DIY: STILLEN G3 Intakes
 

Havent seen this on the DIY so i thought i would throw it out there. I'll edit it once i go re-check what size bolts are what, cant remember off the top of my head and sorry for the lack of pictures, wasnt planning on doing a DIY when i installed the intakes. This is my first DIY post so please forgive me if i did anything wrong with posting.

Tools Required:

Rachet set with 8, 10, 12, 14mm sockets.
Phillips head screw driver
Flat head screw driver
Dremel or rotary tool
Vise Grips


!!!I am no way responsible for your actions nor your car if something goes wrong!!!

Step 1. Lay your pieces out to make sure you have everything.
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...Picture069.jpg

Step. 2. Disconnect the battery by lifting the 2 tabs to remove the cover. Then with a 10mm socket disconnect the negitive wire. (remember by disconnecting the battery your radio, clock, automatic windows, ecu and other parts of the car get reset. Check your owners manual on how to reset everything.)
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...09/battery.jpg

Step 3. Remove the front Fascia and the black cover above it by removing the push pins on top of the fasica, there is 12 pushpins. And the 10mm bolts on the bottom. Pull back the fender liners on each side and unscrew the screw holding the fascia on. With a gentle tug the fascia should come off. Place the bumper aside where it wont get scratched.
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...709/fascia.jpg
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...Picture059.jpg

Step 4. Remove the Fascia mount by unbolting these 3 bolts. This will make easier install on the new intake.
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...umpermount.jpg


Step 5. Remove the strut bar by unbolting the 3 bolts on each side and then pull the 2 push pins on the cover at the top. Pull the cover off and unbolt the 2 bolts under it. Then pull the strut bar out and put it aside.
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...9/strutbar.jpg

http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...s709/strut.jpg

Step 6. Once the strut bar is removed. Remove the engine cover by unbolting the 5 bolts.
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...nginecover.jpg

Step 7. Remove the MAF Sensor's from each intake by removing the 2 screws per sensor, place them in a spot where they wont get damaged or dirty. If they get damaged in any way they will read incorrect and you will have big issues with your ECU.
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...kes709/maf.jpg

Step 8. Unbolt the 2 lower bolts that hold the airbox down. Then unscrew the clamps that hold the intake to the throttle body. Then unclamp the clamps holding the hoses on the intake. The left one might be a PITA to get to so I removed the bolt in red to give me more room to unclamp the hose. Once everything is onbolted, unscrewed and unclamped. Pull the stock intakes out, this will require a tiny bit of force.
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...709/intake.jpg
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...09/intake1.jpg
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...s709/hoses.jpg

Onced pulled out it should look like this...
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...Picture061.jpg

Step 9. Bend the horn/bracket back to allow the intakes to fit right.

Step 10. Pull the air inlet out by pressing the clip at the bottom. Then with some force pull it out, might require the 10mm bolt above the inlet to be unbolted. Once out you can throw it away. Once the inlet is out use a rotary tool or dremel tool to cut a bigger hole in the air inlet bracket. This will allow the lower pipe to fit
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...s709/inlet.jpg

Step 11. Fit the rubber coupler on the throttle body and use the clamp to screw it down. Place the upper intake pipes in, be careful not to scratch them up. Use the clamp to tighten that down as well. Place the rubber couplers on the bottom of the tube and clamp it down.
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...akes709/tb.jpg

Step 12. Now feed the lower tube through the inlet hole you just cut. Connect the 2 pipes together and clamp it down.
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...s709/lower.jpg

Step 13. Fit the filters on the lower tube. Might require either grinding down the screw studs or just try to fit the filter in without damaging it. Clamp the filters on the pipe.
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...09/filters.jpg

Step 14. Cut the supplied rubber hose in half due to it being to long and place it on the pipe. Clamp that down.
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p...es709/hose.jpg

Step 15. Give the map sensor's a quick wipe down and then put the maf sensor's back in and screw them down.

Step 16. Place the fascia mount back on and bolt the 3 bolts back in.

Step 17. Put the engine cover back on and bolt the 5 bolts back in

Step 18. Put the strut bar back in and bolt the 2 bolts at the top and then 3 bolts on each side back in. Put the cover on the top back on and put the 2 push pins back in. Make sure the rubber piece is placed correctly.

Step 19. Put the front fascia back on and bolt all the bolts back on and the 2 screw from each side. Then put the black cover back on and put all the push pins back in.

Step 20. Re-connect the battery and put the cover back on.

Step 21. Make a quick check that all the bolts on the intake, fascia, engine cover, strut bar to make sure they are tight.

Step 22. Start the engine up and let the car idle for approx 5mins to let the ECU get use to the new intakes. While this is happening you can check for air leaks on the intakes and re-program your radio, clock, windows and any other things that might have reset. Once again check your owners manual. If you dont have the automatic windows that drop your window a inch when you get out of the car then dont worry about it. If you do have it, reprogram it by doing what the manual says.

