for those considering buying this system read on!

this system is not a cai imo....this is very similar to the pop charger. however, the pop charger is a much better deal with proven gains. nice try stillen....even your own dynos show that this system has very small gains, if any. we all know dynos from the manufacturer are exaggerated.

yes i am hating on stillen here because they screwed me i purchased this system thinking cai....but imo this is not a cai. stillen told me all intakes made for the z are considered a cai . consequenlty, i returned the item and got dinged a $40 restocking fee.....i will never buy another stillen product again

imo their customer service sucks because of this incident. i know its standard to charge are a stocking fee but i feel that i didn't get a cai so why should i pay the price for what they are saying is a cold air system. imo, this system is not a cai but a short ram....if this was explained to me by their
sales staff i would have never considered buying this system. so, partly my fault and partly their fault but thats not the way they felt....i was willing to meet in the middle but that was not good enough either

as for their so called cai...here is the low down on this intake. the filter is cone shaped with a huge aluminum ring used for mounting (talk about heatsoak). the rest of the intake is a black plastic shroud that covers the top of the filter and then its just open at the bottom. imo, would have been better if they fully enclosed the filter and sucked the air from the front of the car like the k&n...then you could say cai. the system sucks air from the stock inlet and the bottom of the engine bay...where all the HOT air is.

going to wait and see how the new injen CAI (yes stillen, now this is a cai) turns out....looks promising

 

I could have told you Stillen sucks....go to www.stillensucks.com Seriosuly read that stuff and tell me what you think...

 

thanks for the verification miaplaya....it helps to have others back up your claims especially when it comes to z products and vendors. we are all here to help each other out and avoid problems by using these forums.

sounds like the main problem is with their customer service. for myself, this is a very important factor on whether or not i decide to purchase a product. even if a company has a good product but their customer service sucks, i would rather buy from another vendor.

please, if there are any stillen reps out there feel free to jump in the fire!

i have the stillen engine damper and its a nice piece. i bought this unit before the so called stillen cai.

from now on i won't even look stillen's way....not even if it was free

rw.....out

 

Sorry to hear that RoadWarrior... I too was fooled! From the image, it looks as if it's sealed all the way around, kinda like mine...

I know you're pretty handy. You should go to PepBoys, buy a APR's or K&N's newer/bigger conical filter and the adapter plate and just "rig" up something like mine. I've been really happy with it!

Zquicksilver

 

Safe induction by Durex!

 

Technically the stillen intake is CAI.

Technically the Z has a stock CAI.

The vent in the firewall (or frame, or whatever you call it) allows the stock intake, or stillen, or popcharger, or whatever..suck in cold air from the bumper..not the engine bay.

True...this is not TRUE CAI which places the filter outside the engine bay to suck in the cold air...but TECHNICALLY the stillen is CAI.

So, in truth you're lucky they even let you return it, but for good customer service, once you explained that it wasn't what you thought it was, they should have let you return it without the restocking charge.

I'm not saying you were wrong, because I agree that you were just mislead, but on paper....that intake is a CAI.

 

that was my thinking exactly....unfortunately their sales staff failed to mention this fact to me.

i think a fully enclosed conicle filter that draws air from the front of the car is a good concept...similar to the k&n but instead have a sealed airbox containing the filter.

i am thinking of having a two piece air box made (a little larger than stock) with a conicle k&n filter mounted inside the box....then run 3" tubing to the front air damn (i already did this myself).

i had the factory inlet piece that goes to the airbox modified...goes from the stock square shape to 3" tubing. i then attached two pieces of 3" and ran them down and mounted them to the front bumber. thus, i am drawing colder air from the front air dam and away from any engine bay heat.

i will take some pics next time i have the bumper off....seems to work pretty well in combination with a k&n drop in filter and the stock air box for now.

you should have your setup dynod just to see what that intake is producing....i bet you get much more suction with the enclosed conicle filter and the reduction of heat soak.

 

i do appreciate the support.

however, i disagree on the stock cai because there is still a chance that air from the engine bay can get to the stock inlet. if they sealed off the intake inlet from the rest of the engine bay then i could agree....such as something similar to the cooling plates being sold on the market. even these cooling plates have room for improvement....i nice tight fit sealing everything off from the engine bay and sealed to the intake inlet as well. then, you would only be drawing air from soley from in front of the car.

the cai is a good topic for debate....but there is definately no doubt on the poor customer service from stillen

 

Wrong... it's RUBBERMAID, mmmwhhahhaha! It's been on there since Feb. and works great, no deformation or leaking, it's PP. It's my version of the Gruppe-S intake. Find me a better solution for $60 and I'll buy it O'yea, I can see when it's dirty too...

Now who's laughing, biotch! j/k

Zquicksilver

 

There is a seal on the hood that separates the two sides of the radiator cowl, at least as far as what a cooling plate would do. The fact that the inlet is not totally sealed around the radiator cowl is of no consequence once the car is moving because the whole front side of the radiator ends up under pressure while the back side does not, so there is little chance hot air is going to sneak in (at least while you are moving).

Chris

 

Hey...if it works!! But you just HAVE to slap on a Trojan Magnum sticker on there somewhere.

 

hypersite...i will check for the seal...i have really not looked that closely.

the stock imo is not a cai.....look at the design. it does not appear as a cia and uses an airbox. are they calling intakes with airboxes cai's these days? look at the design of the k&n...its a combo of an airbox and a cai because of the location of the inlet.

 

CAI is cold air intake. It doesn't include a provision for no airbox. Hell, if you wanted to make an airbox behind the bumper for the nismo or injen CAI's you could, that way it sucks less turbulent air. It would still be a CAI. It just refers to sucking in cold air from the outside of the car or hot air from the engine bay.

And to one of the posts above...I thought the stock airbox was a sealed unit. When I took it out of my car I had to finagle it off the duct that goes through the frame. That sealed the front and then the back goes right into the MAF. Where is it open to the engine bay?

 

the stock is cai, hence "cold air intake". It's not sucking air from the engine bay, but from the front of the car.. it's the best intake, and if it's not broken, don't replace it

you can drop in a k&n filter though.. that's what I have and it has been working great!

 

tupperware.

 

i guess i am just not accustomed to calling an airbox type intake a cold air system.....i have had them before so i know and understand the concept. you are right though....as long as your sucking cold air only...then you have a true cai.

the opening i thought would be over the radiator....but as someone mentioned above this too is sealed when the hood is down. although there is room for improvement imo....like an effective sealing plate in front to keep that cold air in front of the car. autoteknic is the only one i have seen that really does a nice job of sealing off the entire section but the area where the inlet comes in is too small for us z's and is made for the japan model which has a smaller inlet.

i have the k&n drop in filter right now and i am very happy with it and the stock intake for now.

the new injen cai does look very promising....i am really going to take a good look at this intake....it appears better performance wise than any other cai's that are on the market and with really good dyno numbers.

add this and the fact that several new intake manifolds/plenums are on the market and you could see some nice gains. i would like to see a company make an intake and manifold together as a complete system

last thing....zquicksilver....did you rob momma's tepparware or did you order that thing at one of those parties? j/k of course. i like to see people making their own innovative mods and trying new stuff....thats how new products are developed

later.