Kizashi Club

I'm looking to get an intake in the next few days .... Any segestions on the kind .... Do I get a Ram intake ... Please help!!

Welcome aboard!

When it comes to any type of intakes, especially "cold air," there's is one crucial thing to remember: the filter and piping have to be routed away from heat, and if you can't, it has to be insulated. The problem with the Kizashi is limited aftermarket support. I'm sure a couple of the folks here have found good solutions to what you're looking for. Give them a little time to hop in here.

Aftermarket prospects for the Kizashi are very limited. This unpopular car really doesn't have much aftermarket support.
As for any kind of aftermarket intake, the only one I know that was made for the Kizashi is the RRM Short Ram Intake. It's currently sold-out so you should email RRM if you're very interested. http://roadracemotorsports.com/store/in ... cts_id=816

Alternatively, you can create your own intake modification by forgoing the aftermarket piping and getting a universal cone filter instead. I've done this in a previous car. I basically removed the stock air box and attached a cone filter instead. Basically, created a short ram intake minus the piping as my OE piping was already short and direct.
Personally, I think aftermarket Cold Air Intakes are rather pointless. Modern intake designs funnel air directly from the front of the car and keeps it in a duct. The air then goes through the air box with the filter and then into the engine. The air is isolated from the hotter engine bay air, acting just like a CAI. The Kizashi's stock intake is built like this and you can see the intake above the radiator. Hence, I think the traditional aftermarket CAIs that routed the filter low and to the front of the bumper are really obsolete. Plus, the OE intakes don't risk things like the filter getting wet from rain and puddles and putting the engine in risk of hydrolock.

A Short Ram Intake without an isolated housing won't keep the air as cool but will greatly increase the airflow rate with a larger filter surface area and higher-flow material. However, it won't help you really gain power. Maybe a few HP. Intakes usually don't yield much HP gain unless they are optimally designed. If anything, SRIs help the engine rev faster and sound throatier, from my experience. The most noticeable thing is the added engine noise. It's a good thing for some, but generally not for most consumers and therefore OE intakes are designed to limit noise. A lot of people think the added engine noise equates to more power but the reality is not that.

Lastly, you also have the option of getting a K&N "drop-in" air filter. These are panel filters that are direct replacements for the OE style filter. However, K&N filters are fabric filters soaked in oil and allow for a greater flow of air. The con of these is that they don't filter the air as well as traditional air filters. They were originally designed for offroad desert racing so airflow through dirt-clogged filters was their priority. Filtration quality wasn't ever their top concern though it's not like K&Ns filter poorly; just not as well as OE-style "paper" filters.

The general consensus is that if you want a real noticeable performance difference, you need to modify both your intake and exhaust together. Doing one without the other will only get nominal results other than more noise.

Has anyone considered a methanol spay injection into the intake pipe to lower the temp? I've got a buddy who supercharged his Solstice and added a methanol spray injection to his intake system. He fills the reservoir with windshield wiper fluid that has the meth in it. It's a pretty ingenious setup. He uses a windshield washer pump that's controlled by a pressure switch that's connected to the intake. When a certainly pressure is reached, the switch kicks on activating the motor and sprays the fluid into the intake system. He added this since the SC adds heat when the air is compressed in the SC.

LPSISRL wrote:Has anyone considered a methanol spay injection into the intake pipe to lower the temp? I've got a buddy who supercharged his Solstice and added a methanol spray injection to his intake system. He fills the reservoir with windshield wiper fluid that has the meth in it. It's a pretty ingenious setup. He uses a windshield washer pump that's controlled by a pressure switch that's connected to the intake. When a certainly pressure is reached, the switch kicks on activating the motor and sprays the fluid into the intake system. He added this since the SC adds heat when the air is compressed in the SC.

This would only make sense for forced induction engines. But even then, most turbos have intercoolers to cool the air before combustion. I know the BMW M4 GTS has a water injection system but it's complex and expensive. I think only really high boost engines need liquid injection cooling.
http://jalopnik.com/how-the-absurdly-ex ... 1760175847

I would figure that any engine would benefit from colder, more dense air for the air/fuel mixture. The water in the combustion chamber would help cool it a bit and help keep it a bit cleaner.

LPSISRL wrote:I would figure that any engine would benefit from colder, more dense air for the air/fuel mixture. The water in the combustion chamber would help cool it a bit and help keep it a bit cleaner.

I doubt it makes much of a difference for a normally aspirated engine. Yes, cooler air is denser therefore has more oxygen, but for normally aspirated engines, it really doesn't make a huge difference given intake air temperatures don't get too high. Turbine compression in forced induction systems increases the intake air temperature significantly, therefore cooling is necessary before combustion. However, liquid injection is quite extreme given most turbos work fine with intercoolers. About the only cars I've heard of with water-injection are race/track intended turbo vehicles.

Kuro, check out this article. Apparently for every 10 degree drop there's and increase in density of 1 to 1.8% . This produces the same increase in power. At the end is a real cool summary of a hot vapor design engine which turns all this cooling talk upside down.
http://bankspower.com/techarticles/show ... uals-Power

LPSISRL wrote:Kuro, check out this article. Apparently for every 10 degree drop there's and increase in density of 1 to 1.8% . This produces the same increase in power. At the end is a real cool summary of a hot vapor design engine which turns all this cooling talk upside down.
http://bankspower.com/techarticles/show ... uals-Power

I still don't think it applies too much to normally aspirated engines because air compression by forced induction is what causes intake air temps to be significantly higher and require cooling prior to combustion. The hot vapor design exemplifies the need for high temperatures to be a prerequisite for advanced air cooling. The design actually deliberately heats up the intake air first only so water can be better vaporized to cool down the intake air as it enters the engine. It's kind of like taking a step back to take two steps forward. While I am no engineer to comment on whether this system would actually work, it sounds like there are more reasons than patents to not implement this design into production cars, especially ones designed to be affordable and reliable.
Also, deliberate modification to achieve a 10 degree drop for a normally aspirated engine would not be worth the 1 to 1.8% increase in power. That would require significant work for measly single digit HP increases in a vehicle like the Kizashi at the peak of its power band. It's largely why Cold Air Intakes don't result in much increased HP when used alone. I also think as engines have become more computerized and able to change numerous factors based on operating conditions, factors like intake temperatures for N/A engines got further irrelevant. The ECU really accounts for all kinds of factors to optimize power and efficiency.

Basically, I think advanced intake air cooling is very important for forced induction systems with superchargers and especially turbochargers. However, for N/A engines, I don't think the increase in power will be worth the added cost and complexity. I'm personally quite happy about the Kizashi's intake design that isolates and funnels the air from the front of the car to the engine. It's an improvement over intake designs from the 90's that just drew air from the engine bay. It's a smarter design even if it means nominal power increases and pretty much negates the need for a CAI, in my opinion.

Agreed. You'd have to do significant research to determine what the ECU would do with lower intake air temp. I'm not sure how much drop you could get with say, a meth/water injection system. Just something to discuss and muse about.

I did see a video where these guys took two leaf blowers and hooked them up to the intake system and they dyno'd it before and after. There was just barely a measurable difference if I recall. Sure looked silly with two leaf blowers duct-taped to the hood.