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The Murano's OEM CAI system...

14K views 35 replies 13 participants last post by  mikehussey  
#1 ·
With the talk about intake replacements, I had to look up to see what the OEM one looks like...

Interesting, it is CAI already, but I suppose the flow is questionable. And the resonator to reduce intake noise, I'm curious, what it that wasn't there?
 

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#2 ·
Also makes me wonder, what if the front of the air box was pulled off as well as the resonator and tube to the front.

What performance change might there be?

How would it sound?
 
#3 ·
jaak said:
Also makes me wonder, what if the front of the air box was pulled off as well as the resonator and tube to the front.

What performance change might there be?

How would it sound?
Yes, it is cold air already. Interesting idea about removing just the resonator. But I think if you took the front off the airbox, you wouldn't be forcing air through the filter anymore.
 
#4 ·
Well, actually I was thinking various things... Nothing on the front, so in effect it would be similar in concept to just having a filter there, like many kits.

Another thought is lose the resonator and close the hole.

It would be interesting to do real measurements and compare to the kits.
 
#5 ·
jaak it's an interesting idea, very similar to what Volant does for the Navigator.

Volant Cool Air Intakes w/ Box are a leader in the aftermarket air intake world. Every kit is made from a unique polyethylene material which conducts less heat than other aftermarket aluminum air intakes. This means more cooler air enters the engine, therefore more O2 molecules per charge, which makes for more horsepower and better fuel efficiency. Volant uses high-flow, cotton gauze filters in every kit. They feature 0.05 micron openings for amazing filtration and unbeatable flow. All filters are washable and reusable. Each kit is made to fit like OEM parts. Kit features a boxed in air filter with removable lid. The box helps to block engine heat from getting into the intake system, helping produce more horsepower. The lid is for easy filter access to make for easy maintenance. All kits are routed as far from the engine as possible in order to get the cool air from the outside of the vehicle.
 
#6 ·
jaak said:
With the talk about intake replacements, I had to look up to see what the OEM one looks like...

Interesting, it is CAI already, but I suppose the flow is questionable. And the resonator to reduce intake noise, I'm curious, what it that wasn't there?

I think it pretty much comes down to flow..even if you do get some cold air its useless if its not enough...
If you look at it like an exhaust system you'll see how restricted our intakes are. Even with the front air duct<inlet> It's still small and being blocked by the hood. The resonator box and air duct assembly is just there to quiet down and maybe even rob us of some horsepower. If you look @ other VQ engines that have higher horsepower have less and less restrictive.....the top of that list is the 350z....which is why g35's and fx owners switch to the ztube.
 
#7 ·
Does anyone know why a car like the Z wouldn't just come with a similar CAI?

It seems the exhaust is already louder & it fits the performance image.
 
#8 ·
KSmurano,
Sorry about the Jayhawks! Anyway, I looked up Volant and they have no applications for the Mo. They do the Xterra & others. I waited for 2 years on that one and they kept messing around till I ended up w/ K&N and weapon R Ram Air Suct.
 
#9 ·
grfg8r - thanks for the condolences, it's been pretty gloom around this town, but seeing the 3 future Jayhawks in the McDonalds game gave us some hope for next year! :D
It was nice company to have just as many signees as UNC & Duke!

Volant seems to make more intuitive sense to me by keeping a closed system ducted to the outside.
I'm going to try it on my Nav & I will report back.

Like the Muthe signal mirror I'm sure if we started another email campaign anything is possible. ;)
 
#10 ·
KS,

Yeah, you guys pulled Sasha Kaun away from us (Gators), right out of my HOMETOWN! Fla Air Academy went 29-0 for 3X and we're trying to sign Walter Hodge PG, 29 ppg/8 ast, 33 pts in the state champ.gm. in THE 1st half! He smoked 2 PG's, we're recruiting ahead of him. He wanted to go to UF & was mad they were'nt recruiting him, until after he was Fla HS Player of Year. NO WONDER WE CAN'T GET PAST 1ST ROUND OF NCAA!!!!!!:banghead:

Anyway, I was part of Xterra Campaign for a Volant. Got frustrated when they released and pulled it, no explaination, wouldn't answer email & phone rang off hook! Then 8 mo. later put it back out w/ no announcement. I gave up. I'm willing to go at it again and in talking w/ Bilstien & Gibson Exh. they told me "if enough interest, they'll do it.
 
#11 ·
Hmm... Need to look at the 350's design. (Saw one that said Fairlady Z yesterday, and I suspect it truly was an import, not just the logo pasted on the back.)

I did happen to look at the G35 as Tman, who some of you oldtimers will remember, is looking at this on his G... (the wife has the Murano now.) The Sedan has a similar design to the Murano, but the resonator is smaller and closer to the intake.

Not on the pc with the service manuals, but I'll have to check out the others!
 
#15 ·
jaak said:
Also makes me wonder, what if the front of the air box was pulled off as well as the resonator and tube to the front.

