I have an Xterra and I am trying to figure out if the JWT pop-charger or the K & N air filter is a better buy. I have heard a lot of positive and negative comments about each one. So if I could hear from someone who knows what they are talking about, I would be extremely grateful. Thnx.
JWT is a cone filter, I K&N makes both the drop-in filter and the cone filter. Both styles will gain horsepower, but cones gain more horsepower. At the same time, a cone filter is also significantly louder.
JWT makes very good stuff, so does K&N. I would go through JWT, I believe they use K&N material on the filter, however, their JWT's WAI is tuned more toward Nissan cars specifically and you will most likely gain more horsepower and it will bolt to the MAF with no trouble.
Thank you for the reply. But i do have a follow up question. Is there any side effect of losing the air filter box ? Plus is it really worth the Xtra $80?
yes, it's worth the $80. This is a Warm air intake (WAI) by the way, it grabs the air from inside the engine bay, a cold air one costs about $200 and has better gains. I'm not sure i they make a CAI for your car. I paid over $100 for my WAI.
Removing the airbox is fine, just make sure you get the whole thing out, I believe more of it runs down into the fender, but that may just be on the sentra. You will probably come upon a black probe going into the box or such, it is a temperature sensor (AIT), do not unplug that from the wire or the engine light will go on. Just remove the probe from the box or tube that you are removing from the car and then zip-tie the sensor off to the side.
Replacing the box with a cone will only help performance as well as make more room in the engine bay. The drawback is it is significantly louder b/c the opening is closer to the engine.
Before I did a WAI, I'd see if I could rig it up with the stock stuff before spending money on a cone only to lose power in the end. On my truck, and probably on your X also, the air under that hood gets mighty warm -- do you really want your engine breathing that hot air? The answer is of course "no". Your air box was designed to breathe air from OUTSIDE the engine compartment. Ambient air is much cooler than the air under your hood, usually. It's also designed to pull in DRY air to your engine. If you have a cone just open to the world, you run the risk of sucking in lots of moisture, especially if you regularly drive through big puddles and/or streams. Keep the stock air box -- it does its job well.
I would put a drop-in filter and keep your stock air box, if I did anything. The stock paper filter is probably not a restriction to your engine anyway, especially if everything else on your vehicle is stock. The biggest "gain" you get from a cone is the noise, which is enough for some people to be happy with. But you can make your truck noisier for a lot less than $80...
I'm only really speaking for the sentra, but the cone is about 5 hp, a CAI would be about 8 or 9. If you notice how the airbox sucks in the air, it's still a bit cooler than a WAI, but not much, not to mention, restrictive. Any air intake, wether stock or aftermarket will suck in the same amount of moisture, that's just the atmosphere you're in. Only the CAI might have problems if you drive in more than a foot of water (2 feet for a truck or SUV).
Originally posted by 1997 GA16DE I'm only really speaking for the sentra, but the cone is about 5 hp, a CAI would be about 8 or 9. If you notice how the airbox sucks in the air, it's still a bit cooler than a WAI, but not much, not to mention, restrictive. Any air intake, wether stock or aftermarket will suck in the same amount of moisture, that's just the atmosphere you're in. Only the CAI might have problems if you drive in more than a foot of water (2 feet for a truck or SUV).
Right -- that's exactly what I'm sayin'...you're still going to pull the same amount of air, stock air intake or modified, so why spend the money? I doubt the 5 hp claim, but if it gained any, I'd say 5 horse at the absolute max. Install a vacuum gauge between the throttle body and the filter with a stock paper filter. I bet you pull no vacuum -- meaning the paper filter and stock air box system isn't a restriction -- especially for the OHV V6 or 4-cylinder behind it. Of course, if you have other mods, like a high lift cam or a performance exhaust system (not simply a Flowmaster welded in place <G>), you may be seeing a restriction from the stock air box system, and you might see some gains from a WAI.
The truck air box (at least on the Hardbodies) pulls air from the fender well right behind the driver side headlight. Air here would be much cooler than the fan-blasted hot air under the hood. My hood is so hot after a long drive on a hot summer day, it's hard to touch (and the paint is white). That's due to the fan pulling air through the radiator and the under-hood air is reaching temperatures of at least 180-200 degrees at best. Setting in traffic, you might see temps in the 250 degree range.
I put a WAI on my other car, a Northstar-powered Cadillac. I even installed a heatshield, so it would get air as cold as possible. It still sucked. I lost a bit of performance and mileage and ultimately put the stock system back on. I hate that I wasted 50 bucks on a K&N cone filter only to put it back in the box and have it sit in the garage.
well, you can have your own opinions about WAIs, but the bottom line is it does add power and it is a performance mod just like exhaust, headers, and any other breathing mod. I admit, I would love a CAI over my WAI, but for $200, I could really use a new CD player over another mod (besides, I'm done with GA16 boltons, I want an SR20VE). Also, I'm in FL, getting a CAI, means, I need to invest $50 into an AEM bypass valve b/c my car is pretty low and I've pulled through my share of standing water.
The K&N FIPK II kit is supposed to be one of the highest horsepower gains K&N has ever gotten from one of their redesigns. That system does have a shield, and is much improved over the 1st gen FIPK system for the truck. Look for the Frontier application, because they may not list the X. They are carbon copies, though.
John
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Wood/Anderson Racing Development: j.anderson@wardev.com
Originally posted by 1997 GA16DE but the bottom line is it does add power and it is a performance mod just like exhaust, headers, and any other breathing mod.
You know the saying...dynos talk and you-know-what walks.
If it does add power, that's great. I'm not saying it won't add power -- I'm just saying it has the possibility to hurt power or drivability. It'll all depend on your particular application. I'm just challenging you (and who ever else wants to make the mod) to prove it to yourself and put on a vacuum gauge or set it on a dyno to see the numbers. "Seat of the pants" and a whoosh noise is far from a valid "bottom line".
Mods work together. If you can't get any more air OUT of your engine, how do you expect to pull more air IN? It's gotta go somewhere. Supplement an aftermarket intake with exhaust mods to make a gain. An intake AND exhaust mod together should indeed make a difference...oh, but I already said that above.
I don't know if the Xtera is similar to the Pathfinder but this is what I did on my 2003 Pathfinder. I replaced the stock paper filter with the K&N replacement. Not sure if my power increased any but my gas mileage went up about 1 mpg. I then removed the intake resonator from the airbox and replaced it with a flexible duct hose to the front of the truck for cool air intake. (the procedure of what I did is in the new member forum). This way, I kept all the OEM intake equipment but add cool air induction for minimum cost and it can be put back stock in no time.
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Thanx
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