Got it installed yesterday afternoon. HFM and Iris dropped by to check it out.

Here's the pics:

 

Nice...is that me or do you have a grounding kit?

 

Color/Look: The blue is ever slightly lighter than the Daytona, but it gives it a nice contrast. If all the aftermarket parts matched the car percectly it'd look like the engine bay was painted *after* the engine was mounted. I'd rather have shades of blue and polished silver/chrome giving it a nice clean tuned look.

The only ugly part is that MAF sensor and its cable. I may take off the electrical tape shielding and redo it with something cleaner looking (maybe a blue to match the grounding kit). I generally don't like cheap looking electric tape wrapped cables you find all over the place around the engine and think Nissan should have done better with that. I take a look at my girlfriend's 2003 Jetta and see how much more quality was put into each and every cable & plug.

Location: I was considering Injen, but I wasn't really vibing having the filter exposed to all the dust and debris from the front of the car. I like the location of the AEM filter, but at the same time I wonder if its in a prime spot for airflow. I'm sure the AEM techs did their homework, but I may do some temperature tests soon.

Sound: Some slight hissing at ignition and a slightly deeper overall engine tone. Not really loud at all at first until you hit high RPMs. At about 5000+ RPM this thing shows off some muscle with a LOUD powerful growl. I love the sound -- its really intimidating but still doesn't lack class or sound cheap. I can almost say I notice a ever so bit of difference in my exhaust note now too. Is this possible?

Performance: Haven't reset my ECU, and i'd bet the negotiable gains that I expect 3-5 hp are probably hard to feel anyway -- but the sound really adds to the psychological effect of it feeling like it really hits a higher powerband at top RPMs.

Overall: If you're into having a more agressive engine tone, and love the look of a pretty engine bay -- this is for you. I had my reservations about spending $200+ for just an CAI but now I'm very glad I did. Absolutely no regrets. I can't stop looking at the thing. I give it a [9/10]

If anyone wants any other detailed pics, let me know and i'll post them up.

Thanks to 2KRacing in Reseda for the part and the help with installing it. John is an old friend of mine and I'm talking to him about setting up a group buy for these. Check out their site 2KRacing.com

 

Blue Grounding kit from Insaneanime.

 

Looks awesome..thank u for the write up!

 

can you post picts of the filter location and the pipe after the MAF? i.e. how does it bend, where are the bends located and if possible. how 'long' is that finaly pipe from filter to MAF.. oh yeah. how many bends are there?


thanks so much

--cheston

 

how much was installation man?

 

Thanks for the pics. I am like many people I have not yet purchased an intake system but I am looking for one. I am skeptical of the hp gains that the company’s claim, as are many others, but they sure do look cool. I live in Virginia and I don’t know if there is a garage around that can help me install the unit. Do you think that I could do it myself?
I don’t want to take off the bumper or the wheel, etc. Also how much do they weigh, as compared to the stock. I think that aftermarket products should weigh less than stock. I like the look of the AEM better than the Injen. Also another thought, how come these intake systems don’t use the “ram-air” set up of the original cars intake system? And yes more pics, please.

 

Chebosto -- After the MAF there are 2.5 bends. The one right after the MAF is a slight one to the right as you can see in the pics. Length of the pipe to the filter: i'll try to get that in a bit -- but I can't seem to find my tape measure right now.

phile and DavidD -- My friend did the install so I didn't have to pay a fee, but generally the installation should take about an hour or two depending on general experience. It's not too difficult to install and the instructions provided are fairly decent enough to get the major points across, though far from detailed. No bumper or strut bar removal was necessary -- although the instructions did call for the bar removal (not recommended!). We did jack the car up a little and that really helped in that we didn't have to take off the whole wheel well shielding (just the bottom so we could install the filter from below.) Weight isn't really much on either one of them, but I'd say the AEM is lighter vs. stock.

I'm working on a getting a soundclip. I just zip tied a microphone near the CAI and ran the cable inside to my laptop but the battery is dead and i'm charging it. Should have one up in 15-20 minutes.

 

This is the last bend .. really hard to get the pic since its deep inside -- but you can see the filter.

 

The stock isn't ram-air. It's more of a CAI and seems highly efficient at pulling in air from in front of the radiator area rather than from the engine compartment. Its damn nice compared to most stock systems. But as efficient as stock may be, we MUST find a better way or die trying, right? Its too fun!

 

It definitely sounds great at 5000+ and it has a loud growl. Below 5000, it sounds as deep and throaty as as a K&N, after 5000k, you can tell the engine is getting much better airflow and I agree, the exhaust note is also improved. More air in, will change how it goes out, eh. Overall, it's significantly better sounding than a K&N and substantially better than stock.

For performance, we're going to have to compare the AEM, K&N drop in and stock set ups with a dyno.

I saw a show this morning on TNN for a CAI job done on a Mustang GT that cost $90.00. Ugh.

 

Here's a clip I just made... the first run I take it easy and the second one is WOT up to 6k+

Sorry for the bad quality of the clip -- I have to redo the software on my laptop.

Sound Clip

 

sounds pretty good...
hopefully that loud growl wont affect the top end power.

 

Thanks for the sound clip. From the sounds of it, it does sound, a bit more throatier. Is that a word? Yes, throatier is a word?

 

That sounds pretty bad ***!! I wonder what it will sound like with the Stillen exhaust. I should be getting both in the mail this week.. Thanks for letting me hear what to expect. Now I can't wait.
Tom.

 

Nice sound..

 

Sounds Awesome!! Put mine in next week and can't wait! Where did you have the mic when you were shifting through the gears?

 

The mic was zip-tied to where the stock airbox hole used to be. I ran the cable up through the top of the hood, through my window to my laptop in the passenger seat.

Update: Driving my car down to the gym I noticed another sound. It gives off various puffs and whistles inbetween shifts -- almost sounds like a very mild turbo BOV. They're high pitched but very very subtle.

 

newbie question:

how do u clean the filter? looks pretty hard to reach from the pics. If this sounds like a stupid question, ignore it.