Replacing air intake system- '90 240 SX
Replacing air intake system- '90 240 SX
What are your thoughts about replacing the existing air intake system with a new one, perhaps Injen or the like? Do they really help? Also is the cold air intake option really worth it? Or what about using a different filter in the stock air box? I'd like some personal experience before dropping a few hundred into a new system for my '90 240 SX
Replacing air intake system
P.S.I live at 7,000 ft in the High Desert, where every bit of oxygen counts!
I have the K&N FIPK on my 1990. It does not include the tube, just the cone filter and a tapered plate, plus some hardware to mount everything up. A bit pricy at $180 (+ or -) when I bought it.
Main drawback of open filters that are under the hood is that though you are getting more volume of air, it is underhood air, which is hotter than outside air.
They still work pretty good, but if an extension is availiable with whichever kit you buy, I would recommend picking it up also.
Main drawback of open filters that are under the hood is that though you are getting more volume of air, it is underhood air, which is hotter than outside air.
They still work pretty good, but if an extension is availiable with whichever kit you buy, I would recommend picking it up also.
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mattdesmond
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compression
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"Trust me, the engineers at nissan did more research than any aftermarket company will do on the intake. "
Not necessarily true..... Nissan did their best to keep it quiet and not completely kill power. Aftermarket companies do not try to keep it quiet, and persue the maximum power gain. You can get about 8 to 11 Hp from an AEM intake.Using a dop-in filter will probably not get any gains, unless your current filter is clogged. Intakes actually harness the energy in the sound waves to cram air in the cylinders, or at least thats what the good ones do. Thats what they call tuning.There is usually plenty of air flowing through the engine bay, so dont worry about a system that places the filter in there.
Not necessarily true..... Nissan did their best to keep it quiet and not completely kill power. Aftermarket companies do not try to keep it quiet, and persue the maximum power gain. You can get about 8 to 11 Hp from an AEM intake.Using a dop-in filter will probably not get any gains, unless your current filter is clogged. Intakes actually harness the energy in the sound waves to cram air in the cylinders, or at least thats what the good ones do. Thats what they call tuning.There is usually plenty of air flowing through the engine bay, so dont worry about a system that places the filter in there.
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mattdesmond
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Quote »Not necessarily true..... Nissan did their best to keep it quiet and not completely kill power. [/quote] That's true, I'll give you that one.
Quote »There is usually plenty of air flowing through the engine bay, so dont worry about a system that places the filter in there.[/quote] Except it is HOT air which is not good. an intake that gets air from the fenderwell or from outside the engine bay will net the most gains as it's sucking in colder air. The thing with getting the air there, though is that you run the risk of getting hydrolock from water coming in through the intake in the rain/puddles.
Quote »There is usually plenty of air flowing through the engine bay, so dont worry about a system that places the filter in there.[/quote] Except it is HOT air which is not good. an intake that gets air from the fenderwell or from outside the engine bay will net the most gains as it's sucking in colder air. The thing with getting the air there, though is that you run the risk of getting hydrolock from water coming in through the intake in the rain/puddles.
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compression
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"fenderwell or from outside the engine bay will net the most gains as it's sucking in colder air"
True, unless you are past the optimum tune length. And, not all cars are hot as hell under the hood all the time. When I designed an itake for the 350Z, we did extensive thermocouple testing. We ran 8 probes to a data logger that were placed all over the car and engine bay. We found that sitting at idle for an extended period of time (3+ minutes) underhood temps did climb to 20+ degrees above ambient. But the second the car moves, they drop. By the time you are cruising at 25 mph, the air temp under the hood was just about equal to the ambient temp.When you really need the air, you are usually on the gas, which means that you are moving at a good speed, which menas there is a lot of air passing quickly through the engine bay from various sources, hood seam, thru radiator, around headlights, etc.
