[1FUN4RD]

Anyone running one of these on their 05+ mustangs??

Reason for asking is I picked up a Steeda CAI for 100.00 shipped. I still need a tune (75.00) & the inlet elbow 99.00 - 199.00 ( I know I could use the stock inlet tube but think that would be half assed..

[1FUN4RD]

It was a spur of the moment purchase. Those sell for 250.00 + shipping. Now I am doing some investigateing before purchacing the rest of the set up.

[06RedfireGT]

Do you have a tuner already?

[1FUN4RD]

Originally Posted by 06RedfireGT Do you have a tuner already?

Yes, I have a Scat X-Cal3

[07stanggt]

First of all dont regret your purchase, if it isnt broke than that is a great deal. that steeda intake is the best on the market. I like it becuase its all one peice the maf housing and the heat shield, unlike the jlt and c&l where that is two peices. there will be no screwing with maf sensor placement that can mess up how your car runs. The steeda keeps that maf in the same spot as stock. Also that heat sheild will seal to your hood better then others and do a better job of keeping the hot air from the engine bay out of you intake. After all, that is the job of a cold air intake. Fact is the steeda fits the best, this isnt my opinion, its fact i have others in my possesion and have compared. The steeda was actaully made for the s197, these others look like you have to rig it up and could do so on any car.

To answer your question, you can use the stock inlet elbow, i did it for a long time before i got the carbon fiber inlet elbow. once i put that inlet elbow on, i could feel a slight difference, very slight, but you could feel it at the low rpms it seemed like. So either way even if you buy the regular 99 inlet, or just go with stock, you got a good deal. As for the elbow and tune, there is no affect, so you could get the tunes now with the stock inlet tube and switch anytime you want.

[chad05gt]

I like mine, been running it for 2 years with no reason to change

Nice find!

[07stanggt]

and i guess your asking which you should get, plastic or cabon fiber. Well other then steeda claiming a horsepower difference, i do know that at the track when everything else in my engine bay is hot, that carbon fiber tube is not. it doesn hold heat at all it seems like. is that worth 200 or an extra 100to you, thats your choice

[1FUN4RD]

Did you notice much from the stock inlet tube
To the steeda elbow.

[fdjizm]

why do you need a tune with the steeda "cai" if its just an open filter and no changes? correct me if im wrong but looks like a fancy replacement for the filter and maf housing...??? and if the elbow doesnt change for more flow or smoothing out the air then whats the poiont?

[07stanggt]

Originally Posted by fdjizm why do you need a tune with the steeda "cai" if its just an open filter and no changes? correct me if im wrong but looks like a fancy replacement for the filter and maf housing...??? and if the elbow doesnt change for more flow or smoothing out the air then whats the poiont?

I looks like a fancy replacement for the filter and maf housing? im not sure how to respond to that, it looks nothing like the stock air box? are we talking about the same thing.

You need a tune becuase the maf housing, I.E the pipe that you plug the MAF sensor into is bigger, its 90mm and it flows 1030cfm as appossed to stock which is like 580 i think or something, it might be 680 i cant remember. Someone on here will know. the biggest you can go without a tune is like 800 which is what the no tune cai's flow. The JLT and c&l street are 89MM maf. the only cai bigger then the steeda is the c&l racer which is 95MM.

The point of the high flow elbow is two fold, first lets just talk about inlet air temp. remember we are talking about a cold air intake, its not called a big air intake or a shiny air intake or a pretty air intake. It's expressed purpose is to feed the coolest air possible to the manifold This is why its not just sitting right in front of the TB with direct flow, The elbow can be more a less efficient at this, this is the debate over plastic, shiny painted aluminum so forth, which absorbs less heat, which holds less heat. the cooler the air, the more the HP, period. The steeda with the carbon fiber inlet elbow claims that inlet air temp is 5 degrees above ambient, or outside air. this is the best of the others, some of which are 20 degrees above ambient on hot days.

someone can correct me if im worng but i think for every 20 degrees you can cool the air its a 5% hp gain? thats 15 horse on a 300 horsepower engine. This requires no tuneing, its no different then makeing more hp on a cool day then a hot day.

The second place the elbow might help would be in better bends, less turbulance, whatever, im not going to get into that some tuner could talk about it. also, over the stock rubber house that will crimp and move, you deffinatley can see where any hard inlet elbow can help keep air flow consisitent.

Originally Posted by 1FUN4RD Did you notice much from the stock inlet tube To the steeda elbow.

very slight like i said, felt stronger in the low and mid range. but i put it on in the winter to. probably would have been more noticeable in the summer.

