Project 350Z – Testing AEM's Short Ram Air Intake
When we first got Project 350Z as a well used and beat up car, one of the mods the car came with was an Injen Cold Air Intake. Since Injen intakes have a pretty decent rep we simply left in on the car. However, when we installed the intake manifold spacer, we noted that the manifold was full of dirt and that our engine was a little low on compression for the amount of miles that it had.
We then focused on the intake and were dismayed to find that the car's previous owner had swapped the Injen's filter element for a no name knock off part that looked like a fake K&N but with a chrome cap. The filter was not even oiled and was letting dirt sail right through.
Since we had to replace the filter, we instead decided to test out a completely different style of intake, AEM's short ram system. The Short Ram terminates inside the engine compartment with the element shielded from engine heat by a heat shield. The AEM long cold air system picks up cold air from the front of the car like the Injen part does.
We think the Short Ram might make a little more top end power at the expense of some bottom end. Let's go test it and see!
Want to read more about our Project 350Z?
The AEM 350Z Short Ram system is nicely made and complete with everything you need for an easy installation.
The AEM Dryflow air filter can be washed and reused but does not need to be oiled. It is a very efficient filtering element and it approaches OEM effectiveness when it comes to filtering out dirt. If we'd had a filter like this on our car, we would probably have a bit better compression!
Howard Watanabe of Technosquare removed the old air intake and started our AEM installation by putting in the heat shield. The heat shield makes it harder for hot air from the headers and radiator to spill into the intake. Cool air comes through the grill through a big hole in the core support right onto the filter element. Cool air equals more air density and more oxygen which means more power.
The heat shield in place. You can see how it will be pretty effective in preventing hot air from the engine and radiator from getting sucked into the intake.
