Couple questions about exhaust and air filters

[Death Metal Versa]

AEM, Stillen, Fujitsu, K&N...So many choices!

Does the brand mater? Does it have to be a cold air intake or just a regular one to increase HP??

And the same thing goes with exhaust..axle back? Cat back? Does it matter? Stillen? AEM? IMPUL?

Thanks for any help

[Ever Victorious]

Dynos on both the Fujita and AEM cai show the AEM to be a little better. A CAI (cold air) is WAY better than an SRI (short ram, think K&N) because you're allowing the car to breathe colder, denser air, rather than the hot stuff under the hood.

Exhausts - Axle back is just for show and sound. Will not do a thing for your power. You need to have a full cat-back to get any change to your power, and even then it will be minimal. To truly free up the car's exhaust system, you need headers, a hi-flow cat, and a cat-back exhaust. Currently AEM is about to release a cat-back exhaust, but we know of no headers in the works.

[Vahagn23]

is there anything else that I can add to the car to increas the HP? lol except changing the engine.

[Ever Victorious]

Yes, there are... but for your skill level we'll just start with the basics. We don't want to have you playing around with your throttle body, cams, or crank pulley just yet.

Once you've figured out the easy stuff, we'll move onto the next round of concepts.

[Death Metal Versa]

thanks so much man, that explains alot!

[lain]

If you want you can go to a muffler shop and just get some 2.5" (which is what I would recommend for a non-turbo vechile) from the CAT back...or if you want you can take out the CAT and just have piping from the downpipe and back. Kinda like the setup that I'm going to do...and just save the CAT for when you have to do a smog test. keep the stock muffler that you got on so you dont get harrassed by cops. Right before the muffler put a QTP pipe as shown here



So you got the stock look but not stock performance. I never had an problems with this on my previous vechile and none of my friends did. Don't know if other people ever experienced any problems let me know if you did.

There have been reports from 5hp-30hp gain from this application. Matters on piping and back pressure.

[VersaTiidaMX]

I'm a newbie on this topic, but what does exactly a CAI does?? I know that it does increase engine performance?? But does this imply added fuel consumption also???

Thank in advance.

[biggie]

I'm a newbie on this topic, but what does exactly a CAI does?? I know that it does increase engine performance?? But does this imply added fuel consumption also???

Thank in advance.

CAI allows cooler air into the engine. Cooler air combusts better, making the fuel burn better and giving more horspower. Usually should allow you to get better fuel mileage by burning the fuel more efficiently.

[Rockhound]

If you want you can go to a muffler shop and just get some 2.5" (which is what I would recommend for a non-turbo vechile) from the CAT back...or if you want you can take out the CAT and just have piping from the downpipe and back. Kinda like the setup that I'm going to do...and just save the CAT for when you have to do a smog test. keep the stock muffler that you got on so you dont get harrassed by cops. Right before the muffler put a QTP pipe as shown here

So you got the stock look but not stock performance. I never had an problems with this on my previous vechile and none of my friends did. Don't know if other people ever experienced any problems let me know if you did.

There have been reports from 5hp-30hp gain from this application. Matters on piping and back pressure.

Not sure about the best cat-back pipe diameter for the MR18. 2.5" sounds a little large, but I'm no expert myself. Back when I had a B13 Sentra, the guru's of the GA16 engine determined that a 2" diameter pipe (with a free-flow muffler) was optimal for a N/A setup.

Also, about catalytic converters...most of today's cats aren't as detrimental to performance as people think. Again, on the GA16 powered Sentras, removing the cat was worth about a 2-hp gain on dyno runs. Not really worth it by my estimation, and we'd all be better off with less emissions than a 2-hp gain.

Those QTP pipes you speak of are very interesting...I'd never heard of those. They look very intriguing. Any chance you'll be the first one to slap one of these on a Versa?