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This is a really interesting map and I can only speak to the state in which I live, which is SC. We don't even have vehicle inspections here - maybe the major cities like Columbia do, and I've never once seen or heard of anyone being pulled over for too loud an exhaust. There is a BMW M5 in town that is running straight pipe headers without any cats and I can tell when it's him from miles away or when he leaves a traffic light. He's had this setup for over a year and I'm assuming that if anyone wanted to enforce an exhaust ordinance he'd be at the top of the list, yet it remains. There are also plenty of Mustangs driving around with little or no mufflers that are crazy loud - same deal. Just because a statute is on the books doesn't mean it will be enforced, as is clearly the case in my home state of SC.
By comparison, my cars are very quiet compared to these others, but I'm still very conscious of my neighbors when I leave at 5 AM for the airport or come home at midnight, essentially idling out of the neighborhood as quietly as possilbe - on the 997 that means the Fabspeed valvetronic in quiet mode.
The intake is really only ondemand noise, you don't need to get into the throttle every moment of daily driving. That coupled with the PSE should be plenty of noise up top. The K&N seems to be the most bang for the buck, and that's the one I had on my old C2S, however, the filter must have been over oiled from the factory as the car started breaking up mid-range after about 300 miles, I pulled the MAF and cleaned it and it was fine. Anyone else have that issue?
I've run these types of oiled K&N filters for 35 years and on the MAF equipped cars (5 so far) I've never had to replace a MAF sensor in a combined mileage of over 500,000 miles. The trick is the reoiling process. You wash and air dry the filter with the special media cleaner, Then once it's fully dry, you spray along the pleat lines with the filter oil, let it sit for 30 minutes or so, then touch up any white spots
THEN
you stuff the inside of the filter with paper towels - I'm talking a lot of paper towels, like half a roll. You then wrap paper towels around the outside of the filter in 2 layers and leave it sitting like this overnight. The dry towels will absorb any excess oil that wasn't fully absorbed by the gauze filter media so that it doesn't get sucked in and foul the MAF. I also use a K&N hydrophobic prefilter cover over the filters so that when driving in the rain, the water gets repelled instead of saturating the filter media as I think it compromises it's effectiveness. I run UOA on every oil change from every vehicle and my Silicon levels are never high, which means the filters are doing the job of capturing dust and debris from the engine intake air.
Of course, I am not serious and simply wish that car owners would not exaggerate with their exhaust and remain courteous. My neighbor (in the street) has a Corvette C7, modified. Every time he starts the engine, it is like an explosion in the neighborhood.
Yves
LOL! OK... I hate to say it... but in that scenario I can relate to you just a bit. I am all about less govt and more freedom, which means I am screwed living here in "Caleeeforneeeuuhhh!" (as said by our last "Governator")
So I went to visit some cousins in Texas DFW area. There are no exhaust laws out there. My cousin has a C7 with straight pipes and it's modified to make 550hp or so. He told me to stand behind the car while he cold started it. I guess corvettes don't need to be warmed up before you hit redline, but when that sucker fired up it literally blew my Soul right out of my body! Like a concussion bomb went off and I practically soiled myself!
I mean... It sounded freaking awesome, but there is no way in hell I could drive that around the neighborhood in CA without getting a ticket or my wife freaking out from embarrassment every time I started it up.
On my block I have some younger "kids" who drive a Mustang GT 350 with straight pipes(at least sounds like it) and another has a Hellcat and one older gentlemen has a lamborgini Hurracan. Maybe it's my "Porsche Garage" signs or my Porsche flags waving outside, but every time they drive by my garage they rev the hell out of their cars Part of me enjoys it because of the car nut that I am and partially because I do it back to them when I drive by their houses, although my Porsche is no where near the same planet as far as decibel levels they put out goes. But, I also get the "remain courteous" feeling. Sometimes it is appropriate and Sometimes I wonder if I am going to be that old man screaming at the kids to "Get OFF my Lawn! or "Put a muffler on that car!!" I told my wife I was getting a lamborghini like the neighbor... She told me to have fun driving it by myself because she would never want that kind of attention with me revving to redline every 10 feet.
Still...I prefer freedom over regulations, but I get it... Everything is relative and I think there are some neighbors who quietly yell at me every time I drive by or start up my car in the morning...I think they are just jealous
Well, I know there are a lot of skeptics about the CAI kits, but I am a fan of the K&N kit. I would not hesitate at all. I use the K&N Intake Kit # 57-7000 and IPD Competition Plenum with GT3 throttle body on my 2006 C4S.
By far the intake kit is my favorite mod I have done on my car. You already know how great it sounds by just doing the intake. In fact, throttle response and power feels even better than stock. This kit helps to also eliminate the flat spot in the power curve around 5000 rpm when the engine comes on cam. K&N Dyno's show that there is actually a very healthy increase in power, about 20 hp, between 4500-6000 rpm and then maybe an extra 10-12 hp increase to redline. The Ipd plenum helps to futher smooth out the delivery of power and airflow, but the K&N kit gives you that special howl/scream from 5000-7000 rpm that you are looking for.
The K&N kit is only around $300 bucks and to me it is worth every penny just for the noise this intake makes alone.
Sounds like your main concern for getting it again is a possible cel light issue coming on. I have narrowed this down and I think solved the problem, which actually was not always due to a dirty sensor, but sporadic air turbulence. If you do feel the sensor is dirty then the first solution is to clean it about every 6 months with some CRC MAF spray cleaner. I have never had any issues with a dirty sensor, but I do clean it a couple times a year just to be meticulous and keep things running perfectly.