Step 23. Once everything is programmed and the ECU has settled down. go for a test drive and enjoy your Stillen G3 Intakes. Me personally i noticed a nice gain in power when i went for a drive. And the sound changed as well, i can now hear the air getting sucked in. On a scale of 1 - 10...10 being the hardest. I say this was a 3. Wasnt hard at all, just abit time consuming...took me 2 1/2 hours with basic handle tools.

what are all the tools needed? just a 10 mm and a dremel?

dremel, wrench kit, flat head screwdriver and pliers is basically all you need to install intakes

Awesome DIY! Thank you! +1 :tup:

I'll be doing this pretty soon myself and its nice to have everything step by step. Very much appreciated! :tiphat:

like someone said, rachet with 10mm, i think i used a 15mm for something but i cant remember, still havent gone outside to check but everything is mostly 10mm, flat head screw driver, dremel and pliers

cool. thanks for the pics and writeup. im gonna get to it this thursday! isnt there a bolt in the wheel well that u have to undo as well? maybe u already covered it and i missed it

there is but if you have small fingers then u dont need to undo it...i didnt even notice the one in the wheel well, i was able to pull the edge of the liner out and get the screw driver in there.

Mostly 8, 10, 12, 14, and 8MM's

Good DIY. It'll help out many members. I will add it to the DIY index in near future.

this write up is freaking awesome...i thought G3's were a pita to install....after reading this write up it makes me think otherwise....it looks very simple and straight forward...just a time consuming job

one little thing to add,
wipe down all the polished pipes with rubbing alcohol after the install to get any fingerprints off. Otherwise, once they heat up, they will be come permanent.

I powdercoated mine black chrome instead though for a different look.

you could do that or do what i seen 2 girls in the injen video do, leave the plastic wraping on during the install, then once finished, cut it off.

Thanks for the replies guys, its my first DIY so i didnt know if i was going to get flamed or what..lol.

I doubt anyone would try to flame anyone for doing a DIY; something that helps the community. And with that said, I just went ahead and ordered my Stillen Gen 3 CAI :p

That only saves you finger prints - won't do anything for scratches.

Stainless Steel scratches easily. But, it also polishes easily.

i said the wrap will save you from finger prints, i said in my DIY posts be careful not to scratch it.

thanks again for this. just intstalled em today. took a couple hours...taking the bumper off is the easy part. cutting those damn holes right is a problem...not really, my dremel just kept dying.

with this system do you have to remove the bumper everytime you have to clean the filters?

Yes you have to remove the bumper to clean the filters. Removing the front bumper is super easy though.

Don't get swayed by thinking it's difficult like I did at first. Digitonium made a DIY for removing the front bumper for reference.

Besides you don't need to clean the filters too often anyway. I'd probably do it every 20k miles or so.

Thanks for the DIY. I know I will be religiously reading this when I install my G3 intake (which soon be soon :))

ADDED!

I used this write up to help me this weekend to install - thanks. 3 things I would add:

1. Step 10 - it does require you to remove the bolt that holds the air inlets in (not just the tabs)

2. Step? - when you have to remove the cover near the window, to get to the two bolts for the strut bar, it has a bunch of plastic tabs holding in. Don't fear, just keep pulling up and it will come out - I was very tentative not to break anything, but in the end, I shouldn't have worried as they are pretty strong tabs, molded into the part.

3. Step? - when you test fit the lower tubes through your dremelled holes, cover them with the blue painter's tape, because they go in and then turn, and will most likely (guaranteed) rub against metal and get scratched. I had to put them in and out a few times to get the correct fitment, and by the end had various scratches (not that I really cared, but some others will).

I also used the DIY for the Bumper Removal, and looked at Semtex's install thread (in the Intake section), as it has more pics for the actual filter/lower tube placement. You will notice that there are several positions to put them in, all of which are very tight - make sure you cover all of the wires/hoses that touch this tube, as long term you will have some vibration and rubbing.

Also, look at my install thread as well, as I have a few more suggestions as well. Lastly, take your time, do it right the first time, and check all of your clamps.

Holy crap that's a lot of work to install an intake. Hope it's worth it. Guess I'll know soon enough when I do mine.

It took me about 5 minutes and a screwdriver to change the intake on my old 99 TransAm.

Yea its alot of work on this car but very easy. I took less then 10mins to do a intake on my cobalt, but there was only one and u didnt have to remove the front bumper...lol.

Awesome write-up. Thanks Snakes.

more diy should be like yours OP. i like how you circles all the points of interest like bolts and pins that need to be popped off.

im surprised a dremel is needed? why would stillen make a product that wont fit unless a dremel is used?

They had a whole lot of design variations, they decided on this one because the filter location achieved the best gains, only way to get the tubes with a proper bend is to cut into the radiator mount, its really a simple procedure and doesnt weaken the integrity of the mount whatsoever.

