my passion to find and offer the best quality products, best customer service and continual proven overall performance results for you the USA Customer. :tup:

Sincerely,

Ken Sanders
Swat Performance

Thanks Ken,
I wasn't really stating an opinion as much as looking for information. 5 extra hp is nothing scoff at. I don't know if 5 extra hp makes it worth more than double the price of the stillen, but I do understand that for some, having the best product available is worth the extra loot. I'm sure the ease of install may be something people take into consideration. No hard feelings :tiphat:

Hey Frost,

I really appreciate your imput! BTW, I love what you drive ( My Wife Crazy ), that is awesome!

The coolest thing about modding is that everyone has imput. Without it companies would never know if customers like their products or not. The reason I love Top Secret so much is because I know Smoky Nagata and he stands for perfection and loves people. Therefore I stand behind him and his company, not to mention to be able to get 5 additional true real horsepower out of an Intake is pretty amazing, Lol.

Thanks again Frost!!!

Ken Sanders
Swat Performance

I'd still love to know how this short intake design is different from, say...the HKS Suction Reloaded ones. I can appreciate "design secrets", but when it doubles the price of the next competitor, there had better be a VERY good reason for it.

I think they already answered the question regarding why the intake is double the price.

"When you consider the overall gains, materials, testing, and who made this Intake, the price won't matter much."

This must be the Gucci of intakes made by a master ninja. There can't be much in the way of design secrets when you are talking about a metal tube and a foam filter.

:iagree: I can buy metal tubes from AutoZone that are the same dimentions... And slap a Top Secret sticker on it, can I then sell it for such an extreme price as well?

A name may be well respected, but that doesnt justify this much of a spike... :ugh2:

If you can go to Autozone and buy some metal tubes and then put a Top Secret Emblem on it and it beats the overall gains of the Top Secret Intake on an actual dyno run, I'll buy you a Top Secret Intake.

You people have to be out of your gourd to want $1100 for that thing. You and just about every other 3rd-party Z part manufacturer are consumer predators when it comes to providing parts for these Z cars. And yes I know perfectly well there are two intakes but the entire apparatus shouldn't cost more than $400 to $500 tops for the actual amount and kind of physical material being purchased.

Why don't you people learn to quit acting like carpet-baggers guouging the hell out of the Z consumers? And don't even try to excuse your behavior using that "cost to produce" :bs: because we all know for a fact your profit margins are 3 to 4 times what standard profit margins should be to create something like that. :shakes head::shakes head::shakes head:

lol :icon18:

fix'd

Can you comment on how this is different from other short ram intakes? I'm curious as to how it produces so much more power. Maybe a shot down the tubes with the filters off?

That's a little harsh, don't you think? Swat is just the retailer. Chances are that this thing is overpriced at the wholesale level. Point being, while I think your sentiments are actually somewhat justified, I think they'd be better aimed at TS rather than Swat.

Hey ZKindaGuy,

I appreciate your imput and opinion and am sorry you feel that way about Top Secret. I can tell you that Top Secret Intakes are not for everyone and yes, they are expensive. You need to consider though that Top Secret is in Japan and is very well known for developing the best possible products no matter what it is. Top Secret goes to great lenghts to produce the best possible parts for your car and that is the reason my company offers them.

Top Secret products are expensive and rare but perfectly made. They are not for everyone. Just because they cost more than other products does not mean that they are overpriced or price gouging. They are simply the best products on the market. There are so many other products from hundreds of manufacturers around the world that are chaeper and do an ok job. I will stand behind Top Secret no matter what because Smoky Nagata is a genius and makes beautiful, precise, perfect products.

Who can argue or blame them for offering these products?

Ken Sanders
Swat Performance

Sem, he did say "Z part manufacturer", which would imply that he is talking about TS. But i understand how you could take that as being towards Swat.

Ken, where is cypress, TX? Might be interesting to put them up against my injen's as well as a stillen CAI on a car with full bolt-ons (which most people that have intakes have).

