aFe Stage 2 Intake System
WHY? Two of the most basic performance modifications for any vehicle are free-flowing intake and exhaust systems. I had already ditched the stock exhaust in favor of a Gibson cat-back system but could not find any vendor who had developed an intake system for the still-new Frontier. I was interested to see that the first kit to arrive on the market was produced by aFe (Advanced Flow Engineering), a company that makes a broad line of filter and intake kits but has a particularly strong reputation among diesel owners. Their kit looked like a well-designed piece and they claimed increases of 11 HP and 15 ft-lbs torque so I decided to check it out. It took me quite a while to locate an online vendor that listed the new kit, but I finally did so at www.truckracingparts.com. They had a very competitive price, so I ordered and paid via Paypal--$219 w/ free shipping.
SERVICE. Pretty good. Immediately after ordering I received a confirmation email. They didn't have the new kit in stock yet, but had it drop-shipped directly from the manufacturer. They have an order tracking module on their site, but it is pretty well worthless for direct-shipped goods; 24 hours after I received the kit, the order tracker still listed my order as "pending." Their customer service department is pretty responsive, and you can contact them via phone, email, or online chat. Luckily I grabbed one of the last kits that aFe had in stock, and they shipped it immediately; I received it exactly seven days after placing the order. The kit arrived in the original factory box, with all instructions included. I was really impressed by the production quality on this piece; The new intake tube/MAF holder is a sturdy molded unit with the aFE logo embossed on it and the heat shield is heavy-gauge metal with an attractive black crinkle finish. An aFe cone filter and hardware came out of the box next, and I was surprised to find a filter care kit included also. I don't know how well this kit works, but I give aFe an A+ on quality of materials and construction. This is no cheapie cold air kit!
here are all the pieces of the kit, ready for
installation
INSTALLATION. This job could be accomplished by most any owner and required only basic hand tools. The illustrated instructions included with the kit were excellent (except for the tiny pictures) so I won't get too detailed, but listed below you'll find the basic steps for the installation. I've just had shoulder surgery and just had one arm to work with, but the whole job still took me less than 40 minutes. (note: try opening your hood with one arm--you have to set the open hood on your head while you use your good arm to set the prop arm into place...)
1. Carefully disconnect the MAF sensor, loosen the hose clamps, and remove the upper portion of the stock air box and the air filter.
2. Remove the 10mm bolt on the outside of the bottom portion of the air box; save the bolt for later use. Pull up firmly on the lower portion of the box and remove it. Take the two rubber grommets from the stock airbox and insert them into the holes in the bottom of the new heat shield:
3. Set the heat shield in the place vacated by the old air box and use the 10mm bolt removed in the last step to secure it. The instructions will tell you to place the rubber trim seal in place now; do it later, because you'll just dislodge it in the next steps.
4. Place band clamps on the rubber coupler and slip it on the end of the new intake tube. Slide the tube into the opening in the heat shield and bolt it into place with the hardware supplied in the kit. Gently remove the MAF sensor from the stock airbox and secure it to the new intake tube with the supplied gaskets, spacers and screws; take care to ensure that it is facing the same direction as it faced in the stock intake. Re-attach the electrical connector to the MAF sensor.
5. Using the band clamp provided, attach the pre-oiled cone filter to the intake tube inside the heat shield. Check all connections, then install the rubber trim seal around the top edge of the heat shield. Once you have it in place, press down on it firmly and it will snap into place. Here's the finished product:
RESULTS. Looks like aFe has a real winner here. The first ride was a blast! Some owners will find that just the howl of this intake at full throttle is worth the price of the kit. The sound is cool, but does the new breather do anything for performance? The truck felt faster, but I wanted to get the best possible answer so I decided to run two different tests: 0-60 MPH times as measured by my GTech Pro meter and dyno readings. Admittedly these tests are not laboratory-perfect, but I have to believe that they are a good deal more accurate than the butt-dyno.
To get my 0-60 readings I went to my favorite back-country road; it's flat, straight, and usually deserted. I calibrated the GTech meter and did five runs. All were fairly consistent, but I threw out the high and low readings and averaged the remaining three. My average 0-60 clocking was 7.6 (stock except for a Gibson cat-back exhaust). That's a little slower than I had run in the past, but the 90*F heat worked against me.
I installed the new intake kit and returned to the road the same time the next day. Luckily, weather conditions (temperature and humidity) were almost identical to those of the previous day. Using the same testing procedure I came up with three runs that averaged 7.4--a very nice improvement. So far, so good--now off to the dyno.
It looks like my impressions were correct--the dyno showed that the aFe intake delivered very nice gains, particularly at the upper end of the power band. To see the results and the dyno charts, click here. I suspect that there might also be just a bit of improvement in the fuel economy if I can ever get my foot off the throttle, but that'll take a while--I'm having too much fun right now!
WORTH THE MONEY? Depends on how fast you want to go. $220 isn't cheap, but it's not a bad price to pay for a 0.2 second improvement in the 0-60 sprint. Looks like aFe has done a great job with this one!