New AEM Intakes?

mcspooney

I took the liberty of ordering these:

https://www.z1motorsports.com/air-in...t-p-11697.html

I ordered them thru Z1 motorsports (because I love them and always get my parts from them). Ordered them August 31st and just got them yesterday, Sept 30th. They were drop shipped, so I think AEM is backed up on making these? I really think they are new, because I haven't seen a review on these ever.

Please note. I have NEVER bought an aftermarket intake, so take some of my review with a grain of salt. I may have high expectations.

I just got them yesterday and installed them this morning.

Just got back from a test drive. Here are my thoughts:
1. For some reason, everywhere, even on the documentation that came with the AEM it says "mandrel-bent, aluminum tubing", but Z1 has also listed that its "rotomolded plastic aluminum tubing. It is definitely the latter. I think someone copy and pasted descriptions.
2. I was VERY skeptical at first, because the diameters of these tubes... are not that huge, especially where it mates with the filter. But they hand you a dyno graph with the instructions... so I YOLO'ed this puppy right on there.
3. Heat shields are really nice quality.
4. Buuuutt... you have to assemble the edge seals onto the heat shields when you get them. That includes cutting them to size. AEM just gives you a ~3 foot length of edge seal. I used all but about 4" of it. I was not bothered by this... but I think it should have come assembled. Maybe this is how they hit that 350$ mark.
5. There are little gaps in the heat shield. So I'm concerned that when I go to the track, this thing will be sucking in heat-soaked air. We shall see.
6. Fitment is pretty good, I would say 7.5 out of 10. There's a spot where they don't mention, where the edge seal kind of pinches down on the passenger headlight wiring harness. I wasn't fond of that. It takes some careful "maneuvering" (as they put it in the install manual) to get that sucker in there. I also had to pull out this part of the wiring harness on the driver's side... they didn't note it in the manual. I'm being rough here though. Instructions were pretty good.


Impressions:
1. Starting the car and just driving up to the highway... I didn't notice a noise difference at all. I was letting the car warm up too, so I kept it below 4k RPM.
2. Hop on the highway and... the sound is a little subtle. I like the noise though. Its a rougher, poppier sound. I am probably not good at describing it, but I like it alot. Higher in the rev range, definitely much more noticable, much more enjoyable.
3. Power felt up, just a little. I believe 15 hp is right. Its got more power all around, especially near the top.

I bought this intake for a few reasons:
1. Its pretty cheap. 350$ seems about as cheap as 370z intakes come...
2. Claimed power gain is on par with the better intakes.
3. No need to service through the front bumper. I take my front bumper off fairly regularly, so I'm not squeamish when it comes to taking it off. I just don't want to increase my need to pull it off.
4. It looks pretty nice. Very clean once installed. Looks at home in the engine bay.
5. I hate oil filters. This has a dry filter. Had K&N filters from a previous owner back in the day on one of my 240sx's. Oiling those was retarded. I probably over oiled it, because under oiling it seemed dangerous. Then that oil ended up all over the inside of my intake. Just not a fan.


Anyway. If you guys are interested, I guess I could take some video. Just thought I would give the world some info on this puppy.

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Z1 34 Row Oil Cooler, Swift Springs, Nismo Struts, SPL Camber Arms. Z1 2 Piece Front Rotors. 10" Wide Sport Rays all around. BFG Geforce Rivals 285/35/19 all around.