Hey Caravanshaka,

Cypress, Tx is on the upper NW side of Houston. I think that is a fantastic idea. We can dyno both one right after the other and post up the results. Hey, I welcome everyone's ideas!

Ken

you are a long way from me unfortunately, are you near Spring? My wife is from there so that is the only place I know, lol.

We do have some people in the houston area that could probably help with that. theDreamer and TX370 and kdo2milger come to mind.

Oh. My bad for not catching that. :o

If these are made in Japan and are considered JDM, then that alone would explain why they're expensive compared to parts made in the US. Anything that's JDM is going to be priced high. Just look at exhausts and even oil coolers.

^exactly why I support US when I can :tup:

And again I ask, what sets this set of intakes apart from others with similar designs? How did Nagata-san specifically 'tune', if that is the correct word, a short air intake to beat a long tube CAI, which ostensibly is a better system due to its ability to get colder air than what is available in the engine bay?

From an engineering perspective I see nothing that can justify the price, even considering it as a JDM item. I'd love to compare these side by side with the HKS Suction Reloaded and see what exactly has changed. I'm all for JDM, just look what I'm doing with Amuse. But this is one of those parts that really raises some concern for me.

With that said, I'm not on the market for these, so I'll leave my thoughts at this.

I don't mean to discourage buyers interested in Top Secret products, I just want to get a better understanding from a more...'academic' standpoint, I suppose.

In terms of parts and performance, TS has been around for a long time, and has a great reputation, so if someone wants them, by all means go get them.

Ken, about those parts I asked for...lol

I don't need a fancy name on my intakes to make me happy.... performance and aesthetics, price and sound all play a part. :twocents:

Just give me the green light phelan!!! Lol, I'll have them on the way.

Ken

I agree wheee,

It just depends on what you're trying to accomplish with your car. Daily driver, Show Car, Drift Car, Etc. Your right. Top Secret is not for everyone. I appreciate your opinion.

Ken

Id like to see the schematics and diagrams of Contenders (Injen, Stillen, HKS, Tanaka etc.) All laid out side by side and have measurements taken of the exhausts...
Basically every facet that might have some bearing on overall performance gain.

I can't speak personally as I do not know each of their engineers, but to say this one individual has done the impossible with less and created something stellar...
Kinda sounds like a lot of smoke puffing.

So TS is a good well respected name. OK
They have made very good looking and JDM parts. OK
They have been around with this car and done their work and created what they believe is the by far best all around intake. OK

How? What have they done different than the others?

What is the filter made from? What is its filtration ability compared to the HKS or Takada, both being SR Intakes as well...

How have they counteracted the thermal variance taking air from inside the engine bay, yet gain more than an intake bringing in cooler air?

Do they have some secret to designing the piping to make the air do something inside the pipe similar to what Weapon-R does with their intakes?

I understand you can have a dyno that says we produce more... But simply saying it is one thing. But where is the science/fact/testing to back it up?

By no means is this against Swat in any way. I see since you sell alot of TS/Mines parts, you guys know what your doing.
I'm just looking for some data here to beef up the claims.

Let me ask you a honest question. In order for me to convince you that Top Secret has made one of the best possible Intakes on the market, I would have to go buy each of the Intakes you specified, install each one on the same Z, dyno each one and post up the end results, right?
What do you think would happen if my company, Swat Performance, called Injen Technology, Steve Millen at Stillen, HKS and Tanaka and others and told them what I was going to do and if they would be willing to send me one of their Intakes so I could put them on a 370Z and run them against Top Secret to prove that Top Secret has developed the highest quality, fitment and overall gains Intake? Lol.
I think they would say no, but thank you anyways. Do you agree?
I actually think that this is a brilliant idea and if I had the money, would!

Ken Sanders
Swat Performance

Just call each of them and tell them you are going to conduct an intake shoot-out, and if they have faith in their product they can supply you one. Hell, for injen and stillen, you could find someone to buy them at a discount pretty easily after the shoot-out for a "lightly used" set.

