I am very happy to say that I've successfully installed R2C tonight. Took me about 3 hours because I took my time and I am glad I did. I then took the car out for test driving on local and highway and so far I like every bit of the changes to the car. I already have stillen cat back, before the install I am very skeptical that I would gain any sound, but now not only the sound is louder, it sounds deeper and meaner when you step on it. The throttle response feel a lot better too. Just before this I was thinking about getting a hypertech programmer to improve the throttle now I might have to reconsider it. I can't wait to drive the car again tomorrow morning.

I am not going to post any picture here. It's pretty much the same if you google the images for "g37 r2c intake".

I ordered the intake from Tunerz_Store over the weekend, it's only Wednesday night and I have installed already. I highly recommend Tunerz_Store.

I do have couple questions although:
1) It seems pretty normal that passenger side intake is sitting higher than the driver side, however it's not as close to the air duct. I can't lower the passenger side instake anymore, it there anything I can do to optimize the air flow?
2) I like how the car drives as is now, do I really need to reset the ECU?

Hope I can get some insights from you and may this be an inspiration to get yours installed.

 

Not sure about 1 but I believe the ecu is continously learning. So even if you don't reset it with time it will end up the same. Resetting just speeds up the process. Just how I think it works.

 

Congrats! The best thing to do is once you have all your mods installed, get a tune to get the most gains out of all the mods.

 

My thought exactly. Thanks.

 

I think I am done with engine tunes(exhaust and intake, suggestion for more?), what's left are mods for looks, BBK, lights and wheels etc. The closest uprev tuner is ~5 hours away from me. I might just get a hypertuner to play with.

 

I did more reading on the r2c instake and learned that the rubber edges on the heat shields need to touch the hood liner in order to get optimal cold air flow and seal out hot air from the engine bay.

I believe the r2c design can be perfected by bending the pipes downward a little bit more just to get the filters closer to the air duct for the stock intake.

No matter how I adjust the L bracket, the driver side instake sits lower than the passenger side. I've seen few photos of the sedan installation like this, not sure about the coupe.

 

Well, you have a CBE right? What about RHFC? That will help as well

 

Intake, HFC, catback... each by themselves could result in anywhere from 3-6 hp gains. Collectively, maybe 10-12, because power increases from intake/exhaust bolt-on mods are not aggregated. In fact, depending on the mod and the car, sometimes they are actually a detriment to power.

However, if you get an UpREV tune on top of all that, you can likely double the results. Making a 5 hour road trip worth the effort, IMO. Assuming there's personal value in dyno numbers and bragging rights.

I'm no gear-head; there are far more experienced voices here to listen to. But that still seems like reasonable advice.

Also, most of that what you're experiencing as "improved throttle response" isn't at your foot, it's between your ears. The added aural input, along with heightened expectations, is what's changing your perception of the experience. And there's nothing wrong with that! Enjoy it.