Review: AAM Competition Cold Air Intakes S-Line/R-Line
 

DISCLAIMER:

Hi, here's my impressions on these CAIs, after having driven for few weeks with them installed.

First thing first, :pics:
http://i.imgur.com/78IWG49l.jpg

They look very good in the engine bay and the pipe on the passenger's side has AAM etched on it, fancy :tup:

Here are my impressions overall

Installation time: took me a while, mostly because of the air duct cutting... yeah I know it should be easy and quick, but I wanted to do a good job so I first cut them and then started enlarging the holes until the rubber hose was comfortably fitting with no restrictions.

2013 Bumper removal: this was quite a PITA. Having DRLs made this a challenge for someone who's never removed a bumper... I had to get the wheels and the front fenders off to easy access the DRLs, unbolt them, wrap them in bubbly plastic and tape them to the brakes. Then I could easily remove the bumper.

Feeling: these CAIs are a great choice for a DD. I currently have them on stock engine, stock exhaust and no tune (S-Line mode). They are quiet on low RPMs, but they start coming alive around 3000rpm and open up sucking air at >3500rpm. Performance wise I can only speak about butt-dyno, as I am waiting on my full exhaust+tune to actually get a new dyno, but the engine definitely feels more responsive on mid-RPMs. Of course, I've never expected miracles from a stock car with CAI, neither should you :)

Pros:

• Big, these pipes are big! The tubing diameter is 2.75" which by default would require a tune. This is called R-Line mode. On top of this, they come with an insert, close to the MAF sensor, to actually "restrict" the piping diameter so they don't need a tune. This is called S-Line mode.
  ( Click to show/hide )

  http://aamcompetition.com/images/F64927011.jpg
  I think this is awesome, you can install them without a tune [S-Line] and when you are actually ready, you remove the restrictions [R-Line], tune your car and BAM, Air Flow FTW!
• Rubber hoses go through the cut air ducts, this way it's easier to adjust the fitting and, guess what, you have rubber over A/C lines! This comes with a price though, and you have to enlarge the holes a lot!
• You can butt-feel the gains.
• AAM offers an awesome customer support, Khoi@AAM is very active on this forum and always offering help and support (also with my ranting about G3 Vs AAM), sorry about that Khoi :rofl2:

Cons:

• Installation instructions. Available at their website, instructions are not very descriptive and IMHO skip a lot of steps, some of which important like cutting the air ducts on the driver's side, which is a slightly different approach because of the infamous A/C lines, removing the crash bar, dealing with the cable running in front of the bumper. I *HIGHLY* recommend to follow and integrate those with ak370z's DIY on Stillen G3's installation here: http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...de-ak370z.html
  Anyway, here's a picture of the cutting done on the driver's side
  ( Click to show/hide )

  http://i.imgur.com/sVTEfs4l.jpg
• Clearance. Were you seriously expecting 2.75'' pipes to have good clearance? C'mon... - On the passanger's side there is 1/4 inch between the main pipe and the crash bar. On the front, there's a metal bar on which a cable is running along where the bumper gets clipped to that has 3 bolts; the central one will go back in, the 2 bolts on the side will not fit anymore because they are too long, so I had to ziptie instead. I also had to wrap some rubber on the final metal pipe to avoid rattles against some metal supports. (did anybody actually understand any of this?...).
• If I have to be extremely picky (did anyone say freak?), the kit came with a wrong smaller metal clamp that wasn't fitting. Not really a big deal as I re-used the ones from the stock intakes... but still... :rolleyes: - Update: Khoi offered to ship me a new clamp of the right size, now, that's what I call Customer Support! :tup:

Conclusions: I like these and I enjoyed dealing with AAM. If you are searching for an alternative to the pricey and obvious and hyper-branded Stillen G3s, these CAI are to me the perfect alternative. Highly recommended. :driving:

Thanks for the good write up!!:tup:

Thanks again for the honest review Leo. I'm sending out your missing clamp and tshirt today :) Sorry we ran out of mediums, but I got a large for you. Don't worry I wear medium, our large is on the smaller side anyways (after you give it a few washes! haha)

Unofficially released; these WILL work on g37's as well. Yes other manufacturers may have different parts/part numbers between the 370z/g37, ours doesn't! However we have not yet made or designed a hydro shield for the filters (g37's have a grill in their bumper and may need some protection for the filters while driving in extremely heavy rain) The good news is everything lines up :) here's a sneak peak on one of our sponsored g37, powder coated flat black

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C.../IMG_00023.jpg

Had a chance to dyno yet with them on to see gains??

I know someone who has them... :stirthepot:

This guy.