In turn, Ken, let me give you an honest response. If I read it correctly, Chris is actually asking what are dimensional feature changes between the various systems. We've seen the dyno, but we can't understand why the results came out as they did. Did TS put something inside the tubing? Does the material used differ, and hence some sort of thermal conductivity coefficient come into play? I highly doubt it, but considering the intake we're talking about, I would not be surprised to see some curveballs being thrown. I'll take this moment to say that I have the Injen intakes, and I'm by no means biased towards either party in the Smoky vs. Stillen thread.

I think he (and I) are approaching it from a more design engineering perspective than anything else. Again, it's academia, but they're engineering questions that deserve engineering responses, not a dyno sheet going "hey I made this much power" and making hand-wavey gestures as to how the power was made.

I can understand certain things being "proprietary design", but to my initial review, Top Secret has done nothing different than HKS in the design of their intake.

Also the way you have worded it is misleading. I honestly have no doubt that companies would love to "stack up" against each other and would be happy to provide something for a test bed. Each has taken the time to design a product, I'm sure they stand behind it, now we get to see how they do against each other. It's like any other car-related war (like the domestics are fighting right now between the Mustang, Camaro, and Challenger). (EDIT: Caravan beat me to this point lol)

Now word it to say "please provide a sample so I can prove to this annoying forum-goers that Top Secret is so much better than your product", and yes you will get some negative responses. It's all about how you approach the problem.

Again, I invite you or a representative of your company, as the primary Top Secret suppliers on this board, to approach someone in TS and see if they would be willing to answer some of the questions we have. They're not hard. I can translate to and from Japanese too, if necessary.

better yet, say that you will hold an auction for 1 week for each of the intakes that were used, and 80% of the proceeds that their intake got will go back to them, and 20% will go towards the cost of the dyno runs. The better gains will obviously sell for higher, and will give the company a little extra $$ for being the best :)

I do :D (and us being different is what makes things even more interesting)

Like most things in life, Brand name plays a big roll and carries a price tag itself. Arguing against that is pointless.

My wife wants a $2000 Louis Vuitton purse, which I'll buy her next week(and it'll make her extremely happy and I hope she will smile when i tell her I want to buy a GTR lol). Would there be a point in explaining to her to buy a Walmart brand for $30? I mean, its made of leather too, has zippers and carries her wallet and makeup.

I agree not every chic can afford a $2k purse but almost all of them want one.

Happiness > *


PS Smoky was at Import Reactor in Houston last week. If anyone really wanted to know about the intakes, they could have come and asked in person. I appreciate a healthy debate on the forums but what would be the point of an intake shootout (besides didnt Baker Nissan do this already?). Besides Top Secret being a more prestigious brand than Injen, Stillen etc, their engineering skills/experience is greater. I dont think a couple of HP gains will swing buyers one way or another. Of course not, this is just an intake. People will buy what they like/can afford regardless of the results of the intake comparison. :D The main issue here is price, not HP gains.

I think they as the developers and the people behind the lines developing their product would like to prove that their efforts weren't in vain. I'm simply promoting grounds to back the Claim of 'Perfection' as TS is saying in this, and in a few other of their products. If it is perfect, what did they do differently that the other guys just completely overlooked...

I don't care how much it is, if its a significant part, then of course, I'll fork out whatever I have to to have the best. But I want something fact based, not 'we're better than you because we're from where we are' type statements.

Also I think any such contest would help your business as it would attract many peoples attention who might simply scoff at this based on the price. If they see them all laid out side by side and there is a CLEAR reason why TS is so much better, I doubt you will have a problem getting them off your shelves. Hell I'd donate my Z for a bone stock intake only comparison since that's what we're after. Not which intake does the best with additional mods, but simply which intake alone is the best.

Happiness is one thing, but how happy are you when you see your wallet go from $$$ to ...

But not all of us can make it to events such as that, and all we're asking for is the companies like Swat who are very reputable, and have good relations with the manufacturers to do a little legwork and bring us good data so we can decide what we want. Price be damned.