Status Elite Intakes, Yes I own $800 short rams
 

I bought the Status Elite intakes from another member who ended up having to sell their 370Z due to a job relocation.

They are the 04/22 (4th out of 22 total made sets, lol)

They were brand new, the box was never opened. With that being said, I consider myself the original owner of these intakes. The install problems are indicated below. After the install they look pretty nice and fit well enough. They are a bit better than the JWT Pop Chargers for the fact the intake pipes extend all the way to the throttlebodies. Worth $800 for plain old polished stainless steel pipes and regular K&N-style filters? NO WAY. My recommendation would be to spend your money on the Stillen Gen3 CAIs.

After installing, I ended up sending an e-mail to Status Elite about their product:


"Hi,

I just installed a pair of your intakes onto my 370Z and noticed a few things:

1) You only included 2 clamps instead of 4 for the tops of the intakes (the coupler part). So I could only clamp down the part that connects to the throttlebody, but you didn't give me the other 2 clamps for the other side of the coupler for the intake side.

2) Looking down into the engine bay, the left side intake filter makes contact with the power steering reservior.

3) You included a bracket, but I have no idea what to use it on or for? Is this for the power steering rubbing issue?

4) The filters were a huge ordeal to get to stay clamped onto the intakes.. If you clamped them too tight, they would pop off, clamp them too little, they move too much. I had to use some rubbing alcohol to clean the rubber that makes contact with the intakes because they felt as if some oil was rubbed on them. This helped a little but not quite. I had to fiddle with the clamp and use the right positioning to get the clamp to work well with the filters.

A suggestion here would perhaps use a wider filter clamp.

So, could you send me my 2 missing clamps for the rubber couplers? And could you tell me what the bracket you included is intended for?

My address is:

Jay XXXXX
XXXXXXX
Jacksonville, Florida
XXXXX

Lastly, packing in some instructions or "tips" would help a lot too! For $800, I expected a more thought-out package. On the plus side, the intakes were packaged very well in the box and I appreciate that.

Thanks in advance,

Jay"


I'll let you know the outcome.

And now the pics... Forgive the low quality, took them with my iPhone 3GS, actually they look pretty good for a phone, hmm.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3606/...f2673563_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2646/...339d2723_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3479/...73622c6e_b.jpg

And this is showing how the filter touches the power steering reservior.. but apparently the bracket I have moves the reservior a little over to the left..
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3459/...d25e632c_b.jpg

Yeah they got no where over on the G37 forum making only 12 of them :lol:

pics please ... 800 really wow

holy crap

Yup they said they were limited production:ugh2:

I knew they were a limited run and I already read most of that G37 thread before I even bought these.. I figure, they are atleast going to give me 15 whp as their dyno runs suggested. I have no doubt they are going to give me gains, they are made well at least, the welds look very nice and clean and they have some of the largest filter openings i've ever seen (not that we need them or that it matters). And lastly, they probably saved me 2-3 lbs over the stock setup.

Luckily, I had none of the issues the thread you linked of the guy.. My sensors went right in with no problems.

But you couldve gained that with the Stillens for half the price correct? Im asking not being d!ck.....

I am in no way trying to undermine your purchase or the credibility of status elite.... however I would just like to bring a couple of things to everyone's attention. Its just something I noticed a while back...perhaps I am completely wrong, but I would like to get your opinions. Maybe I'm crazy...

Check this out... this is a picture that Lou at Amplified posted a while back..

http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/u...Picture918.jpg


Now..those are the Status Elite short rams.

Then immediately after, Amplified posted a picture of the JWT intakes... which I found rather peculiar at the time, why would you post a competitor's intake system when you are trying to to sell the Status Elite..

Here is the picture as posted by amplified.

http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/u...Picture220.jpg


Now take a look at my pics of the JWT when I tested them out...

http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k...041024x768.jpg


What I'm trying to say is that there are striking similarities between the JWT design and the Status Elite design..

The main difference is that the Status Elite also replaces the corrugated part of the stock intake...now Im no welding expert...but those sure look like welds on the Status Elite's where the JWT short ram intakes would end. Seems almost like they tacked on extentions to replace the corrugated part, painted them black and rebranded as Status Elite.

There's nothing wrong with that; manufacturers do this all the time and its perfectly acceptable practice. No one has done anything wrong here and I'm not saying "oh look at these cheaters!" but...the JWT's are what like $350?

I'm kinda treading on thin ice, but do chime in people if Im wrong.

I didn't pay $800, or anywhere near that price for these. But the person I bought them from DID. I don't know how much JWT short rams go for, but i'm willing to bet I spent less than those go new.

RCZ, my Status Elite intakes look nothing like the JWTs in those pictures.. Except for the top picture where they are shown in black, mine are those, but they aren't anything like the JWTs.. the sensor bung, the pipes and welds are different.

Edit: RCZ, he's got JWT filters on the SE intakes.. that's the only discrepancy.. The SE filters are red like K&Ns..

I'll take a picture of mine when I get a chance..

Totally not worth it to me..... It was all hype and limited production.
At least they refunded a guy on myg37.

