Cold air intake for $11

S

Scottwax

New member
I did a similar cold air intake on my Accord and was pleased to see I could make one for my Maxima. The main problem for me with aftermarket CAI's is the increased intake noise. I know some people like it but I want to keep my car as quiet as possible.



Anyway, I did some searching on maxima.org and found out the easiest way was to keep the factory intake scoop at the front of the car and run a tube from the bottom of the ducting to under the front fender. There is a 3.5" diameter capped tube near where the intake ducting goes into the air box. Not sure what the exact purpose is, may be a resonator of some sort. I simply cut the closed end off and attached 4" dryer ducting to it using a 4" worm clamp-total cost, $11. I then used a box cutter to cut out a hole in the splash guard so the hose is drawing air from outside the engine bay. The hose ending is about 6" off the ground but I shouldn't have any problems with pulling water into the engine should I go through a deep puddle since the factory intake scoop is still in place. Should water get into the tube, the engine would pull air through the stock intake instead, sort of like when a straw has a crack in it.



Here are a few pictures. Yeah, the front lip is pretty scuffed up but I can't see it unless I get down there so no biggie. ;)



OSCAI_1.jpg




OSCAI_2.jpg




OSCAI_3.jpg




OSCAI_4.jpg




The engine seems to pull a bit harder from 3500 rpm and up, most noticable from 5000 to the 6500 rpm redline. Maxima.org members say it typically shows a 5 hp increase on a dyno. Not bad for $11, eh? :)
 
Watch for puddles....I know it's unlikely, but I used to have a Ram Air system underneath my bumper for the pala and I was always worried it'd take in some water.



$11 for any kind of performance benefit is AWESOME!
 
Once a horsepower guy, always a horsepower guy! Nice mod Scott and by keeping the stock intake box it will keep the intake noise down. When you remove the box-it gets louder!
 
Way2SSlow said:
Watch for puddles....I know it's unlikely, but I used to have a Ram Air system underneath my bumper for the pala and I was always worried it'd take in some water.
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Ditto...my stock intake on my '90 Bonneville used to inhale water when you were on the highway and had to stay in lane and drive through standing water at the edge of the lane--the kind that slows you down...would throw water up and the engine would glug glug. It was bad enough you'd worry about planing off the road...then you'd have to worry about the car dying and getting rear-ended. I don't think it ever stalled though...would just run like crap for a few minutes after.
 
I know lots of guys that have "swiss-cheesed" their stock air box. Take a 1/2" drill bit and just fill the air box with holes. Pulls more air into the intake and you do not have to worry about the possibility of hydrolock.
 
nice motor.



i would be too worried about having an exposed intake that low down.



cant you put a filter or fine mesh over the hole?



my friend did similar on his type r and had lots of problems with dead insects and leaves clogging up his air filter.



the swiss cheese style airbox is questionable as unless your airbox is a good way away from the engine, the box will just be pulling in hot air.
 
Nice Scott. Mine is a about 4-5" off the ground and it hasn't taken in any water. Oh wait, I don't drive my car in the rain.:D
 
todd@bsaw said:
I know lots of guys that have "swiss-cheesed" their stock air box. Take a 1/2" drill bit and just fill the air box with holes. Pulls more air into the intake and you do not have to worry about the possibility of hydrolock.
Click to expand...



Ah yes, the GAB (ghetto air box) mod. One of the guys posted a way to use a hangr that allows you to remove the filter holder (slides right into the air box) while still holding the filter in place. Many of them use it conjunction with the cold air intake mod. I'll probably end up using some sort of mesh to keep crap out of the air box.



No worries with hydrolock anyway since the stock intake tract is intact. Like I said in the first post, it will act like a hole in a straw. Sort of like the bypass valve that AEM makes for their cold air intakes.



When I did this to my Accord, I replaced the factory resonator in the fender with two 2" hoses that run to the bottom of the splash guard and never had a problem in the rain...and that was a set up that had only those two tubes as a way for air to get into the engine-definitely a danger of hydrolock but if I couldn't see the curb, I didn't go down that street.



Anyway, just trying to up the performance without making the car loud. Maybe do headers and the y-pipe but leave the rest of the exhaust stock. Probably do the phenolic intake manifold spacers when I change the plugs since the intake has to come off anyway to access the plugs on the rear bank. Headers, cat back and a cold air intake already has one 5.5 gen ('02/03 Maxima) in the high 13s @ 99 mph with an automatic. :grinno:



Oh yeah, Transgo makes a shift kit for my car. Nice having something that gets aftermarket support after driving a 626 for 3 years. ;)
 
noiiice! i had a 95 max with an injen intake. The only thing that i would say you might think about is that, as oppsed to running smooth piping, the crinkly (sp?) duct material you have allows for much more turbulence, and could be robbing you of even more power! but anyway, nice job man, and i know you'll enjoy ur max!
 
eyesack said:
noiiice! i had a 95 max with an injen intake. The only thing that i would say you might think about is that, as oppsed to running smooth piping, the crinkly (sp?) duct material you have allows for much more turbulence, and could be robbing you of even more power! but anyway, nice job man, and i know you'll enjoy ur max!
Click to expand...



Since the air goes into the stock intact tract at the mid-point, once in there it will be less turbulent.
 
Nice mod Scott! I love Nissan engines in that they take mods very well.



check out nissanclub.com. they have a really good amount of information there for all models.
 
eyesack said:
noiiice! i had a 95 max with an injen intake. The only thing that i would say you might think about is that, as oppsed to running smooth piping, the crinkly (sp?) duct material you have allows for much more turbulence, and could be robbing you of even more power! but anyway, nice job man, and i know you'll enjoy ur max!
Click to expand...







if you owned the car (or can read the origional post) you will see that this is addition to the

the origional scoop so it will add more air and therefor more power
 
Scottwax said:
Since the air goes into the stock intact tract at the mid-point, once in there it will be less turbulent.
Click to expand...



Scott here are a few pics of a 01 Diamante I had and did a sim intake on, note...during a flash flood Sept 23 of 06 water was sucked into the engine via the intake totaling the car.



Online Car Audio Competition OCAC - Top Installs from around the World, Best Installers and Installation Shops



Online Car Audio Competition OCAC - Top Installs from around the World, Best Installers and Installation Shops
 
imageautodetail said:
Scott here are a few pics of a 01 Diamante I had and did a sim intake on, note...during a flash flood Sept 23 of 06 water was sucked into the engine via the intake totaling the car.



Online Car Audio Competition OCAC - Top Installs from around the World, Best Installers and Installation Shops



Online Car Audio Competition OCAC - Top Installs from around the World, Best Installers and Installation Shops
Click to expand...



That is why I left the stock intake snorkel and tract in place. If the tube gets submerged (probably a good 2-3" higher than yours anyway), the airflow through the stock part will not allow the 4" dryer ducting to suck water all the way up to the air box.
 
todd@bsaw said:
I know lots of guys that have "swiss-cheesed" their stock air box. Take a 1/2" drill bit and just fill the air box with holes. Pulls more air into the intake and you do not have to worry about the possibility of hydrolock.
Click to expand...

Been there done that. Over on the org we call it the ghetto air box mod.



I eventually just got a real CAI. Now Im running that and a straight pip from the converter back.
 
if you want some performance without the noise get an aftermarket air filter but keep the stock air box,removing the ait box is what increases the noise.Im sure someone[k and n]has an oem performance replacement.
 
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