After I added the competition plenum I started getting a cel light related to the maf sensor. I got a new maf sensor and cel light still came back. This drove me nuts and was frustrating, but then I figured out a $20 mod that helps smooth out the airflow and solved the cel issue. It dawned upon me when I put my old stock airbox on and and the cel stayed off. While I was looking at the old air box, specifically the old air mass sensor housing, I noticed there are a couple of airflow screens built in to the air mass sensor housing. Airflow hits these screens before hitting the sensor. 1 is a plastic screen and the 2nd one is a metal screen. So I found a $20 mass air flow sensor and basically removed the screens from it. They are easy to pry out. I only use the plastic screen which keeps good air flow and cuts down on turbulence coming in from the hi flow cone filter. The metal screen is not necessary and over kill. This circular screen fits perfectly and held nicely in the the opening of the K&N cone filter and sandwiched in place as you connect the cone filter to the plastic air tubing that holds the maf sensor and runs to the throtle body. Makes the idle much smoother in general and has eliminated my cel issues completely. I have done this solution for another friend who has a 06 C2 with the K&N setup only and it solved all his cel issues too..
After putting the stock airbox on I have to say that I also felt validated because I can say without a doubt that the K&N CAI makes a really nice difference and is way better in power and sound delivery than the stock airbox. the car is more fun to drive and listen to!
I attached a photo of the maf housing you can get for $20. I removed the circular black screen at the opening air intake side. Do an ebay search for "Mass Air Flow Sensor Meter MAF 0280217814 For BMW X5 740 540"
Here is how the intake sounds on my 2006 C4S. This is recorded with a gopro cam suction cupped to my rear window. No special mics, just the gopro.
With Hi-flow BMC or K&N oem style air filter you can do the helmholtz hack. Not as loud as K&N and sound does not kick in as soon, but about 85% there from 5000-7000 rpm.
Nice driving ! Good lines, relaxed grip on the wheel, no hand over hand, nice rev matching, etc Well done
The best 997.1 intake is hands down the Champion F77 Carbon Fiber one - beautiful, pulls air directly from the decklid, etc.
Next best I think is the EVOMS version. This has a dual inlet once you punch out the right side opening in your engine lit so draws in mostly cold outside air from both vents. It has straighter air paths to the plenum than the K&N and the clamping pipes are metal instead of plastic - just a little bit nicer and higher quality design IMO.
I've also been happy with my Fabspeed J-Pipe. I tried the Y-pipe and on my car didn't work as well as the J-Pipe - not sure why, but went back to that. Possibly the longer, more gradual curve with a single inlet so no turbulence from two inlets meeting in the middle.
Wife's has the Evoms.
We both had to go to aftermarket intakes to make space for the active aero wing hydraulics and motors for my RUF bi-wing decklid an the TT one that's on her car. The OEM airbox is too wide.
Nice driving ! Good lines, relaxed grip on the wheel, no hand over hand, nice rev matching, etc Well done
The best 997.1 intake is hands down the Champion F77 Carbon Fiber one - beautiful, pulls air directly from the decklid, etc.
Next best I think is the EVOMS version. This has a dual inlet once you punch out the right side opening in your engine lit so draws in mostly cold outside air from both vents. It has straighter air paths to the plenum than the K&N and the clamping pipes are metal instead of plastic - just a little bit nicer and higher quality design IMO.I've also been happy with my Fabspeed J-Pipe. I tried the Y-pipe and on my car didn't work as well as the J-Pipe - not sure why, but went back to that. Possibly the longer, more gradual curve with a single inlet so no turbulence from two inlets meeting in the middle.We both had to go to aftermarket intakes to make space for the active aero wing hydraulics and motors for my RUF bi-wing decklid an the TT one that's on her car. The OEM airbox is too wide.
Thanks! That Corvette I waved by was on racing slicks and suppose to be in a higher race group (track cars, GT3s, race tires), but decided to crash our party. He had fastest lap time and I was 2nd after him in the advanced drivers group for that day.
I do like the intakes you mentioned and they look great as well as perform great. Almost got a great deal on a used Evoms, but it was snatched up fast. But, I gotta say... Your 3 top choices cost a pretty penny at $700-1200 buckaroos. Not saying one is better than the other, but for the money, I gotta say I think the K&N is a bargain. For a few extra bucks I also modified the "box" a bit to make it even more insulated from engine heat.
Just for the sake of geeking over these kits, I found this very interesting in the K&N literature... take with a grain of salt... I do like the other designs with a straighter/larger intake pipe, but found this interesting.
K&N Performance Kit Manager Bert Heck. "The design of the K&N Intake Tube and repositioning of the mass air sensor is a big reason why we were able to get so much power." This made me say hmmmm.. Repositioning of the air mass sensor?? Interesting. Don't know how much difference that makes, but maybe they were able to lean or richen the fuel mix with how close/far the sensor reading is taken before it enters the intake manifold??? Maybe tricking the ecu a bit, food for thought??? hmmmm
Anyway... OP... keep us posted on which route you take.
Stock is boring. You should know this as a former Z owner
I went a little bonkers on the Z, it's nice to have something that isn't a production every time you want to take it out. Here's a link to the finished product:
I went a little bonkers on the Z, it's nice to have something that isn't a production every time you want to take it out. Here's a link to the finished product: Matt's Z06 Cold Start.
10-16-2019, 12:30 PM
Part of me enjoys it because of the car nut that I am and partially because I do it back to them when I drive by their houses, although my Porsche is no where near the same planet as far as decibel levels they put out goes. But, I also get the "remain courteous" feeling. Sometimes it is appropriate and Sometimes I wonder if I am going to be that old man screaming at the kids to "Get OFF my Lawn! or "Put a muffler on that car!!" 
I told my wife I was getting a lamborghini like the neighbor... She told me to have fun driving it by myself because she would never want that kind of attention with me revving to redline every 10 feet.
