SOME cold air intakes lower in price

[Bonanza7]

Most all of us like, or would like to have a cold air intake, usually because they look better at car shows, others because of the supposed hp increase, usually imagined, others for the mpg increase, sometimes real, sometimes not. The name brand ones are pricey, however. Lately, cheaper ones have shown up, notably on eBay. I picked one up for $119, including shipping. What the heck not much to lose. I installed it and it is well made, looks good, and surprisingly, is providing about 3-4 mpg increase. Don't know about power, since I won't have it denies, but it feels stronger. ( probably just the sound, but that alone is good) in comparison, it is better that the one, a name brand, I had on my Mustang GT in 01, and equal to the one, a Fujita, sold by GM dealers, n my Solstice, at 2.5 times the price. Unless you are obsessed with name brands and like to throw money way, these and others coming out might be worth looking at if only for the mpg.

[beany323]

i think somewhere there is a post comparing some of them. and i dont think they are all alike. someone who knows of this will pipe in soon.

[Bonanza7]

No, they are not all alike. This is an inexpensive one, that does give a good mpg increase and looks good, at a much cheaper price. End result is equal to the ones I had before, at way less the bucks. Works for me, but not for those who need proven max for racing or just ego.

[ZL-Bee]

I wish someone would update the comparison spec sheet, a couple of name brands missing from the test and it makes me wonder where they really stand. The ones I want to know about in specific is the Spectre CAI and the simple SLP Blackwing air filter and air tube set up using the stock airbox.

[nyrfan]

Not all CAI's are alike:

There is this...


and then this:

[Bonanza7]

Originally Posted by nyrfan

Not all CAI's are alike:

There is this...


and then this:

Wonder how well the top one works

[nyrfan]

Originally Posted by Bonanza7

Wonder how well the top one works

[davidcroft]

For $232.10 I believe this is the least expensive(brand name) cold air kit on the market. Oh and it's a very well known brand name.
http://www.amazon.com/63-3074-Perfor...1&s=automotive

I actually paid $253 for this same kit last year. Others will chime in and tell you why you need to buy a more expensive one because it outflows this one by 1to2to3 more HP. Don't buy into the HYPE!

Once you add LTs and supporting mods, this intake becomes less and less important. The cold air kits are a supporting mod.

[tonyko1]

Always wonder why the OEM doesn't have CAI's or the famed "catch-can" as an option, akin to the Hurst short-throw shifter? If the CAI and catch-can did as advertised, it would increase HP and mpg, cleaner engine and the OEM could charge more.

And please, no conspiritorial theories on costing, or the OEM wanting the car to break down. I mean if they can sell optional wheels for over $5k, the above would be less than $750 installed.

[clg_98ta]

Originally Posted by Bonanza7

Most all of us like, or would like to have a cold air intake, usually because they look better at car shows, others because of the supposed hp increase, usually imagined, others for the mpg increase, sometimes real, sometimes not. The name brand ones are pricey, however. Lately, cheaper ones have shown up, notably on eBay. I picked one up for $119, including shipping. What the heck not much to lose. I installed it and it is well made, looks good, and surprisingly, is providing about 3-4 mpg increase. Don't know about power, since I won't have it denies, but it feels stronger. ( probably just the sound, but that alone is good) in comparison, it is better that the one, a name brand, I had on my Mustang GT in 01, and equal to the one, a Fujita, sold by GM dealers, n my Solstice, at 2.5 times the price. Unless you are obsessed with name brands and like to throw money way, these and others coming out might be worth looking at if only for the mpg.

Probably just leaned out your mixture to a dangerous ratio...

Not saying I wouldn't try an expensive intake off EBay, but I'd definitely get a dyno with a/f monitoring to make sure it's not doing any damage (i.e. needs a tune)

[cadyshac]

I got a CAI because it looks great, gets great reviews, is well engineered and is a proven product. I am not spending $35,000+ on a car I plan to keep forever and then putting cheap engine parts on it!

[ZL-Bee]

The comment used to be CAI's are about the same and mainly a for looks part. The Janetty Racing comparison says a little different, but the one flaw to the test is that cheaper CAI's were not included in the test. Some companies declined an invite I believe but, it's hard to claim which is really best when you are not getting all of the brands tested together but we also have to be very thankful for the Test the JRE put together because they're the only ones I've ever known to do such a comparison test and put together a spec sheet like they did.

[v6sonoma]

One thing to note is that during the test there were at least 1 or 2 between the V8 and V6 that actually made LESS power than the stock unit. So a poorly designed lower cost unit might look nice but it may have a negative effect or no real effect at all.

I think most would rather spend another $100 to be sure they are getting what they pay for. That said when it comes to headers there can be some great HP gains to be had for cheap if you don't mind a less perfect finished product.

What matters most is that you are happy with what you bought.

[eggydoo]

Originally Posted by ZL-Bee

I wish someone would update the comparison spec sheet, a couple of name brands missing from the test and it makes me wonder where they really stand. The ones I want to know about in specific is the Spectre CAI and the simple SLP Blackwing air filter and air tube set up using the stock airbox.

I think JRE did test the slp blackwing.
They said no change from stock.