<----

waiting on the lower 90 degree bend from our supplier, they're due in the end of June, taking forever but once they're in we're bringing z stig's car to install and do a before/after dyno

Whats the price shipped to 91744

since it's sold as a "cold air intake", OP do you have access to an OBD2 scanner that can display live intake air temperatures?

i have some baseline data for both the stock airboxes with cool air ducts vs the Stillen G3 which in my experience reduced IAT by 1*c in similar conditions. Although small, the reduction is enough to qualify it as a CAI, relative to the baseline - ie stock intakes.

My Stillen G3 install took about 6hrs. most of it was tidying up the install and getting stuff to fit. The 2 bolts you had to replace with zip ties, i had to replace the left hand side one with a zip tie. by nature of the Stillen's sloppy fit, i did not have to replace the RHS bolt

Does anyone else have these? I like how the piping is symmetrical and sits higher in the bay, farther from the exhaust manifolds as compared to the G3 and Z1 kits. Would be really interested in going this route in the future if people are satisfied with it!

I have had this set up for about 2 years now. I only had 1 hick up. And to be honest I have been to busy to investigate to see was the true of the problem was. I have not had the car tuned yet just a few bolt on and at the Z nationals 2 years ago I dynoed 319. I don't know if that's was good or bad.

I installed these intakes around the end of May this season, also did the FI TDX exhaust + FI HFC.

Took the car in for an ECUTek tune here in Utah (FNP Tuning) and can tell you the car is a little more picky about the MAF readings due to the larger internal diameter.

I'll also tell you that it was totally worth it; I'm at 3400 ft elevation so the more airflow the better. Car put down 289 rwhp on a mustang dyno and runs beautifully.

I put the same numbers down untuned in KC with a catback only. Altitude is a real killer.

What do you mean when you say the MAFs are picky? Hiccups on WOT?

Yeah, altitude has its draw backs but canyon runs in October quite enjoyable.

It was actually going into the throttle out of first gear that was the problem. Under 2.5k, there was noticeable hesitation because the ECU thought it was getting too much air; lucky my tuner is a stud and fixed the issue without any grief.

WOT > 2.5k RPM and the car would sing. Basically the car would get super pissed off if I drove it conservatively.

No issues to speak of currently. :tup:

Are you saying that part throttle response and full throttle response are both smooth and linear now that your tuner has adjusted the MAF tables?

Trying to sort out the right CAI for my build ( FI TDX 18" / FI RHFC / Synolimit's Kit ) and I'm thinking about going with this over the z1. Wish there was some more feedback though. Anyone else have any positive / negative feedback to share with these intakes ?

I've had the AAM intake installed for 9+ months, running in S-Line mode. Butt dyno feels good, more eager to rev, seems to wind up faster, easily reaches red-line. Initial install and comments above were without a CBE, since then I've added a FI TDX non-resonated CBE, more goodness of everything I stated plus FI.

Why did I choose AAM? No hard contact points with A/C or other lines... KN filters, if I need to replace they are easily sourced, KN filters, pre-filters are available, tune-ability pulling the inserts for R-Line (I hate buying stuff twice).

Also FWIW, I am running at altitude, intake and CBE are necessary IMHO, 52.59 HP loss at 5280'. This will make your day sea-level dwellers. Wallace Racing - Braking HP Loss at Altitude Calculator

Just finished the install on this AAM S-Line intake. Relatively smooth install going by the plans. Allow 3-4 hours from start to finish. More if you need to make mdifications. I did not remove the tires or fender liners on my Nismo. Modifying the existing intake holes in the front cross member was made easier using a dremel, a carbide cutting bit and sanding drum. For me, the PCV connections on the intake tubes needed to be trimmed 1/2 inch to allow better clearance for the valve cover breather connections. Passenger side more so because of the fuel line being right there.

When re-assembling the front bumper upper mount, the hood latch plate screws on either side can be swapped with the shorter hood latch mounting screws. They are shorter by half or so. There is no interference with the piping on either side and you still can use the factory Nissan screws.

AAM could look into using the factory hood latch mounting screws to swap with the front left and right hood latch cable support plate. There is no need to include the extra shorter screws for this. At least on my Nismo there was not a need. Also be sure to insulate or protect the AC lines on the driver side as the pass under the intake pipe there. I used heater hose tubing secured with electric tape. Abrasion or vibration is possible on those lines.

Just wanted to relate my install experience. So far it has been a happy one.

For those who are wondering about temperature deltas, here is what I discovered.
I checked intake temps today and they are just a bit cooler than the stock units. Used DashCommand to measure them. 2-3 degrees cooler is my view. Also the car seems to breathe easier.

:yum:Definitely gonna go with AAM for my CAI. Wonder if any AAM rep on here can help hook it up for someone who plans on doing Time Attack:rolleyes: