Just wanted to share my thought on this plenum, as it was installed on my car last night.

Quality - I recieved a V2 (I assume) that came with all hardware, threadlock and detailed instructions. It was well packaged and arrived unscathed between CA and NY. The plenum was very smooth inside and all holes were drilled and free of plastic flashing.

Install - start to finish took me an hour. I started by disconnecting the battery, the went to task. I am NOT the most mechanically inclined person (I do lots of the engine mgmt programming for our own cars and customer cars, but "wrenching" has never been my thing). The instructions took me step by step, were easy to read, and had no issues at all. All holes lined up perfectly. The only thing I needed a hand was was the removal then reinstallation of the coolant hoses near the throttle body. Other than that, I was the sole installer. After we were done I reconnected the battery, started the car and let it warm up, then drove home

Results - much better pull from around 3500 rpm and up. Once warmed up, the car idles just like it did when stock - no louder nor quieter. However at low revs there is a bit of mild "hollow" resonance exhibited (between ~1500 and 3000 rpm's, and most notable right at 2700 rpm. Over 3000 rpm (where the fun starts anyway), my car sounds no different than it did before. I am not planning on redynoing my car for quite some time, but the plenum clearly gave me much better pull over a wide rpm spectrum - as I said its especially noticeable in the upper rpm ranges, which is where my car was needing it most!

Other mods (for reference)

Unorthodox pulley (crank)
Gruppe M intake
Ultimate Racing cats and Y pipe
Apex'i Hybrid Megaphone cat back
reflashed ecu

Next up for me in the power department will likely be cams and possibly headers if the need is there for them - I am still very much on the fence though, from a sheer dollar-hp gains standpoint. While I have cams ready to go into my car
(tomei, NISMO and Esprit), I just don't honesly know if I want to go down that road for minimal gains. I imagine my car being in the 260-270 range at the wheels right now - if I can realistally pick up another 30 between cams, headers and more ecu reprogramming (or outright replacement), I would do it, but I have not seen outright proof just yet.....so the jury is still out for me

Qualms - my only issue with the plenum are minimal - the gasket. I would rather see a factory style gasket (not sure if its possible though with the plastic plenum) as opposed to the cork one. I think the cork gasket is the reason several people have cracked their plenums. You are bolting this into aluminum, with not-very-big hardware - its a pretty delicate oractice overall, and not everyone will be able to tell the difference between feeling the gasket "crush" as you tighten the bolts vs "well it still can turn, so i guess I'll keep tightening it". Also, my carbon engine cover did not fit with this plenum, though the stock one did, so i's back on for now. A few minutes with the dremel (I am nervous about this as I don't want to totally wreck the carbon one) and I am sure we can get it to fit fine. also I had intended to install the engine damper 5 Zigen had sent us, but again, slight differences between the curves of the edges of this plenum vs stock means I have to trim the brackets as well....minor stuff really, but worth noting.

Anyway, nice product, relatively easy install, and I would recommend it to anyone.

 

we looked into several different materials for the gasket, because the plenum has more "give" than the factory aluminum one, we wanted a gasket to give us a good positive seal, with a little "give" itself.

I am glad things went smoothly for you.

 

yeah, my install went fine except we couldn't get the stock screw back in right at the bend for the tb outlet. we heard a pop, so we might have stripped it. we are thinkin about tryin a longer screw. we'll see.

i have found the sweet spot for minimizin the sound at low rpm's is 2250. u r right about wot though; it doesn't sound any diff.

 

TheBigShow, do you mean the really long screw? It seems common to strip that one. Replace it with a 75mm M6. Kinetix said they were going to countersink that screw hole 5mm to avoid that issue in the future.
I like my ""hollow" resonance"

 

are you guys on synthetic oil?

 

I do not use synthetic on mine no

 

could that still work even if it's stripped?

 

do not try refitting another screw. Remove your plenum, clean, and retap the hole.

 

is this something i should have a shop do? i apologize for my ignorance.

 

anyone with the right tool (tap and dye set) and the experience doing it to aluminum can do it for you - its not hard at all

 

Sorry to rehash an old topic but I'm getting ready to purchase the kinetix and was wondering about the intstall. Was a torque wrench needed? I'm not that mechanically inclined but I can figure things out. I installed my AEM and then uninstalled that and put on the JWT. Other than that...oh and the grounding kit, I've not messed with engine installs. When you talk about removing the plenum and getting air leaks I start getting very nervous about doing it myself. How hard would you rate the install and what tools would be needed?

 

NOZ4U,

Yes, you will need a torque wrench measured in Inch-Pounds. As for the install, you can check out the write-up I did for the complete walkthrough. One thing to note is that I did the writeup with a V1 KINETIX Plenum so the first part about installing the brass threads does not apply. On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being hardest) I'd rate the Planum install a 1.5 compared to other mods I've done. It's VERY easy!

http://www.350zfreak.com/plenum.htm

-Chris

 

I did not use a torque wrench at all - I simply used the supplied allen key, and then a 3/8 drive wrachet to do the rest. Remember, you are bolting to aluminum, and there is a supplied gasket - it does not need to be all that tight to seal properly.

My method was simple - tighten with the 3/8 drive until snug, then went another 1/4- 1/2 turn. I did mine a while ago now, and not a single issue (mine is a V2)

 

Thanks Chris. Reading you detailed instructions have definately set my mind at ease. After it's been on your car now for awhile, have you noticed a significant increase? I was thinking about having the ECU sent out to TS and when it came back installing the plenum and cats the same day. I don't think we'll feel the full potential of the plenum and/or cats until the ECU gets programmed acccordingly. That is unless you felt a significant difference between an hour after install and a week after install.

 

I felt an increase IMMEDIATELY after installing the Plenum. Out of all the mods I have installed, the plenum has been the only one so far that made a noticible increase in power as soon as I installed it and drove around.

As far as I know, you should have all the mods installed on your car already when you get an ECU reflash because they flash it for what you are running to get the most out of everything. I believe they ask you what mods you have installed when you send it in. If you get it flashed and your car it thinks you have a Plenum, or some other mods that you don't really have, it could screw up the A/F ratio and cause a lean/rich condition which could damage your engine.

-Chris

Ooooooo... my 666th post!

 

My understanding is that TS tunes it to the mods you have on your car. You let them know what mods you've installed and they flash it based on that. I was thinking about sending out the ECU (takes 3 days to flash and return) and it the process, while I'm waiting for the ECU to come back, install the plenum and cats. However, I might not do the cats just yet. I don't know if not doing them will cause a bottleneck or not but I might hold off on them.

 

Well... Flashing the ECU should be the LAST thing you do to your car. Once you have installed all the mods you are ever going to install then you get the re-flash. Otherwise you will need to get it flashed again when you add anything else. It just makes sense (unless you have an endless supply of money).

-Chris

 

Understandable....Short of the plenum and cats and what I have now, I'll be tapping out for awhile. At least with the NA mods. If I do go with cams, I'm spending the money already so what would $150.00 be to reflash to accomodate them. FI is not in my future so I'll play it safe and flash it now with the plenum drive it for awhile to see what kind of gains I get. My only issue is spending all this money on mods and having the ECU retard it all. I'll save the reflash for the next batch of mods.....cams.

BTW....does the modding really EVER stop?

 

I actually had my ecu flashed well before I did the plenum, but the gains were definately still felt - I thought the plenum was absolutely worthwhile.