More airflow to intakes
 

I'm sure somebody has done something similar to this, just haven't seen a thread about it. I think anybody using Stillen G3/ Takeda/ litespeed ect. style intakes can really benefit from this.

After I installed my G3's, I noticed that if you look through the front facia and up towards the crash bar where the filters are located, they are completely blocked by the foam crash absorber. Now, I know that these style intakes are dyno proven, I just felt like there could still be some improvement with airflow. Some people might say "well why not just remove the foam"... If you look on the back side of your bumper, there are some same square foam pieces glued on. Those actually rest on the foam absorber. So its probably best not to completely remove it.

Went to Lowes this morning and bought a 2ftx2ft 26guage piece of aluminum sheet metal for 24 bucks. They had smaller pieces for around 10 bucks, which would have also worked. The piece I bought was a little overkill. You could get a thicker piece as well. I only had tin snips to cut it with, so I felt the 26guage was thick enough and would be durable enough.

Cut some slots out of the foam absorber where the filters are located. Then I measured and cut the aluminum to the right sizes. Did a few bends, then I lightly sanded and spray painted, drilled a couple small holes on the crash bar and used some screws to mount ... and wallah! Now I have some deflectors to guide more air up to the filters. I'm sure this may only add 1 or 2hp, if any. Buuuut, we all know in the N/A world, that any weight you can shed, or HP you can add is a huge plus!

Not sure how much room a regular Z has in its bumper to do this, as I have a Nismo. Also, this would probably allow water to be able to reach the filters... Mine is a only nice weather, weekend warrior so that wasn't a concern for me. Just thought I would share if anybody was interested. :tup:

*The pictures of the finish product were taken upward through the fascia... if you were to just look at it on a knee straight on, you can barely see the deflectors. I know they look alittle sloppy in the pics from the angle I took them from.

Looks pretty good. Id just be worried when it rains as some rain would follow up the same air shaft.

This is pretty creative. No one has thought or tried anything like this before. But like you mentioned it might be easier for water to enter the filter. Quick question though. Considering most of us drive at pretty fast speeds won't the force applied to the front of the car mess with your design and kinda flatten the bend of the ramp you did yourself for the air to go to the filter? Idk just a thought. And if it a problem would it be better to weld the desired form? Idk just throwing out ideas. It would be cool to see some numbers if this little mod makes a difference. Either way +1 rep for creativity for you sir! :tiphat:

It is a possibility that water can make its way up to the filters. My Z isn't a DD, just a nice weather weekends only kinda car. So if anyone does this do it at your own risk. The aluminum is pretty sturdy, like I had mentioned its 26guage, so I don't think at higher speeds it will flex back much. I pushed it with my fingers and its really really strong. Plus you can always buy thicker aluminum if you want.

*The bottom bend part only has about an inch exposed from the fascia opening. From the pictures it looks like it hangs down a lot more than it actually does.

Well there you go :tup:

Just playing devils advocate but in a full frontal collision by removing that foam would that hurt you on a insurance claim for modifying the structure of the vehicle?

Your best bet would be to contact your insurance agent and get his/her opinion. If you're paranoid, get a friend to call from a phone not associated with you. :)

The mods _shouldn't_ affect your liability coverage, but might affect your comprehensive. <insert standard disclaimers here>

Lol its not the crash beam, its a peice of form. Even then the crash beam only stops 5-10mph accidents. I don't think I've ever heard of someone with FMIC replacing the crash beam ever having issues.

My issue with this is drivability. I've done this to other cars and the wind blowing in messes with the MAF sensor. At idle you're fine but imagine at 50mph the MAF expects to see xxx amount of air, but then a huge wind blows against the car because its just a windy day. The MAF is expected to only see what it thinks it should at 50mph at whatever gear or RPM you're at. That wind blows in and it thinks the car is going faster than it really is and starts adjusting the A/F ratio. Again I've done this on other cars and it makes it super annoying to drive and it bogs, hesitates ect under light throttle and in closed loop map setting. Under WOT open loop it was fine.

So far everything is fine. Drove it all day yesterday and didn't notice any hesitation or anything. I am Uprev'd tuned, but since I put another exhaust on and this mod I could probably do some adjusting.

Are you going to put it on a dyno by any chance?

I probably will soon since my tune was done in Texas, and I'm living in WA state now. Plus I changed my exhaust setup and running 92octane now. (Texas has 93)

Sweet. Hey how are you liking the litespeed exhaust? I've seen a couple of YouTube videos and its pretty awesome bro! How much did you get it for? If you don't mind me asking :ugh2:

That's good. The MAF is up further in the pipe then I'm used to plus it has the 90* bend to deal with which should slow the air flow in as its not a huge ram air effect.

