08 G35xs Newb - Plenum upgrade

[Infinitehaha82]

Hello,

I am new to this forum and to Infiniti. I just bought a 2008 G35xS and I have been reading quite a bit on this forum and noticed a little bit about a plenum upgrade. I wanted to know if it would be beneficial to do the

G35 & M35 5/16" Copper Iso Thermal plenum spacer or the G35 & M35 1/2" Copper Iso Thermal plenum spacer

and I was also looking at the G35 & M35 MREV 2 Manifold TM all from this site

http://www.motordyneengineering.com/ind ... 2a876b1514

Thank you for all your help and advise.

[joe603]

If it's an 08 G35, its got to be a sedan, the coupe changed to the G37. Unfortunately (or fortunately) , you have the VQ35HR which fixes the plenum problems in the older G35s. The MREV2 is the lower plenum from an automatic that is ported and polished from a VQ35. The good news is that the engine is an improvement and has more HP.

What I would recommend is the R2C intake and a CAT-back exhaust. An ECM tuner would be the next step.

[Infinitehaha82]

Oh okay. I need to do some more engine research lol. I haven't had a good car to tune for a while. I was thinking of doing headers and a cat back exhaust. I have mostly been looking at the Borla headers and exhaust unless you have any better suggestion. I also like the Stillen headers but the Borla exhaust seems to be a good one. But I was also wanting to do the Injen Cold Air Intake. Also what about a Cat Delete? Luckily I live in Ohio and they do not make us do the emissions test (at least not yet)

The R2C is not a true cold air intake though is it? I really like the Injen one because it actually drops down behind the bumper and closer to the ground where the colder air is.

[joe603]

R2C is a "short-ram" intake. The VQ engines love 'em. I would stay away from headers...not much gain for a really tough to install mod. You can do other, cheaper, exhaust mods for more gains. CAT backs, High Flow Cats are two of the best mods for the money.

If you do the Off road pipe, it will give you the same HP numbers that a HFC will...but smell and crappy for the environment.

[Infinitehaha82]

So why would you do the short ram over the cold air? I always was told that the Cold air intakes were a better upgrade and better performance.

[joe603]

The short ram works better for the VQ engines (has to do with the design). Cold air is really a gimmick anyway. When you're driving, you're getting cold air even on short ram intakes.

[Infinitehaha82]

Ok. I am bit of a fan of the Injen CAI because of the look of the longer tubes in the engine bay. They also use a dry filter and from what I have read they seem like a good deal. Am I going to miss anything if I go with these over the R2C?

Is the Borla Exhaust system good and keep the good sound or is there an exhaust system that you recommend? And how difficult are the headers to replace to do a full exhaust system upgrade?

Is there any other engine upgrades that would be good for the 08 Sedan that you recommend?

[sc6mt]

i have an 05 g sedan and im running stillen hfc's and an r2c intake. the intake is a wonderful product. it looks great, good hp gains, and is easy to install. since your car will have 2, it will look super clean. its really well designed and if you ever have a problem with it, their customer service is awesome. it also shipped really fast when i ordered it. i had stillen test pipes for a while and i liked them for about a week until i noticed the weird noises that test pipes usually make, like the infamous test pipe hiss and other strange noises. i wasted $300 on them and sold them for $100 so my advice would be to get high flow cats - no check engine light, no smell, and the same hp numbers. stillen hfs are a little over $500. dont make the mistake i made and stay away from the test pipes! joe knows his stuff.

[Infinitehaha82]

Thanks sc6mt. I appreciate the advice. I was definitely thinking of going with high flow cats and not test pipes but I was mainly wondering about how hard it is do install headers too. I know Joe said it is not worth the effort because it is not much of a gain but I was thinking that with some good Headers, HFC and exhaust and a tune then I would get the most gain out of the entire system. Plus I want the look of having new headers and not just the stock ones under the hood.

I will probably go with the R2C Intakes as it seems that eveyone is going with them. They do sound like an excellent product.

[Fezzik]

Do the injen cold air intakes on the 08 G35 place it low like the G37. If so then do not get it. There are more than one instance of water being sucked up.

[Infinitehaha82]

Fezzik - here is a link to that intake

http://www.carid.com/2008-infiniti-g35- ... 60331.html

Watch the install video and you can see where they sit. They are not to low but there is always a chance of sucking up water with a CIA. The theory behind it sitting lower is because there is colder air there. But I agree with Joe. You are going to get cold air when driving anyways. But the CIA's get away from the engine and that is another reason why the air is usually colder than having the filter in your engine bay.

[audtatious]

While R2C is technically a short ram intake it is boxed and receives air through the same passages as the factory boxed intake so it's not like it's just using air from the inside of the engine bay.

I had a Injen on my Maxima with the VQ35DE and even though there is an under tray it got quite dirty and clogged. It is also not getting direct airflow either. The only true CAI is the Stillen Gen III, IMO.

[Infinitehaha82]

Ok I do like the Stillen CAI. Does it not have the issue of getting clogged like the injen one? Are the Gains of the R2C the same?

[audtatious]

Stillen Gen III is directly behind the grille and even with the deflectors I'm sure the filters get soaked and dirty. I will have to defer to cleaning and usability of those filters to someone who has it. Gains with the Stillen are greater than the R2C....at least when new.

R2C has a better dry filter system than the Stillen and it's easier to maintain (doing filter work on the Stillen setup can be a pain in the butt from what I see). It does have good gains but not as much as the Stillen.

[Infinitehaha82]

Well thank you for your information Audtatious. I will take that into consideration when I make my purchase. I hope there is someone out there that can provide some more details on the Stillen from having owned one.

[audtatious]

Seems the Stillen Gen III kit may use K&N oiled filters. You would need to remove these and clean them appx every 20k miles (K&N does suggest 50k, BTW) which means you will need oiling kits. With the R2C filters you just need to blow them out as they are dry filters.

From what I can tell the Stillen Gen III is dyno tested to give appx 18.5 whp whereas the R2C is around 14 whp.

[joe603]

Dry filters are 1000% better...

[audtatious]

I believe some have put in AEM dry filters on the stillen kit.....my concern is with water exposure and what it will do to a dry filter.



Not much protection from the elements.....

[Infinitehaha82]

Now I assume that the Grille goes back on infront of that though right? You dont just leave it all open? I really like how that looks. I know it will get some punishment from the Elements but I think this Kit is what I want. I will look into getting dry filters for it though. Will that affect the performance of the Kit over the oiled filters?

[audtatious]

Yes, the grille goes there. I personally would not consider dry filters for the Stillen Gen III due to the elements issue.

[Infinitehaha82]

Yeah that makes sense. Would there be any performance difference with Dry filters? I may just have to drive this car on non-rainy days.

[audtatious]

Higher end dry filters do better than oiled. Kinda depends on the filter I guess.

[kmckis1029]

injen also has a short ram version for the G37... so here is another option for you lol... im thinking of going with the injen short ram purley on price honestly... both the r2c and injen are dry filters and install about the same way... have the same dynoed gains, but the injen is $100 less.

just my 2 cents...

[audtatious]

I believe the Injen is shorter and without the shroud would pull in more warm air from under hood.