Hey guys, my friend is a Nissan Tech, and has been for the past 20 years. I told him I got a Pop Charger and he told me he'd install it for me being the car was in for an inspection anyways. I noticed he didn't install the heatshield, so I asked him why. He said with his experience with the heatshields, it actually traps a lot of hot air which the engine sucks in. He said not having the heat shield improves airflow.

As a perfect test, we had some pretty hot days last week in the upper 90's, and I was in traffic half of one of those days, and sure enough.. it was running fine.

Has anyone NOT installed their heatshield? It seems to me that his theory makes sense.

 

IMO, our engine bays don't get a lot of airflow to begin with.
Heatshield or not, it won't cause a big difference if at all.

 

more then likely your engine will seize up and spontaneously com bust without the shield.

 

+10000000000
Make sure you get good insurance OP

 

With the heatshield installed the filter draws air mostly front the wheel well. In theory i should actually have a bit cooler air. The only way to properly test this is with the scanner your mechanic friend has and drive the car both ways and watch the inlet temp.

 

well I don't know, the tech isn't some 18 year old kid who told me this. He said he's tested this theory, and has installed quite a number of Pop Chargers on Z's, and that the Z's in which this was done to had no problem whatsoever.

Has anyone actually had issues without the heatshield installed, or is saying "my engine will combust" purely based on speculation?

As I've said, I was stuck in traffic for about 5 hours the other day (HUGE accident on the freeway), and it was 90 degrees out, and I had my A/C on the entire time, and my temp gauge didn't even hit the halfway mark. One would think that was the perfect test.. no?

 

Dude... I think you are missing the point here. Just because your water temp guage doesnt change wont indicate a hotter intake temp.. That wont matter really. IMO, stick with the heatshield man. As a self-test, just try both and see which one feels more "peppier". Looking at your water temp guage wont tell you **** for intake temp..

 

OP,

Heat is the most important factor.

I've tested and data logged all kinds of intakes. DO NOT USE AN AIR INTAKE WITHOUT A HEAT SHIELD.

Without the heat shield the filter continuously draws in 150'F air from behind the radiator and the hot engine compartment. And although hot air won't necessarily cause engine damage, it significantly reduces gas milage, HP and TQ.

Hot air increases the tendancy for ping and hot air causes the ECU to richen up the A/F mixture thereby reducing MPG. Hot air also causes the ECU to pull back spark timing which causes a significant reduction in HP and TQ.

I data logged the intake temperature of the stock box and several different intakes. Temperatures were lowest with the stock intake, higher with shielded intakes and much higher with unshielded intakes. (Unshielded intakes measured a whoping 150'F as seen by the MAF saensor.)

I then did a series of dyno tests measuring the effect of air intake temperature on engine A/F ratio, HP and TQ.

From 50'F to 150'F, measured in 20'F intervals, dyno tests were performed at progressively higher and higher temperatures.

As the air intake temperature was increased, the fuel/air ratio decreased, the HP decreased and TQ decreased across the entire RPM spectrum.

As shown by the dyno, an unshielded intake dropped about 15HP across the entire power curve and caused about a 20% decrease in fuel efficency.

Put the heat shield back on, increase your HP and save gas $$$.

Tony

 

Tony--

Very interesting, especially since this is the 1st time I've seen anyone actually measuring the effects.

Was one of the intakes in your test the JWT Pop Charger? I'm curious how effective the heat shield is with that unit. As you know, it's pretty primitive. But maybe it's more effective than I'm giving it credit for.

Thx.

 

I tested a generic unshielded filter hanging in the engine compartment, a shielded Stillen CAI, the AEM, and stock.

The Stillen is very similar to the Pop Charger.

 

thanks for all the reponses!

well I guess I'll just put the heatshield on then. Better safe than sorry! Can I slip it under the intake, or do I need to take the intake off to install the heatshield?

 

You just need to pull only the filter off.

 

The most troubling threads always begin similar to this.

 

Nice write up! Was there a big hp/tq difference between the popcharger and the Stillen?

 

too bad nobody ever seems to test in motion, since when youre moving the air around the engine is pretty close to exterior temps.

case in point: go take your cold car, go WOT several times while driving for like 5 mins, then feel the intake manifold. its still cold. only when you let the heat from the heads creep up into the intake manifold does it make a difference. with my phenolic spacers, i drive home from work, hit traffic and probly average about 15mph on the way home. when i get there the intake manifold is still cold. if the air in the engine bay was hot when in motion, the intake would be hot after driving even though it didnt transfer through the phenolic. there ARE differences with the heat shield even when moving, but theyre small. you really wouldnt notice unless youre stopped or on a dyno where its obviously not a moving test.

the point: if you have them use them, but if you dont have them it doesnt matter

 

I didn't compare the Stillen to the Pop Charger. My "assumption" is they will be very similar performance wise.

I do like the heat shield of the Stillen better though. Its a tighter fit.

 

I've tested various intakes both at speed and at a stand still. I'm not entirely clear on the highlighted above, but if you are referring to the heat shield, it does make a very big difference particularly when driving.

Note: The aftermarket heat shields have only modest effect at a stand still.

 

yeah, thats what i meant was the aftermarket heat shields like what come with some intakes. in my experience the intake air temp at speed is very similar to the outside air temp, thats without the heat shields, but my intake is more or less extended past where the engine heat has immediate effect, its more in the air change area where there is good circulation

 

the only reason i went from injen to jwt was heatshield.

 

Saying the heatshield is pointless is like saying the people at Jim Wolf don't know what theyre doing. Which would be False. They made their intake to work with the heat shield USE IT.