V8 Cold Air Intake Question

[GFremont]

I was reading an old post by Billy T. where he modified an AEM Cold Air Intake from a Nissan Titian to fit into a V8 Pathfinder. It seemed easy enough and I got a little curious. A little digging and from the Courtesy Parts web site I was able to get the catalog parts for the Pathfinder, Titan, and Armada Air Cleaner/Air Box. Comparing them I see that all 3 have the same part numbers/setups for the Air Cleaner/Air Box.

Would any aftermarket CAI that fits an Armada or Titan, like an Injen or Volant, be easily modified to fit the Path with a V8 (Similar to what Billy T accomplished)?

http://www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic. ... ght=intake

Although all 3 use the same set of parts, does anybody know what differences would not make this work?

[serturbo]

I thought I remembered reading that the Titan CAI pipe needed to be shortened a little bit in order to fit the V8 Pathy. I just went with a K&N unit because they had a V8 Pathy specific CAI.

[CPLTECH]

Not sure why you want the CAI mod, but I remember reading some posts over at a MPG forum that cold air intakes give more HP, warm air gives better fuel economy.

[volvite]

I too have been looking at V8 CAIs. I emailed AirAid and asked if they made one and this is their reply:

Hello,

The Titan system P/N 520-152 will work on the 5.6L Pathfinder.

520-152: https://www.airaid.com/ProductDetail.as ... ID=520-152

Thanks,

David Edelman

Internet/CSR

www.AIRAID.com

602-652-9712 - Direct Line

800-498-6951 ext. 712 - Toll Free

[GFremont]

Thanks for the information on the Airaid.

From what I can find, if it’s a true CAI (Cold Air Intake) that gets the air from outside the engine bay, then you should get increases in both mileage and power.

Obviously, if you got the pedal to the metal the whole way, then the mileage won’t be so good.

But, for normal driving the colder outside air is denser which will produce more power, which means you don’t have to open the throttle plate as much.

From what I can see, the problem is a lot of aftermarket intakes are advertised as a CAI, but they aren’t at all.

They are really a SRI (Short Ram Intake) and they don’t get the air from outside the engine bay.

They pull it right in from under the hood, which is NOT a good thing, especially in the middle of the summer.

Hot intake air temps will kill mileage and power as the computer tries to pull timing to prevent detonation.

[volvite]

So have you bought a CAI/Short Ram intake yet? Still looking myself as I have not bought one either. Hard to justify spending that money on something that is not listed as a part that will work.

[GFremont]

I ended up going with the Airaid Quickfit. The part number was actually for the Armada/Titan but they said it would fit. Well it did, sort of.

After installing I did a quick look before shutting the hood. Glad I did because the "MAF" Panel with the Weatherstrip installed looked a bit high. I set a 2x4 across the fenders and the panel/weather strip was about an inch higher that the bottom of the 2x4. Crap.

Instead of taking the whole thing out, I took out the panel, taped it off, got my trusty Dremel tool and started cutting.

Other than that I'm pretty happy with it. After 2 tanks of gas I have not seen any gas mileage change yet but I did not do an ECM reset yet (If that matters).

From the seat of the pants feel there is a big difference in response when applying the accelerator. I will post some pictures this week.

[ShipFixer]

Not sure why you want the CAI mod, but I remember reading some posts over at a MPG forum that cold air intakes give more HP, warm air gives better fuel economy.

I don't know why they would think that - certainly not a textbook answer. Aside from the density and power per stroke question, efficiency in all thermally driven processes is both dominated and limited by the difference between temperatures. For internal combustion engines, it's the difference between the combustion temperature and intake air temperature. Plus, the easier it is for the engine to move air the more efficient it is...part of a CAI is usually ditching the resonator box, where a lot of the gains come from.

They may be observing lower mileage, but I would suspect the same thing as the "exhaust backpressure = torque" myth when someone cuts out their catalytic converters or something and doesn't change anything else: a stoichiometry problem or mismatch between fuel and the increased or cooler airflow through the engine, that's beyond the capability of the vehicle to manage itself.

A CAI shouldn't be an issue with modern car engines with fairly sophisticated closed-loop control systems though. I observed a tiny bit higher mileage in my Sentra with an AEM CAI. If I recall correctly, improved efficiency was one of their selling points...

[volvite]

I ended up going with the Airaid Quickfit. The part number was actually for the Armada/Titan but they said it would fit. Well it did, sort of.

After installing I did a quick look before shutting the hood. Glad I did because the "MAF" Panel with the Weatherstrip installed looked a bit high. I set a 2x4 across the fenders and the panel/weather strip was about an inch higher that the bottom of the 2x4. Crap.