I like where you are going but think it was not necessary. Your getting enough CA already. Find a way to filter off any debris that will end up on your filters like a mesh screen. More susceptible to bugs, rocks, cig butts, paper, etc. Also try to figure out how to protect from hydrolock when it rains.

As for your insurance issues, the body shops will be able to tell if it was modded or altered they've done so many of these to tell the difference. The question is will they tell on you.

You are probably right. Like I said, this may add 1 or 2hp, if any. I just noticed the foam absorber limited the amount of air to the filters. Maybe its different on a non Nismo Z. I just think Nissan did a really poor job with the aerodynamics and airflow to the engine, brakes, differential, ect.

the MAF sensor does NOT expect anything related to any speed.

It is just a sensor that detect airflow by the mean of a heated wire.
if a wind blow too much on it , yeah that will cool down the heated wire which send a signal that is received by the ECU then adjust the AFR.

depending on the intake bent and location of the MAF sensor, yeah it might not be good at certain occasion.

+1. The MAF measures, as its name implies, mass flow, not velocity or volume. As long as you are within the operating range of the sensor, pressure and velocity at the sensor are not important. If you increase the system pressure (eg, ram air) the velocity will actually decrease to get the same mass of air into the engine (the air is more dense so it takes less volume to get the same mass).

Sensor location can make a difference due to turbulence.

The setup in the OP is not a ram air but an "enhanced" CAI. For it to be a true ram air, it would have to have the filters enclosed and sealed within the new duct work.

True. I guess a true ram air would be something like...

Whatever ya call it, it's still a great idea. Thanks for sharing. :tup:

You read to far into that. At 50mph more air will be sucked in than say 10mph. i was only using speed to make it simple instead of saying increased MAF volts at higher speeds or air sucking, which people might not have gotten.

Actually it will measure velocity, volume and flow of air in a way. A turbo'd car will max out MAF sensors if they are installed in to small of a diameter tube. To small, the volume of space isn't enough and the volts increase maxing out the sensor and tuning cannot be completed or compensate for the change above 5.0v. The velocity of the air filling up a small tube to fast again will max out the sensor and tuning will hault. Yes in the end its still mass flow but factors effect flow.

Density has nothing to do with ram air. It has to do with heat. Hotter air is less desnse. Ram air at ambient temp is still the same temp as ambient air in a closed space as long as heat soak is kept at bay. The amount of air molicules entering the engine will be the same. However a ram air will cause the senser to increase fuel which is we're the bogging and hesitation come from since wind is never going to be the same driving down the road, for example a semi blowing past you rocking your car.

No it won't when the insurance adjustors look at cars they never look at them that close and most of them don't know what they are looking at anyway.

Those variables can be derived (if you know other variables), but they're not what is being measured. Ofc, even the mass flow measurement is not direct, it is derived from heat loss.

"As long as you are within the operating range of the sensor,..."

Wrong on so many levels. To start with, pressure, volume, and temperature are interrelated. (that explanation tends to be overly technical, Google "PVT" for others). If you change any of those variables, something else has to change. If you increase the pressure (ram air) and the temperature stays the same (there will be a slight increase of temp anytime you compress a gas, but not important for this discussion), the volume has to decrease. When the volume decreases, the density goes up.

The raison d'être of ram air is to increase pressure which in turn increases density which means more O2 molecules per unit of volume.

I never said they were. Simply they effect the maf voltage and make the car run poorly. hence taking all that into consideration the MAF in a away measures them and/or effected by them. This isn't a science class, its a topic that having unwanted air blown in by out side forces will make the car run like **** since its more air than what the car is supposed to be ingesting.


You meant to say outside operating range. you cant max it out if its in the operating range!

You are not going to increase the pressure with this setup. The piping is not changing size or acting like a compressor in any way. The term ram air in this topic is just exposing the filter to outside air. Maybe you missed the word "ram air effect." I think I have to spell things out for you since I already said I'm talking to people so they understand but you clearly can't come down a level and read whats in front of you.

But you need to have at least a little understanding of the science behind flow measurement to discuss it.

No. I said exactly what I meant.


If you don't mean "ram air" (with or without the "effect") then don't say "ram air." It will avoid a lot of confusion. How are ppl going to understand you if you don't say what you mean?

:drama:

Exactly what I was thinking

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