If you want a cold air intake, but don't want to worry about removing material from your radiator support, check out the Z1 intakes: https://www.z1motorsports.com/air-in...gjv3aqcpouj9b5

Cheaper than Stillen too.

 

z1 looks sick.

 

I have them on my car. No complaints

 

Is there a splash guard?

 

Not yet, but I have not needed it with my stock grille- still in sleeper mode. Z1 says they are working on it, but nothing made yet. If you have an aftermarket mesh grille, you could probably get Stillen guards and get them to fit or just make something.

 

LOL...yeah. I actually have seen a few that are even cheaper on Ebay...less than $100. I'm probably going to go with a Z1 now that I have seen it, but it will likely be this fall...too busy right now with work, and it will soon be too hot to do optional car work here.

 

According to stillen rep, it's not a splash guard/shield. It's a shield to control the air flow. Which to me doesn't seem to necessary. But maybe it is for Z1.

 

... but that racecar WHOOOSH sound, tho.


pay $400+ to gain a horsepower or two with a CAI and lose low end torque (the G37 isn't exactly a freight train in the low end torque department)?

ummm... no thanks.

 

That is literally the dumbest thing I have heard from Stillen, but I am not surprised at all. I would not believe what any rep at Stillen says. I have called them multiple times with questions about products I have gotten from them and I can get better advice from a Wal Mart cashier.

Per Stillen's website: "urethane splash guards are included in the kit to help protect the filters"

"a horsepower or two"? Stillen claims 14hp without even getting a tune. My Z1 intakes with a tune provided the largest gains I have experienced so far in my car.

 

how much did you gain with the intakes WITHOUT a tune? i think your main gain may be the tune.

do you think Infiniti would design restrictive airboxes? is the engine starved for air with the factory setup? stock, i bet it flows more air than the engine can handle.

 

Tunes just optimize what you currently have. The stock set-up is set to balance power and MPG. So yes, the stock airbox is restrictive but it works for the current set-up to achieve these goals for Infiniti. Even a simple K&N drop in filter added roughly +10 Hp & TQ on the dyno - Check out motorvates videos for dyno sheets of that.

A CAI will still net you some horses without a tune but everyone knows the real gains occur after the tune....That's why everyone says to do it last; so you can get everything working together.

 

Stillen's claims are based on dyno results.

Every factory engineer has to balance performance, mpgs, durability, and NVH with every part they make. So of course there are restrictions as far as performance is concerned. If that were not true, then the aftermarket simply would not exist.

If the stock air box design "flows more air than the engine can handle," then why do people supercharge and turbocharge the car?

Sounds like you are trying pretty hard to convince yourself not to get cold air intakes. If you don't want them on your car, fine, but don't try to dispute facts with your illogical ideas.

 

Naturally aspirated vs. forced induction. Two different things.

 

Clearly. My point was that if the stock intakes flow more air than the engine can handle, then there would be no way to turbo or supercharge the engine. Obviously that is not the case.

 

I would go with the short ram intakes over the long tube. IMO the short tube intakes sound MUCH better, are cheaper, easier to install and the performance gains for either type of intake is virtually nil (your talking maybe 2 or 3HP difference). Takeda is about 5 miles from where I live and they actually used my car for testing their intakes and although you might get a little mid range gains from an intake, the actual peak gains are inconsequential. If you are looking for real performance gains you are betting off spending your $ on HFC's and/or a tune.


Also, I would be very reluctant to believe and of the published dyno numbers from the actual manufacturer's, as those numbers are VERY easy to fudge. I actually did my own independent testing at a dyno day with the OEM, a K&N Typhoon and Takeda intakes (and my buddy tested a Stillen) years ago and none of the intakes we tested gained us more than a few peak HP. This was same car, same exact dyno, same day, same conditions testing.