Cool, Im not making any allegations, just observations. If you do post pics, that would be cool.

The picture on the top, the black ones, from the half down are very very similar to the JWT's. If you say yours looks like the ones in the top picture...then thats what I'm trying to say...

That's my point, as I stated in the original post, they are not worth $800.. $700, $600, $500, or even $400.. They could have gotten away with $300 probably. They are decently made intakes.. They fit fine, other than the left one's filter hitting the power steering reservior. I've been checking the filter everyday and don't see any signs of rubbing damage.

They have a good rep on myg37. I'm sure they'll do something. Well, hopefully

Well, either way, I can fix what they failed at for a few bucks in the least.

And i'll wait for their e-mail/response and keep this thread updated.

Can you post a short driving review?

How is the sound, butt dyno, throttle response ect... anything else you may have to offer as an opinion.

Thanks

Nick

I can't hear anything because i'm running around town without a muffler.. Car felt more responsive, more punchy.. But it could all very well be in my head. There's not much else I can add.. I doubt you'd be able to feel another 10-15 whp in our cars that already put close to 300 whp.

And unfortunately i'm having my Berk HFCs and Invidia exhaust installed this Thursday so i'm sure I will won't be able to hear the intakes over the exhaust.

Oh yeah, go to Youtube and type in "Status Elite Intake" and you should find several videos of a G37 on the dyno with just the SE intakes on.. They sound pretty deep and loud for intakes.

After seeing this on Lou's car I contacted status elite about them not having images of there intakes installed in a 370z on there website or pricing. This was months ago. They sent me the pricing for the intakes and said they were working on the site. I even posted a thread asking if anyone had numbers on those intakes. There was no response from anyone.

I liked the wet black stacks on Lou's but was hesitant about getting them without more info. I also wondered myself why Lou did'nt post any numbers for those intakes. I remember a reading where the differences between the JWT intake were explained in a fashion that made the status elite stacks seem so much better the the JWT. They look nice.

I maybe the wrong person to comment about buying things without dyno numbers cause I just bought an exaust without dyno numbers on just testimony and sound. But even that was more info that was available on these stacks. Thanks to diversion for the post. Lets see what happens next.

Ok my turn to chime in since the 2 pictures posted was of our cars:tup:

The first picture(370z) with the black STATUS ELITE intakes were just put in right before the show. We didn't have time to do any dyno's on it since we placed it last minute.

The 2nd picture of the G37, i posted the pictures because the dry carbon parts on the G37(Battery and Brake cover, Engine cover and Radiator shroud) was all done by Status Elite. Very high quality dry carbon products if I may say, but the pictures i posted was not at all intended to compare the intakes. I had the JWT'S on my G37 because they are one of my sponsors for last years SEMA.

The two intakes are slightly similar only because they use the same diameter openning on the filter but the velocity stack on both is completely different. The Status Elite velocity stack is much bigger and has a smoother openning. Now i don't know where the JWT'S are made but the SE intakes are hand made here in the US. I really don't know exactly why the SE intakes are that much more price wise but i can tell you that the process of them to CNC the velocity stack and the MAF adaptors is not cheap. Another difference is the pipe diameter used, The JWT is slightly smaller than the SE intake plus the angles and brackets are completely different, not to mention the SE intakes are one piece from the trottle body to the air filter, the JWT are two separate filters from pipe to the velocity stack. Plus, powder coating cost was not cheap for both filters

As for the rubbing issue on the resevior, status elite provided a different bracket to relocate the power steering resevior, I guess the person that sold you the intake didn't give you the bracket.

Im no expert on the 2 intakes mentioned but any short ram intake made for a specific vehicle should yield around the same dyno numbers or just a slight difference in gains but production cost can always vary:tup:

Thanks for clearing that up Lou, I have absolutely no gripes with Amplified, in fact keep up the good work :)

Lou,

I do have the bracket, it was inside the box.. I was actually trying to contact SE on what the bracket was used for! I had a feeling it was to do with relocating the power steering reservior.. But how do I use it? SE still hasn't gotten back to my e-mail =(

Jay

Added pics to OP.

You got it installed ? The owners of SE are friends of mine, they're installing some intakes for me in a couple weeks when I get back from Vacation.

any questions? I can probobly relay it to them.

"Check your freakin' email and respond." That's what you should relay to them. ;)

Let me check out our z once we get it back from Mackin so i can have an answer for you. I know for sure that its just a different bracket for the power steering reservior, meaning you remove the OE and replace it with the new bracket and it angle's the bottle slighlty higher to avoid rubbing against the filter

hope that helps

No offense taken sir. I just wanted to inform the members on the difference between the two intakes. Im a dealer for both products so i didn't want to be bias but i wanted to give everyone the correct information regarding the two :tup:

I was most impressed by the pics the 3GS takes:rofl2:

Received a response from Status Elite:

"Hi Jay, that's odd that we didn't have necessary clamps needed for installation. I will ship that out for you today, As for the bracket, yes it is used for the powersteering reservoir to allow more room for the filters. Sorry, we had released the 370z intakes early without installation instructions. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Kevin"

Looks like they are going to help me out, so that's a relief!

Jay