Not sure why stillen made it like that but its a easy step to do. And from what i seen, GTM's TT Kit and i think Stillen/GTM's SC kit is also the same, the pipe goes through that same spot.

Just installed mine yesterday with my son. Not as easy as I thought (took about 4 hours) but that's coming from a guy who has never taken a bumper off in his life.

I did not remove the engine cover or cross bar either. (didnt have deep sockets and didnt want to go to sears to get them)

It wasnt too bad although I'm scared to death I did something wrong somewhere and I'll find out about it sometime in the next month while I'm driving.......

Hopefully not!!

I placed a piece of hose over the AC line and taped it in place. I guess when I have someone install my HFC's and CBE I'll take the bumper off again and check for any wear.

I will say that I noticed a difference when driving. Second gear, at 3500-4000 RPM was impressive. I don't have numbers to back it up, but it sure felt faster. (traction control light came on a well)

you what, what, in the what, what? lol. Please explain that better...you shouldnt have to tape anything, if so...u might have issues in the future. Also u dont need a deep socket to take the strut bar and engine cover off, a simple 10mm and 14mm socket will do

I just did this this weekend and searched all over this site for help, unfortunately i never found this topic. Perhaps that's because Stillen is spelled incorrectly in the topic title. Perhaps an Admin can fix that up. None the less great job on the write up and everything said here is true.

Only thing I can add to any of this would be

1 you really dont need to remove the cross bar to get the stock intakes out so you could save a little time not hassling with that.

2 the bumper isn't as scary as it seems. It's really light and pops right off as stated.

3 be ready to reprogram your power windows after you hook your battery back up. Link to that here.

http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...ogramming.html

Thanks for adding those 2 in but i already stated that everything (not just your windows) has to be reprogramed.

I just pulled a Gen3 off of a friends car.....just in time. The drivers side tube was wearing thru the a/c line. I guess over time the tube will shift or the original installer didn't cut the hole tight enough. A little piece of rubber hose over the a/c line sounds like cheap insurance. Attachment 10762

Great info, but why disconnect the battery in the first place ? surely with ignition off and ensuring the electrical connectors are clean and covered there is no need to worry about battery and consequently reprogramming.

Just ordered... Reading to be ready...
 

OK... I just order my G3 kit...

I have concerns about removing the front bumper. I read the DIY and it seems reasonably easy but there was mention of adding images for clarity. Anyone know where I might be able to get some pics to ease my mind?

Love this site... nice to be surrounded by others that think the 370z is a sweet ride. :tup:

This last image that has wear on the AC line concerns me a bit though. Any further advice/tips/comments/warnings/etc are welcome. I'd like to do this right the first time.

I don't have a pics of removal, guess I could take some. As far as the rubbing goes, the stillen unit doesn't bolt up to anything, its just kind of wedged in there. I would think cutting the hole as tight as possible would help with the rubbing issue. It may also be that the a/c line could be a little higher or lower depending on the individual car. Putting a small piece of fuel line hose on the a/c line will be really easy and would stop any destructive rubbing. I would not worry about it to much, the car in the picture had the hole hawged out pretty good, the rubbing took place over about 8-10,000 miles. A small piece of hose would have stopped all the problems.

I'm likely just being paranoid but pics of the bumper removal would be appreciated as this is the thing that ranks at the top of my concern list when doing this mod... I really don't want to damage anything cosmetic when removing the bumper.

The car is not handy at the moment. Is the A/C line on the drivers side accessible with the stock airboxes in place? I'm wondering about the diameter of the line so I can track down a piece of tubing that has a similar ID for protection when I get to the install.

thanx in advance.

One specific question that relates to this post... Not that it matters as I've already ordered the G3 kit but, when you say "pulled a G3 off of a friends car", did you just reinstall the stock air boxes or was it replaced with a different intake kit?

I'd like to know if the cutting of the dam for the larger Stillen intakes is reverseable to put the car back to stock.

thanx.

He has two 370z's. One had all the mods which we are swapping to his other car. Yes the stock air boxes and tubing went back in, no problems. The a/c line is not accessible with the front bumper on, it is on the front side of the core. The only two area's everybody is nervous about is removing the 10mm bolt that is behind the inner wheel well and the plastic cover over the windshield side of the strut or tower bar. Everything else is just plastic clips and small bolts. I'll try to post some pics later today of these two area's

Here is the pics. Remove the plastic clip, then pullout the inner fender liner. Remove the 10mm bolt, then the squimish part, grab the bumper cover and give it a hard tug, the clips will pop right out. Of course this after you have removed all the other push pins and bolts.The other pics are of the cover over the strut bar, after removing the two push pins, just pry or yank up, there are a bunch of clips as you can see, just takes some muscle. Good luck.

Awesome... thanx so much... this looks OK to me... when you tug on the bumper to remove, where are the clips underneath? How many? Where should I be grabbing? Whole bumper in one tug or L-side then R-side?

I think I can figure it from here but any answers to the above might make it much less trial and error. :)