I've heard bad things about CAIs. The worst probably is the fact that they increase the air flow over the Mass Air Sensor which tells the computer to lean out the car. A leaner car seems to run stronger (butt dyno), but is bad for the engine.

Is this true?

 

a CAI will not cause your car to run lean. You need many more mods to cause anything of concern. After a few mods many people suggest to get the Technosquare ECU flash, which also raises the redline.

 

increased airflow will not tell the car to run leaner. it will make the car run leaner. more air without more fuel is leaner and leaner. it will cause the car to run lean and therefore tell the car to run richer.

 

Mass Air Flow Sensors measures the (very minimal) increased air flow, computer adds fuel to compensate, Air Fuel ratio unchanged. Power increase (very minimal) due to increased energy released by greater quantity of air & fuel burning in the cylinders.

 

meaning you get better gas mileage too!

Gruppe M intake soon to come!

Ben

 

I did a comparison of the Nismo Intake, stock intake, injen and JWT intakes with a "car chip" that records ait intake temp, air flow, etc. and found that the intake that allows the most air flow is the JWT popcharger, then the stock set up, then Injen & Nismo.

As far as air temps I only have numbers comparing the Nismo and stock set up. The difference was only 2-3 degress colder air for the Nismo set up (avg. over an 12 mile run), but with less volume of air.

I don't know how accurate the "Car Chip" is, so these numbers could mean nothig at all, so take it as it is. I personally feel that this little experiment has some basis to it since the data was recorded off of the ECU itself, but who knows?

And yes, I do have all these intakes.

Craford Plenum air flow rate blew away all of the above.

 

pic of graph with Crawford Plenum and JWT pop charger air flow rate.

 

Stock intake graph

 

speed, on closed track of course

 

CAI doesn't work well on 350Z. So far JWT works the best, and if you really look into the design of JWT and carfully evalute the intake inlet behind 350Z's bumper it;'s not hard to undersand why.

For CAI, somthing works good on HONDA doesn't really mean it;s going to work good on Nissan or others.

 

It seems like CAIs will show more gain on a dyno, with relativly static air, than the stock/pop charger. But the tides turn when there is actual ram air applied. It's cool to see how these mods perform during real driving conditions. Thanks for the info!

 

I thought the injen had the best numbers? I've had a few different setups and I like the Injen the best. CAI's were never meant to make huge gains anyway.

 

I'm doing this for my Nismo when Roark (or I) get the time:

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....103#post553103

 

Anytime you "ram air" its better. Of course stock and JWT is going to show better on the dyno (designed to work with very little air). A guy did a comparison at the track (where real results are made) and it showed significant gains.

 

Alex's data above isn't from a dyno, its from autotap, which reads your ecu while driving. I think his comparison is the best we can get, and appreciate the info.

 

Cool

 

Popcharger is the best aftermarket intake it seems.......

 

If the popcharger is so good, why wouldnt you just goto to autozone and buy a 10 dollar cone filter?

 

because the popcharger is more than just a cone filter. you also get a heat shield and something to mount the MAF to which, in some certain cases, can be considered a necessity. the popcharger is also open filters in the nose of itself to take some advantage of the air path through the front of the Z which a typical cone filter will not do. you get all of this for maybe at most 50 dollars more than a cone filter all by itself. worth it? yes.

 

Because it allows air to enter from front and sides (most cone filters have flat non-filtered front) and it has a velocity stack and venturi built into the adaptor plate.

All this for $100. Not bad. It is a good mod as long as it gets the same air as the stock air box. I am in the process of doing similar tests with autotap. The only number I am concerned with is the air charge at speed and WOT. We know the cone flows as good if not better in stagnant air and on the dyno!

On a side note the JWT with an aluminum intake tube (like injen) sounds very very mean at WOT.