What performance change might there be?

How would it sound?
If the resonator (silencer) was removed, you would probably hear more intake noise.

As far as the effectiveness of the intake..... Try this - Locate the temperature sensor for the outside temperature display on the info screen. Relocate it to the inside of the airbox. Compare intake air temp to outside air temp. You probably won't find 5 degrees F difference between outside (ambient) ait temp and that which is entering the throttle body; as long as the car was in motion.

Check the service manual to see if there are temperature sensors for the computer in the intake tube and throttle body.

If you find multiple temperature sensors in the intake path, then it is likely that the computer is already compensating for the difference between ambient temp and the temperature of the air entering the throttle body.

Changing to a "Cold Air Intake" system (CAI) may be an exercise that is only pleasing to the mind and ear; not to the computer and overall performance.

The only way to know for sure is to make changes at dyno time, and to reset the computer before making the change, then check performance again after a few hundred muiles (again, at the dyno).

I just went through 2 years of discussions on this on another forum, concerning another vehicle. FWIW, Mopar Performance Parts scrapped it's CAI only weeks before it was to hit the market, due to no noticable increase in performance, combined with the computer's ability to "learn" and derate performance back to the level in which it's measured data falls back into the relm for it's lookup tables and anticipated measurements.

This isn't ectched in stone; merely food for thought.
 
#16 ·
Halo said:


Right hand drive?
I'm not sure, there were two people in it, it was moving and it turned as I was passing it.

In hindsight, I wish I went after it, as it went into a parking lot.

The reason I suspect it was real, was I've seen other cars from Hong Kong in that area of town. Many Hong Kong immigrants with lots of cash, in the area...
 
#18 ·
It's possible it was just the emblem. It also had two licence plates, one of them I didn't recognise.

I know where he parked, I'll keep an eye out for it and see if I get lucky again, and this time have a closer look!
 
#19 ·
I read somewhere that after you've installed your aftermkt performance products, you should disconnect the Negative side of battery and the turn on your 4 way flashers to completely dump your ECU memory. I don't know, but this guy said he was a tech service guy for some auto group. Does this make sense?????
 
#20 ·
grfg8r said:
I read somewhere that after you've installed your aftermkt performance products, you should disconnect the Negative side of battery and the turn on your 4 way flashers to completely dump your ECU memory. I don't know, but this guy said he was a tech service guy for some auto group. Does this make sense?????
Depends.

At first I looked at this and though "What do four ways have to do with dumping memory?" then I realised that he's trying to drain any power still in the ECU to wipe out any memory in it.

I would expect older ECU's to do this, but I don't know that current ones do.

Anyway, the point is to wipe out any adjustments it's made over time and have it re-evaluate the environment again.

I doubt you need to do this. After all, you could park the vehicle on a nice sunny warm day, mid afternoon, then start it up in a cold rainstorm, late at night, where the humidity, temperature and air pressure have all changed, so the ECU will have to compensate right away anyway. So changing a part, if it's really affecting the breathing of the engine, would be measured immediately.

But it doesn't hurt.

Now if you were to do a dyno run before and after, I'd reset the ECU both runs to make it fair.

Of course, one of the simplest performance upgrades is to reach over and turn off the A/C button.
 
#21 ·
Thanx Jaak! When I put the a/mkt products on my Xterra I disconnected the POS side and let it sit 0overnite. Then reconnected & ran it at idle for 30 minutes. Don't know if it was hokus pokus, but it certainly ran better on I-95! I didn't get any vapor lock frm stepping on it, like I use to.
 
#22 ·
I imagine a lot of these parameters would be stored in non-volatile memory, so unplugging the power for any amount of time wouldn't do anything. Something that would probably be more useful would be having the engine re-learn the idle air volume.
 
#24 ·
I know it's no MO, not even a Nissan, but my Mach 1 had a resonator on it from the factory. Before K&N came out with their cold air performance kits, lots of people were removing the resonators with no ill effects. I ordered a billet plug for the resonator hole in the intake tube, and it runs great. I haven't noticed more noise, though it's been so long since I did it, that I may not remember the difference. It really helped to clean up the engine compartment, though.
 
#25 ·
I removed my resonator when I installed a JWT Pop charger. The whistling bothered the wife, so before all our vacations this summer, I put the stock box back, but didn't bother to reinstall the resonator as it was a "through the fender well" removal process. The sound is a little louder than stock, but no where near as load as the POP charger. I still have the paper filter, but may try the K&N drop in to see if that makes a little more noise.
 
#26 ·
rixmo said:
I removed my resonator when I installed a JWT Pop charger. The whistling bothered the wife, so before all our vacations this summer, I put the stock box back, but didn't bother to reinstall the resonator as it was a "through the fender well" removal process. The sound is a little louder than stock, but no where near as load as the POP charger. I still have the paper filter, but may try the K&N drop in to see if that makes a little more noise.
How much work is it to remove the resonator? I've wanted to do this, but not if it's too much trouble.