MyG37 - Review Stillen CAI Generation 3 Thoughts, Dyno, and Vid with Berk HFC & FI Carbon Exhaust

Where to start? Well Saturday was a very long day for me at the dyno. I think I spent close to 8 hours up there. First we will start with the testing process. The installs were done on the dyno like Stillen requested. This required the removal of the front bumper before we put it on the dyno as you will see in the pics. Since Stillen did not say to do any ECU resets they were not done except for one, by accident, before the car was put on the dyno. I got up to the dyno shop about an hour early so I had them install a part on my car which required them to disconnect the battery and this reset the ECU. Not a big deal especially since I still wanted to set up the gearing on the Magden computer which I hadn't done yet so that took some dyno time up and got they ECU adjusted. Stillen wanted 3 baselines done but we did 4. On the 3rd and 4th runs with the stock intake we lost power so we stopped doing runs. Stillen also wanted 8 runs done with their intake which we did. The intake gained power all the way up to the 7th run. All runs were done at 83 degrees Celsius (one or two of the Stillen runs might start at 84). Stillen requested 183 to 186 degrees fahrenheit for the test which came out to 83 to 85 Celsius which the Magden computer monitors in. One the Magden computer we logged RPM, Engine Coolant Temp, Intake Air Temp, Ignition Timing, and Mass Air Flow. Also the Stillen splash guard was installed for the runs as you can see in the pics.

We tested the JWTs for which is not important for this review and will be discussed in another thread. We then put on the stock intakes and ran them for 4 runs until there was power loss. Here are some dyno pics for you people:

Attachment 174615
Stock setup

Attachment 174616
Stock setup

Here are some pics of the Stillen CAI Gen 3 setup:

Attachment 174617

Attachment 174618

Attachment 174619

Here is a pic of the only issue we had with the intake. The intake bolts for the clamps that are up by the intake manifold were way to long and required cutting when we were done dynoing:

Attachment 174620
Long Bolt

Attachment 174621
Bolt cut down

I must say that this is the best intake for the G37 so far and the Magden computer showed why. It irritates me now know what I saw with the Stillen intake which you didn't see with the JWT or the Stock. I had to go back over the log data for the stock intake to confirm that this didn't happen on that intake or the JWT (still need to look at the JWT logs). What I am getting at here is the Intake Air Temp. I ran some decent numbers with the JWT at a temp of 36 Celsius and some good numbers with the stock at 30 Celsius. When the stock intake got up to 32 C is lost power and I would imagine the intake would get a little bit hotter. The Stillen CAI ran in the 28 to 29 C temp. Now you have to understand that when we got up to the 5th run and higher the Stillen intake was sitting at 34 to 36 C when we started the runs but at soon as we started the run the intake air temp would drop like a rock to 28 or 29 C in a matter of a couple seconds or less. This didn't happen with the stock intake. It stayed consistent with the temp it was at when the run started. It would maybe drop 1 C. Now before the Stillen I was mainly looking at this section just to verify how hot the intakes were getting and I was pleasantly surprised to see the temp drop like that with the Stillen. The placement of the sensors must be part of this equation. Before going any further, here is a video of the Stillen intake. I don't have a great camera so sorry if the quality sucks:

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f7...h_MOV00633.jpg
Stillen CAI Gen 3 dyno run

I think the Stillen intake sounds rather good. It seems to sound a lot like the JWT but the sound seems to be more equalized across the total RPM range. What I mean by this is that you can hear the sound sooner on the Stillen then on the JWT. I think they both sound similar but because of how soon the Stillen starts to make noise and how the noise picks up at an even pass, I like the Stillen a little better than the JWT. Sorry Stillen but I had to compare it to JWT because the stock intake system SUCKS for sound. :biggthumpup:

Now without anymore waiting here is the dyno. This dyno sheet has the best of the Stock and the best of the Stillen runs.

Attachment 174622

Now you can definitely feel the power increase across the whole band for this intake. The stock and Stillen do touch around 6k to 6500RPM but this should be correctable with an ECU tune/reflash. The same would go for the dip between 2k and 2500RPM. My tuner does this all the time so as soon as the Cobb AP is available then this will be better. I was amazed at how much more power I had out of my car. Sixth gear on the way home felt like it had a good more kick in it. Didn't have to downshift once to pass anyone due to the additional kick. Now before you flame out, you can fell the power but it is not like hitting a NOS button or anything like that. ;) The increased power felt the same as when I got my HFCs installed but this felt a little better just because you don't loss that initial power that you will loss on your G over a stock G between 2000 and 2500RPM when you install any power performance part. Take a look at my stock versus this dyno which I will be posting in the dyno sticky after I am done with this post. :D

Now before answering Kyle's questions I would just like to get my thoughts out about hydro-lock with this system since that seems to be a concern. After thinking this over a good bit and talking to the dyno shop, I would have to say that hydro-lock on this system would be rather hard to do. The only two variables that would have to happen to get the car to hydro-lock would be for the filters to get submerged of course. The other way would be for the intake filters to get soaked by direct water and the filters would need to retain the water. With the K&N filters being oiled, I don't see how this is possible but I honestly don't know if they can hold water like a towel for example which might cause enough suction for the intake to take in water. It would be like taking a water hose and a vacuum hose and letting the water hose stream water down that then taking your vacuum and trying to suck in the water as it is falling. Water is much heaver than air so no water will get sucked in unless some type of suction happens which cuts the airflow from the vacuum. I hope this makes sense. Take it as you see fit though.

Here are the questions that Kyle wanted answered with my answers:
1) Power gains- Obviously...haha

The power gains are felt across the whole power curve. To be honest I was amazed and shocked to see that this worked.

2) Appearance- What do you think of this intake visually? What do you think of the build quality?

The intake looks great and I got many compliments from the dyno staff and customers that were at the shop. Many people stayed around just to check it out. The build quality was excellent. The only problem I would point out is the length of the bolts for the top clamps. Not sure if I just received the wrong bolt size but two of them were to long.

3) Fit and finish- What do you think of the intake when it is finally installed? Does it look good? Do you not like it? If so, what don't you like?

The intake looks great. Polished look makes my engine bay look so much better. Plus I can trick people into thinking that my intake system is going down to an inter-cooler for a turbo setup. :bowrofl:

4) Ease of installation- We know that this is not going to be an easy intake to install as we do recommend removing the fascia. However, it would still be good to hear about it.

This is a horrible install. By horrible I mean it is not easy because of the front bumper removal. The installer also need to cut out the inlet piece that the Stillen intake goes through (where the stock intake pulls air) to get the tubes through. I am told that you don't need to remove the front bumper but the Stillen instructions were followed and it worked out in the end.

5) Sound- Does it give you a warm fuzzy feeling when you accelerate and hear it howl?

This system sounds great. It is a little hard to hear with my setup when I drive though because of my Fast Intentions Carbon Fiber exhaust though but you can still hear it. You just have to listen for it. ;)

Enjoy everyone. :thewave:

BBoysteele