So I was window shopping on Concept Z this morning when I came across this little diddy. This looks pretty silly and, oh my, it says you get gains!.. for 620 bucks. But tbh I've always thought about running a tube down to the grill rather than putting in a CAI to mitigate water intake but get a little boost on the highway. Chime in with your thoughts
https://conceptzperformance.com/blit...000_p_2233.php

 

Diddy is right; lots of discussions about CAIs over the years and the bottom line is Nissan did a good job with the OEM design. There's no huge gains to be found with this particular CAI, and plenty of better ways to blow $620 (plus shipping). Save your money and thank me later...

 

$620 for -1hp and -2TQ NICE

 

Oh make no mistake I was never going to buy this thing unless is was on an infomercial for $19.95

 

JDM parts = $$$

I'm a sucker for some stuff (cough, $300 for my TK Hebi Bebi...clearly not in the right state of mind during that purchase) but I imagine you could easily fabricate something similar to that Blitz intake for a fraction of the price.

Just no Blitz name.

And no 'swagga' points. lol.

 

This x100 just not in carbon fiber although the picture in the link just looks like plastic

 

Even if it's $19.95, the design is never going to make any gains without a specialized tune. Why bother?

 

not worth it, most intakes aren't, something like the z1 intake is ok if you want extra sound, but don't expect huge gains.

 

Only Intakes ive seen worth a damn that give good power are the ADMIN intakes.


http://www.administrationtuning.com/...DE-p/mafde.htm


Besides that, id stay OEM.

 

It does not come with a heat shield, but I plan on fabricating one for mine sometime in the future.

Or, I may just hack up the shield that came with my Stillen. Still undecided...

 

I have yet to see a tuned vs tuned by same person so you are not going to convince me that 90% of the gains from that intake aren't from the tune itself. it is just a tube and a filter nothing magical.

 

Admin looks nice, but there are short ram alternatives out there that offer an aluminum tube with a heat shield.

 

I'm not aware of any short ram alternatives that have a straight through design with 3.5" diameter from the filter to the TB with no bottleneck at the MAF sensor location, but let me know if this is incorrect.

 

http://www.administrationtuning.com/...DE-p/mafde.htm

Easiest google search ever

 

lol. I endorsed the admin tuning intake in my previous post. I suppose I should have said I was not aware of any alternatives other than the admin tuning that has a straight through 3.5" design.

 

Seriously though. It's a good looking peice but how are they gonna make a performance oriented large diamater aluminium tube and leave it wide open for whatever is coming off of the radiator/engine? The CAI looks to be what it was designed for and at 390 that'd be a sexy system.
At a glance Mishimoto makes a nice box (no tube) Berk took a crack at it, and HPS has a good looking system though its at the stock diameter. But you're right that it might as well be stock.

Edit: Or were you referring to the admin CAI the whole time?..

 

They do sell an extension to make the admin intake into a cold air BTW. I just don't believe in them all to much, but part of that is the fact that you get very little out of the VQ in NA form, better off FI.

 

Another perspective on NA mods is that Nissan did a fine job in the initial R&D of the VQ when the Z33 was introduced. That engineering team came up with some great designs that maximized performance gains right off the bat. It can be marginally improved in spots, but those looking for large gains with bolt-ons will be disappointed.

 

Well, there is the whole thing of the VQ coming from Renault, I don't know if they designed it for all FWD platform or not. I think the intake was more of a space constraint more than anything, and all of that was later fixed with the HR. That being said I love the DE as is, the powerband is adequate, weight is the issue holding the 350Z back IMO.

 

Gotta stop this right here: the VQ engine series DID NOT come from Renault. It's a myth that seems to pop up from time-to-time, but is simply NOT TRUE.

Nissan designed, refined and built the VQ engine series for a few decades in both Japan and other Nissan plants (notably Canton, Miss). It's won multiple Wards Powerplant awards over the years and is one of the finest production V6 engines for its time.

Renault is an Alliance partner, and has used the VQ in a few of their products, but that's only because Nissan Japan licensed them to do so.