Z Witcher

I have an 08 with a 10 year 100k mi warranty. I'm curious about modding and I'm thinking about starting with a cold air intake, plenum and exhaust. However, I'm also concerned about my warranty, but I know the law, and I know there is a risk involved, so my question isn't about whether the part voids the warranty, but rather, what is the likelihood that a particular mod will cause a problem? I'm fairly sure a cold air intake or exhaust won't be a significant risk, while a turbo would. But how about a plenum, or remapping the ECU? Are these mods that, in your opinions, would significantly increase the risk of experiencing engine problems?

Thanks

kelsey_kaye

iTrader: (4)

no plenum spacers for the 07+.

Hydrazine

iTrader: (53)

Unfortunately no plenum mods for your engine yet. So there is no problem there.

Intakes can't be blamed for anything unless your engine sucks in a bolt or some other foreign object.

Exhausts can't be blamed for anything but loudness or poor fitment.

Basic bolt on mods can't void your warranty unless its painfully obvious that it is the cause of the problem.

eltness350

iTrader: (58)

be careful with that...i had to try and get my tranny warrantied when it blew up(mits evo) and they still wouldnt do it with that act....if anything happens....take the crap off then send it to the dealer....or dont mod if your scurred.....

singh

iTrader: (2)

What is wrong with people's brains these days..

Why would you want to do any those mods??? Will they help??? Will you notice anything with bolting up a useless plenum spacer or messing with the factory tune???

Sorry if I come off as rude, but what is with all these idiots that want to mess up a perfectly solid car form the factory..

Get_Zwole

iTrader: (34)

you have high flow cats? while i agree with your logic why did you feel the need to spend 500 dollars on cats when your car has perfectly good cats from the factory.

OldDirty Z33

^ cats actually help performance but Spacers have HP/TQ loss at low RPM. IMO lame mod

Z Witcher

I guess I should never have asked for opinions... Frankly, it's none of your business why I want to mess up a perfectly solid car from the factory; however, if you have anything useful to add about what mods may in fact negatively affect an engine in the long run, by all means. If you'd like to argue with strangers, but a HP from Best Buy and wait around a year until you need to get it fixed.

surfcity40

no need for a plenum spacer on your car. it's already spaced properly.

Hydrazine

iTrader: (53)

Relative to the aftermarket catalytic converters you have, or even your exhaust, a plenum spacer makes nearly twice the gains at less than half the price.

The spacer is an easy fix for what is essentially a engineering flaw that causes a flow restriction. The inside roof of the upper plenum was designed too close to the intake runners of the lower plenum. It is so close that it restricts flow to the runners. And that is where a flow restriction is.

Adding the spacer lifts the inside roof of the upper plenum so the intake runners are no longer blocked and allows unrestricted flow.

Hydrazine

iTrader: (53)

I've seen countless pre/post dynos of Motordyne spacers and have never seen a loss of power or torque anywhere on the curve.

From every dyno I've seen, the Motordyne spacers only make gains.
EDIT: I have seen that making a spacer too large can have less than optimal results.

Your description of a low RPM loss would fit with test pipes though. Test pipes have a narrow band of loss at ~1.75K-2.5K RPM but otherwise make good gains everywhere else.

Entaille

iTrader: (16)

pretty hard to argue with that.

OldDirty Z33

ahhh i see. Will research some more

Q45tech

Just be careful you don't commit a felony by emission tampering, as dealerships may legally refuse to work on tampered vehicles. Heck dealers being independent businesses may refuse to work on any car. Nissan may pressure them but in the end up to dealer.
Same with a fraudlent transfer or sale by selling a used emission tampered vehicle, the courts can force you to pay to RESTORE to oem standards since you commited fraud.

Unfortunately to sue in Federal Court under [Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act] you must find and pay lawyers in advance and wait a few years to get on court calendar.
If you read your warranty you have already AGREED to arbitration.

Z Witcher

Thank you for your thoughts guys. Hydrazine: I guess I was thinking that you guys just hadn't made a plenum yet for the 08, not that there wouldn't be one in the future, but now it seems, from what I've read, that my car simply doesn't need it since the stock specs are adequate.

But I still have a few questions relating to my initial question, and Q45tech, you make some excellent points, specifically about the notion that I have indeed already agreed to arbitration--thanks, I hadn't thought about that--but I guess I don't know what exactly would cause emissions to "go bad." Would an exhaust and intake do something like that? I live in AZ where they check initial emissions on all cars of folks who move here and register a vehicle, but there's no yearly safety/emissions requirement, so if I do affect emissions no one would know until I had a problem. I guess what I'm getting at is this: what mods would significantly affect emissions?

And finally: eltness350, what had you done that caused your tranny to go?

So, thanks for all your help.

Hydrazine

iTrader: (53)

While an intake may not make your emissions go bad, technically, it may still not be legal for the simple fact that it is installed.

State and local ordinances vary greatly from location to location.

An exhaust is also unlikely to affect emissions and in most cases will be smog legal too, but I don't know all the laws associated with "cat backs".
There certainly are legal sound level restrictions to consider.
Somebody else may know more on that topic.