Instead of taking the whole thing out, I took out the panel, taped it off, got my trusty Dremel tool and started cutting.

Other than that I'm pretty happy with it. After 2 tanks of gas I have not seen any gas mileage change yet but I did not do an ECM reset yet (If that matters).

From the seat of the pants feel there is a big difference in response when applying the accelerator. I will post some pictures this week.

Sounds good. Let me know when you post some pictures. Can't wait to see.

[CPLTECH]

Here is a current hyper-miler thread discussing the difference in MPG vs. outside air temperature.
With gas prices inching close to $4 / gal now and bound to go higher, those of us with limited resources are glad warmer weather is nearly here.
These guys make me wish the PF would have the 6-sp MT option. An Xterra does…

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38766

[ShipFixer]

Here is a current thread discussing the difference in MPG vs. outside air temperature.
With gas prices inching close to $4 / gal now and bound to go higher, those of us with limited resources are glad warmer weather is nearly here.
These guys make me wish the PF would have the 6-sp MT option. An Xterra does…

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38766

I like the first post there, but no one in that thread has yet pointed out the ethanol in winter gasoline mixes in most states that throw off the numbers.

Other than that, cold air = more efficiency due to the higher delta between combustion temperature and ambient temperature. We've known this in thermo since the 1800's, at this point it's for some reason only a debate on teh interwebz. Kind of like lube oil and engine break in myths...in engineering journals there is one answer, but on the internet you can find thousands

[serturbo]

I like the first post there, but no one in that thread has yet pointed out the ethanol in winter gasoline mixes in most states that throw off the numbers.

Other than that, cold air = more efficiency due to the higher delta between combustion temperature and ambient temperature. We've known this in thermo since the 1800's, at this point it's for some reason only a debate on teh interwebz. Kind of like lube oil and engine break in myths...in engineering journals there is one answer, but on the internet you can find thousands

LOL. So very true.

[forgottenzone]

I installed Volant CAI. had to do little udjustments and make a whole for the bolts on the bottom of the air box to match the wholes of the pathfinder. it fits like a glove now. with Davidson Powe Core 100,000 mile dry filter.
hade Volant on my previes 2 vehicles. Expedition, and 07 Tundra 5.7 crew max. Love the Growl that it makes when you floor it. no noise when driving normaly.

-The one I have is part # 128566
Volant PowerCore (Dry Filter)
Cold Air Intake 2004-2012 Nissan Titan, Armada, QX56 5.6 V8

This is the one in my post pictures it has an wide oval part of intake pipe that goes into the air box. Dry davidson filter good up to 100,000 miles

-Another one is part # 12856
Volant Cold Air Intake 2004-2012 Nissan Titan, Armada, QX56 5.6 V8

This one comes with oiled filter like K&N. the intake pipe will be all round.

Here are the pics:






Here are mods i did to make it all fit.

Modifications i had to do. The bolt hole inside the filter box did not match to the hole on the pathy fender well. So either drill the bottom of the box plastic to match the pathy bolt hole or simply use sheetmetal self taping screws with washers and screw into the wheel well.
when you take off the OEM box, there is a bolt mount that is next to breaklines next to the fender wall. When you remove the oem box you will see the piece of metal sticking out wich has a nut welded to it where the oem box gets bolted to. It sticks out and it wont let you mount the box properly. What i did was, I used the grinder with metal cuting wheel and i cut it off. This will alow the box to sit nicely on the fender. Last thing you need to do is go to lowes or homedepot, and grab some 1 inch thick foam insulation tape. They sell them in the insulation isle for insulating windows, doors. there is going to be about inch inch and a half space between the fender intake hole opening and the air box opening. I used the foam tape, taped it all around the hole on the fender. Made 2 rows of tape one on top of the other to make it thicker. then mounted the box. this will give you a good air tight seal. Thats it."

[GFremont]

I finally got the pictures of the Airaid Quickfit. I did have to cut about an inch off of the top of the heat shield so I could close the hood. After seeing the pictures of the Volant I'm a little jealous. I had contacted Volant initially and they said they did not have a solution for the V8 Pathfinder.
Anyways, here are the pictures:

DSC_3565 by Gregg.F, on Flickr


DSC_3564 by Gregg.F, on Flickr


DSC_3563 by Gregg.F, on Flickr

[volvite]

Nice. thanks for the pics. That looks real good. I still have not bought anything yet. I was looking around on Bullydog and at the top of the home page if you enter your vehicle and do the seach, there are 4 items that come up and one of them is this:

http://www.bullydog.com/product.php?ID= ... del=NISSAN PATHFINDER

Just something differnt then the typical CAI, but also then if you add the bully dog guage they will work well together.