Best Cold Air Intake??

I've been lookin' for some more performance mods for my 2000 4wd 3.3L X and I've decided on getting a cold air intake, I just don't know what's the best; NISMO or what? Someone help. Also if any knows of any other substantial performance mods that'd be greatly appreciated too.

K&N and Airaid seem to be the most common.

Search the forums, I have read many posts on this question.

STILLEN.

There's no such thing as a substantial performance mod on our engines (except getting a Superchagred Xterra); the Xterra engine is just too small.

You'll be lucky to get 5 HP out of an intake and it won't be from cold air, it will be from the larger filter surface area.

That's something else I was wondering about. Two things: is it possible to supercharge a non-supercharged one, if so, how; and also because of the greater surface area for the intake, could it get real dirty real quick driving in muddy or watery off-road places, or even regular street dust?

you should just buy a snorkel, it's only 50-100 dollars more than any other aftermarket intake. this way you don't have to really worry about water in your filter. what i've heard is you can but it will cost a bundle, i think the price i heard plus labor was 4-5 thousand.

Just so you know there is no such thing as a cold air intake for the Xterra. You can only get a Short Ram intake.

sure there is...
http://www.xterraownersclub.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=000296

sure there is...
http://www.xterraownersclub.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=000296 [/b][/QUOTE ]

I retrac my previous statement.

That's the main reason for a "Cold Air Intake". The cold air won't give you 1 extra HP but you do need a shield between the fan and the filter to keep it clean.

So most likely then, I would need to get something like the VOLANT Cold Air Intake because of the cover if I'm afraid of heat from the engine and/or water/mud/excess dirt getting in from unwanted areas?

I am not very familiar with snorkels, but if your buy a kit does it come with a new filter? Or do you use the old filter and if so how would that increase mpg? And isn't a snorkel a hell of a lot harder to install?

The purpose of a snorkle isn't to increase MPG, it's to get the intake out of the fender and put it up higher where water can't get sucked in.
To keep water out it needs to be sealed all the way from the intake at the end of the snorkle, down into the engine. That usually means connecting to the old airbox or you may be able to fab something to get it to connect to the new Volant airbox with the cone filter.
But remember that even though you have more filter media with the cone the air still has to go through the restrictive snorkle.

The snorkle isn't a performance mod, it's an offroad mod.

I was lucky to get 14 mpg average city/hwy on my X. I have a 2 inch body and 3 inch suspension lift with 33's, ARB, winch, rear swing carrier and rock sliders. I added the snorkel with the drop-in K&N and now I get 16.5-17 mpg. Same route to work and same driving habits. I understand the physics that Kerensky mentioned, but some how my situation works.

Through discussions w/ snorkel wearing X owners, I've concluded the Xtra mileage/power comes from a few things.
1-The air is cooler when coming from up off the ground at intake height.
2-Because of the snorkel opening and tube design, the air is almost "rammed" down into the filter/intake, creating a more steady,positive flow.
3-Any large plastic tube,(like Rtype stickers) will automatically add 5-10 hp.
It's in fact the next thing on my mod list.

I think you guys are just smoking something and your driving habits have changed.

I wanna see a snorkle Dynoed (is that really how it's spelled?) I can see the air getting rammed in at highway speeds but I don't think the air temp would be much different in the air as opposed to the fender, especially at highway speeds.

I have seen it documented time and again on other vehicle boards. The increase is primarily due to the ram air effect, though there is a small amount of cold air gain. Here is a link of a way to use a conical filter in conjunction with a snorkel. I have posted it here before, but it probably dropped off over time.

http://www.dpgoffroad.com/tech/default.htm

I have also seen it run to the fresh air intake for cooler, higher air verses a snorkel. The ram air wouldn't be there, but if you do not want the permanence, and expense of a snorkle this is a good compromose.

I heard adding a Nissmo sticker along with the R emblem to the back of an X will improve areodymamics and an increase of 20hp..but if I add a VTEC emblem to it the total increase would go up to 70hp..wow talk about performance..that's a lot of power for the money

Nothing wrong with VTEC!!

Indy, who owns a VTEC....