Purchased my New Era OTR CAI from a forum member, it arrived today.
While this intake is used, it still was in very good condition. It is the silver powdercoated model, and the quality looked to be top notch. I actually think the "rough" welds look fantastic, to me it gives it a one off custom appearance. To each their own. Regardless, the silver powdercoat matches the stock engine cover and my CGM engine bay almost perfectly. Visually I am very very impressed with this mod.
On to the fun stuff. I don't have access to a Dyno, but the butt dyno approves. I had a 50 mile drive home from IronWill's house. (Thank you by the way for installing it for me!) I immediately noticed that it deepened the exhaust note. I have a muffler delete, and over 4000 rpm it started to almost sound whiney before the intake, not so now. It sounds meaner than ever.
Throttle response is much improved, prior to the intake there was some hesitation when laying down the right foot. The hesitation is greatly reduced now. I'm very pleased.
There have been issues reported with "herky jerkies" with this intake on LS3's running the factory tune. I am very happy to report that I experienced none of these issues on my 50 mile trip. I had the cruise set at 73MPH most of the way home and it was nice and smooth. I also had a brief stint going through town at 30 mph in 3rd gear, again, no surging, no jerking.
I lucked out and found a stoplight on a 65mph road. Gunned it from the green light, slight chirp from the rear tires, pulled very hard into second, chirped the tires again, and I was breaking the speed limit before I knew it.
While I would like to put my car on a dyno to get some numbers, I am waiting until next summer to get a tune. Maybe a cat delete and or headers. We will see how the bank account feels by then
In closing, I would definitely recommend this intake. (Mine is the newer model with the revised MAF location/flange, I also checked my MAF sensor and I have the "strong" one.) I will update in a few weeks after I have had more time to drive the car.