[fdjizm]

ok that makes sense now i didnt know the steeda maf housing was bigger.. i figure if your going to go for that might as well get the elbow to smooth stuff out. thanks gfor the insight 07


so if i buy this? i can make my own cai?

eBay Motors: 2001-04 F-150 Lightning Mass Air Meter 90mm Mustang MAF (item 220282730393 end time Oct-17-08 09:23:43 PDT)

[07stanggt]

well i dont know if you can use that maf becuase it puts the sensor in a different location then what is on our mustang. that is for a lightning. for some reason, and maybe someone else can comment on this but if the maf sensor is not in the same place it can mess things up. this is the problem that some people with the c&l run into because the housing is its own peice and it just sits in a hole in the heat shield connected to the inlet elbow. its something about haveing the sensor in the 3 oclock position. I dont get it thats just what i hear and i know that some guys have had to turn there maf to get that sensor positioned right and it got rid of some pcm problems.

Now with that said, emay has rigged his own cai unit up. So in short yes if you just want to buy a mustang maf houseing which you can do from c&l and probably Jlt then i guess you could make your own heat sheild or use no heat sheild like emay. And hell maybe that one will work but you should ask a mustang tuner or even call c&l and ask them.

[Mustangshar]

I went with STEEDA and happy with it. It's not a track car and the STEEDA SCT Tune is conservative and that's fine with me. They say the tune is required so I guess the above explains that. Hated the stock crap, looked at other manufactures and didn't want hot metal.

So you guys like your carbon fiber elbow, huh? Hmmm.....I have the upgraded large inlet but carbon fiber wasn't out yet.

[07stanggt]

Originally Posted by Mustangshar I went with STEEDA and happy with it. It's not a track car and the STEEDA SCT Tune is conservative and that's fine with me. They say the tune is required so I guess the above explains that. Hated the stock crap, looked at other manufactures and didn't want hot metal. So you guys like your carbon fiber elbow, huh? Hmmm.....I have the upgraded large inlet but carbon fiber wasn't out yet.

Yea the tunes you got with the steeda sct are fine. also when did you get that? does it have the tune for the delete plates on it, becuase now it comes with that.

yea im happy with the carbon fiber, everyone seems to like the look of it, i actaully dont like the look of it. LOL, i thought it looked tough with the stock inlet tube on there. what i do like is even after hot laps at the track that carbon fiber is cool.

[Mustangshar]

Originally Posted by 07stanggt Yea the tunes you got with the steeda sct are fine. also when did you get that? does it have the tune for the delete plates on it, becuase now it comes with that. yea im happy with the carbon fiber, everyone seems to like the look of it, i actaully dont like the look of it. LOL, i thought it looked tough with the stock inlet tube on there. what i do like is even after hot laps at the track that carbon fiber is cool.

Delete plates? I have an 87 octane tune if thats what you mean, LOL. I am considering ordering another inlet and sending out for custom air brush paint like my plenium/fuel rail covers....OR just get the carbon fiber. OR just get that ROUSH fascia...God, the money pit!!!!!

[07stanggt]

no with the power package now steeda sells, the cai, inlet tube and xcal. the xcal has a tune on it for the steeda delete plates.

[1FUN4RD]

Originally Posted by 07stanggt First of all dont regret your purchase, if it isnt broke than that is a great deal. that steeda intake is the best on the market. The steeda was actaully made for the s197, these others look like you have to rig it up and could do so on any car..

Here are a couple pic's of the one I got. Please excuse the poor photo's they were taken tonight with incondesent lighting.

Originally Posted by 07stanggt To answer your question, you can use the stock inlet elbow, i did it for a long time before i got the carbon fiber inlet elbow. once i put that inlet elbow on, i could feel a slight difference, very slight, but you could feel it at the low rpms it seemed like. So either way even if you buy the regular 99 inlet, or just go with stock, you got a good deal. As for the elbow and tune, there is no affect, so you could get the tunes now with the stock inlet tube and switch anytime you want.

Thanks for taking the time to answer in such detail. I am going with either the plastic inlet elbow or the carbon fiber one for 2 reasons. I think it gives it a cleaner look than the stock inlet elbow & I was thinking along the lines of a less turbulent flow of air.

So I was looking pick one of them up used, so far no luck there. Do you offer the inlet elbows for sale? I waas going to go thru Brenspeed because I have had great luck with them & love their customer service. But you have been very helpfull & I thought maybe I could throw some of my mod $$ your way..

[Mustangshar]

Came with two loaded tunes, 87 and 93 <which is what I run> or 91 if that's what is available in your state. I have the larger intake, maybe those are now standard?? It does what it's supposed to do and looks fine. Good luck and just get one . : ) I got mine last year. I have two filters because they should be cleaned each oil change. I have the my dealer clean one put it in a box and put the other one on. Just more convenient for me PLUS I have never cleaned one and if you do it wrong....you could wreck the engine.

[1FUN4RD]

Why is the rubber seal thicker on mine than yours?? did they change them at some point?

[1FUN4RD]

Originally Posted by chad05gt I like mine, been running it for 2 years with no reason to change Nice find!

Thanks