Engine Bay

get something like this for the throttle body to intake tube
sh-hump_bl_g.jpg

"Hump coupler"
 
I like it - in black or red! But I need a bit more of angle coming off the throttle body to fit the angle of the tube, so that the tube aims at the filter. I could probably cut the tube at an angle and use the hump coupler. BTW - there has to be a site for stuff like this - where do you go to find single couplers, reducers, clamps, etc?

Just for discussion sake - is there any advantage to have say - a 6" diameter intake tube that puts the velocity stack at the throttle body rather than just at the filter (Stillen)? It might look funny, but I wonder if there would be any effect, positive or negative. Might have to swap out the MA sensor to make it work.
 
theMerchant said:
what did you do with your stock air ducts? isnt more heat from engine now going into the filter/intake?
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I pulled them. The Stillen shield protects the filter from radiant heat, but it's not a closed box - it's open in the front (behind the headlight) and on the bottom. So air really enters that filter from all around the box. There's a second air duct that comes up from the bottom and points into the box, but doesn't seal to it or anything. Removing the upper duct that has a 3" opening hasn't made any difference at all in terms of mpg, and I certainly can't tell there's any loss in HP from temperature after removing them. At high RPM I'm generally moving fast enough that cool air is coming through the grill and radiator.

If you look at a lot of other intake mods out there, there's no box at all. Just the filter element sitting in the open engine bay. Give it a shot - you can always put it back.
 
Updates

Sort of bored waiting for my bracing to come in, so I thought I would just spew about all the stuff I have been doing recently.

Put in the aftermarket Nismo radiator and engine oil caps. Seems like a silly thing to do, so why do I love them so much?:rolleyes:

I have ordered some hump couplers online but accidentally ordered the wrong size. :mad: So I'm exchanging them for the right size and will replace the stock coupler off the throttle body and the black coupler that attaches to the Sensor housing. I've seen the LMS intake tube, which gets rid of the sensor housing and has a spot for mounting the sensor in the tube, so you have a single, clean tube from throttle body to filter. That would be ideal, but it's too expensive for just a tube.

The tube I have is Spectre, and they make other adaptable tubes as well so I might try to mount the sensor, custom style, to get that clean intake - both in looks and flow. As few connections as possible. Not sure if it will perform differently enough for me to notice, but I like the aesthetic. Don't want to spend much money here because when I go FI, the whole intake is getting changed anyway.

Still researching the pulleys. Right now I'm thinking about getting a stock sized, lightweight set. I haven't heard enough advantages and too many worries. Still thinking about it...
 
just my personal opinion.....

Those things on the engine cover dont look very good....:tdown:
 
seemed like a good idea at the time...:rofl: I don't plan to keep the engine cover on.

Installed the STB after painting the brackets.
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Photos updated 10/06/09

Noticed I was jacking a couple of my own threads to talk about the engine bay. This is an older thread, but I wanted to post a couple up to date photos.

Last night I broke down the entire intake and cleaned it out from the filter, MAF, tube, throttle body, upper and lower plenums. Prepped the upper with a wire brushing and then an acetone wipe. Painted the plenum with silver engine enamel and reassembled everything. MAF rotated 90 degrees down to hide the connector.

Check out this before/after:

View attachment 165399


And after the rattle can job:

View attachment 165401

View attachment 165403
 
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Been working in the engine bay for a little while now, removing OEM brackets on the wire harness and replacing with p-Clamps. So far I've taken off about five brackets. Here's the first three I removed:

View attachment 165405

Working on minor cosmetics in the engine bay is pretty much a way for me to be doing something to my car without spending a lot of cash. Otherwise, I'd be in some serious debt. I can easily spend a couple hours in there without really doing anything. My wife will walk by to take a look and she can't tell I've done anything till I point it out.

I also decided on sort of a color theme for my bay - Going to stick with black and chrome. Already painted the blue GTSpec STB brackets black, plus I painted a little custom Stillen heat shield bracket I made. I painted the plenum with a silver engine enamel that's only a little brighter than the OEM plenum color.

Before I decided this is what I wanted, I thought going red inside a red car might be cool. But it's tough to match the shades of red - car paint, hump couplers, wires, annodized bolts, catch cans - all different shades of red. So I re-ordered black hump couplers to swap in. As I was cleaning the plenum before painting, I decided I need an oil catch. There was just way too much oil collecting inside the plenum. Since it's not something I pull off unless I have a reason, I'd like to slow down or stop the build up of oil in there. Definitely going to be a chrome catch from eBay. More to come as it happens...
 
The coolant hoses are on their way. As soon as my bro gets some barbs threaded into a spare plenum I have, I'll also have a high-polished plenum available if you get tired of the metallic silver.
 
Frankiago said:
The coolant hoses are on their way. As soon as my bro gets some barbs threaded into a spare plenum I have, I'll also have a high-polished plenum available if you get tired of the metallic silver.
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oh man. don't tempt me like that. I would definitely be interested in a polished plenum. Definitely post some pictures when you have them. Any chance you'd consider a plenum swap along with a reduced purchase price, so you can make another one from mine and then sell that one?
 
def liking what you are doing to it bro.. you def got me thinking about doing the same thing.. good job!!
 
Same thing happened to me when I saw a couple other engine bays here on the scene.

It's a great way to work on your car without spending tons of cash. I've been going to a Saturday night tuner meet for a couple weeks now and cleaning up the engine bay sort of becomes a priority when people are looking around in there.

Got the Samco silicone radiator hose set on order, as well as a universal oil catch can along with black silicone vacuum hoses.

Been thinking about painting the white plastic reservoirs as well (wiper fluid, coolant, tranny oil, etc). Or maybe replacing them each with aftermarket chrome reservoirs. Probably start with paint to see how I like it.
 
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jumbosrule said:
Been thinking about painting the white plastic reservoirs as well (wiper fluid, coolant, tranny oil, etc). Or maybe replacing them each with aftermarket chrome reservoirs.
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i think i saw something like that on one of those G, Z forums.. it look pretty need.

Also how much or simply how could one polished the plenum.. i being reading on other forum. they polished the upper and lower plenum and mentioned they got some gain out of that..
 
Gains from polishing? Interesting. I thought an upper plenum polish was on the outside and is cosmetic only. Never heard or seen any VQ plenums polished inside.

The one that Frankiago mentions above - I assumed it was polished outside for looks, not inside for gains.

Polishing DIY probably isn't practical unless you have the tools and some experience. It's an art, for sure. That plenum is pretty rough and would really need quite a bit of surface material smoothed out. Big job.
 
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