Oh yeah, and the hydrolock thing? I have seen it happen, but if you are not an idiot and dont try to drive through 14" puddles, then you are fine. Regular rainfall will not hydrlock anything.Hope that was usefull.-aaron
True, unless you are past the optimum tune length. And, not all cars are hot as hell under the hood all the time. When I designed an itake for the 350Z, we did extensive thermocouple testing. We ran 8 probes to a data logger that were placed all over the car and engine bay. We found that sitting at idle for an extended period of time (3+ minutes) underhood temps did climb to 20+ degrees above ambient. But the second the car moves, they drop. By the time you are cruising at 25 mph, the air temp under the hood was just about equal to the ambient temp.When you really need the air, you are usually on the gas, which means that you are moving at a good speed, which menas there is a lot of air passing quickly through the engine bay from various sources, hood seam, thru radiator, around headlights, etc.
Oh yeah, and the hydrolock thing? I have seen it happen, but if you are not an idiot and dont try to drive through 14" puddles, then you are fine. Regular rainfall will not hydrlock anything.Hope that was usefull.-aaron
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mattdesmond
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Arrow
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- Car: 1990 240SX SE - SOLD
2003 Kawasaki Ninja 250R - SOLD
2009 Kawasaki Ninja 650R - corner carver
1998 Pathfinder - Location: Raleigh, NC
I am currently designing a short air intake for my '90 240. I have found that, with my car at least, the engine bay temperatures are a lot hotter where the air intake box is located... (Being that it is on the same side of the engine as the exhaust manifold) The short air intake that I am designing should only cost me about 60 - 80 bucks and should greatly improve the power and throttle response. I can't make any actual claims though until it is complete... But I would say that having the intake on the passanger side of the engine bay and putting a heat shield behind it and with an air duct made from under the car and from the front bumper, etc. should help out my car a lot! And for minimal cost!!
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mattdesmond
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Arrow
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2003 Kawasaki Ninja 250R - SOLD
2009 Kawasaki Ninja 650R - corner carver
1998 Pathfinder - Location: Raleigh, NC
-mattdesmond- yes I will post the results when I get to completing the intake.... right now I am still just designing the darn thing... And I still have to deside how I am going to get the battery and stuff on the other side and make everything look like a well-done, clean install and not any of this 'hacked' up stuff that some people do. I am wanting it to look better than a profession job! LoL. Not to put down any pros b/c they could probably do better than me... (I just want mine to look really clean)
-gumby- yes you can do that but it won't really help out that much as far as I have seen... The resonator mostly just quietens the intake (correct me if I am wrong, all I know is that a resonator isn't needed for the intake to function properly, and as far as i know an intake performs better without one) which means that it might help you out a 'little' but I can't see any large gains soming from it...If you were trying to say that by removing it you could get cooler air rather than moving the intake filter to the other side then you are partly right... you would get cooler air, but b/c the filter is still suseptible to the heat of the exhaust manifold then it still heats up the air... *I have found that even after running the car for an hour or so the air filter box is still significantly hotter than even the air in the engine bay (not to say that the air inside it is that hot, which might lead to say that an open air filter might be a little cooler)
Well that is all I have to say.... for now.... I hope to get the darn thing done within the month! I'll be sure to post the install and everything when it is done!!!
-gumby- yes you can do that but it won't really help out that much as far as I have seen... The resonator mostly just quietens the intake (correct me if I am wrong, all I know is that a resonator isn't needed for the intake to function properly, and as far as i know an intake performs better without one) which means that it might help you out a 'little' but I can't see any large gains soming from it...If you were trying to say that by removing it you could get cooler air rather than moving the intake filter to the other side then you are partly right... you would get cooler air, but b/c the filter is still suseptible to the heat of the exhaust manifold then it still heats up the air... *I have found that even after running the car for an hour or so the air filter box is still significantly hotter than even the air in the engine bay (not to say that the air inside it is that hot, which might lead to say that an open air filter might be a little cooler)
Well that is all I have to say.... for now.... I hope to get the darn thing done within the month! I'll be sure to post the install and everything when it is done!!!