I'm sure several people are going to tell me I'm out of my tree and should have gotten a different brand, but I'm perfectly happy with my MAC CAI. Of course I didn't buy it expecting a huge difference in the car, but for the 180 bucks I paid for it, what can you really expect. I can a huge improvement in the throttle response of the car and a noticable, but not massive improvement in the seat of the pants feel also.
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Sometimes I think that government fits that old-fashioned definition of a baby: An alimentary canal with an appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
- Ronald Reagan
I'm sure several people are going to tell me I'm out of my tree and should have gotten a different brand, but I'm perfectly happy with my MAC CAI. Of course I didn't buy it expecting a huge difference in the car, but for the 180 bucks I paid for it, what can you really expect. I can a huge improvement in the throttle response of the car and a noticable, but not massive improvement in the seat of the pants feel also.
Hey Blue Streak!....
I am going with MAC CAI also. Mostly because of the price and they are close to me. I don't see any problems with it and from your post, it sounds like it will be a great CAI.
I also noticed you went with mostly MAC parts, like exhaust etc. I just did their shifter, which I really like. Again, I am going with all MAC with my 98 Cobra. Any advise?
Thanks
Glen
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-1998 Black Cobra, Kenne Bell 2.1L Supercharged
-2005 Mustang GT, Premium, 5spd, Redfire, Mac Catback
-2007 Roush Nitemare Stage 3 Supercharged #48 of 100
I'm sure several people are going to tell me I'm out of my tree and should have gotten a different brand, but I'm perfectly happy with my MAC CAI. Of course I didn't buy it expecting a huge difference in the car, but for the 180 bucks I paid for it, what can you really expect. I can a huge improvement in the throttle response of the car and a noticable, but not massive improvement in the seat of the pants feel also.
Well, here's another MAC CAI user that has no complaints. It was one of my first mods even though many have said CAI's are worthless. They probably are if you do no other mods. But I believe the CAI works even better if you improve the total inhale/exhale performance of your engine. I haven't been dyno'd yet so I can't validate this, but adding a CAI, bigger TB/plenum, headers and aftermarket exhast that all work in concert with each other, makes that CAI an integral part of this system. Adding aftermarket mid-pipes should be even better. That way the whole system is passing air through it in larger volumes, which should result in better engine performance and power. That's why it doesn't make sense to get aftermarket exhaust when you have the restrictive stock air intakes and exhaust manifolds on. The more stock restrictions you can remove or improve, the better performance you should get and that includes a CAI.
WMS system, check it out,WWW.wmsracing.com for GT & Cobras are $449.00, thats all jet hot coated, with a new Pro M 95 mm specially calibrated for there system, and it fits under strut tower braces.
Last edited by Twokingsracer; 06-05-2004 at 01:03 PM.
Well, here's another MAC CAI user that has no complaints. It was one of my first mods even though many have said CAI's are worthless. They probably are if you do no other mods. But I believe the CAI works even better if you improve the total inhale/exhale performance of your engine. I haven't been dyno'd yet so I can't validate this, but adding a CAI, bigger TB/plenum, headers and aftermarket exhast that all work in concert with each other, makes that CAI an integral part of this system. Adding aftermarket mid-pipes should be even better. That way the whole system is passing air through it in larger volumes, which should result in better engine performance and power. That's why it doesn't make sense to get aftermarket exhaust when you have the restrictive stock air intakes and exhaust manifolds on. The more stock restrictions you can remove or improve, the better performance you should get and that includes a CAI.
What you are saying is true in that you will see better gains from individual parts if you address multiple issues at the same time. But to say it doesnt make sense to go to an aftermarket exhaust without addressing your air intake components and exhaust manifolds seems a bit off target. First of all, with regard to modular Mustangs, the stock Ford exhuast manifolds do a bang up job from the get-go. That is why shorty headers are generally of little to no benefit. There are very decent dyno gains however from changing to high flowing x or h pipes and better mufflers. So it does make some sense to change those components idenpendent of the intake parts. Meaning you are still getting decent gains. Aftermarket CAI setups on otherwise stock applications are not going to make that big a difference in performance. A net gain on a dyno of 10 hp from a CAI on an otherwise stock car is considered really good. Guys...please be real...you arent gonna get a big "seat of the pants" change from just 10 HP. If you even get 10. And what is this great throttle response thing from changing your CAI? I have heard of better throttle response from changing throttle bodies, coil packs, wires, and plugs...but not from a CAI kit. What a lot of people call great throttle response ususally ends up being the increased noise of the incoming air (because silencer is removed). It "seems" the car gets more responsive or aggressive...in reality it is simply an audiological signiature difference...the new sound is something you are not used to hearing. Hence, I did several bolt on mods and put new gears in my car, except for an H pipe, so it still sounded stock....my buddy took his stock 97 in and had an H and some flows put on. His car sounded awesome!! To him it was really alive and aggressive. He knew he could take me. He had no noticable change in his performance (time wise..maybe .08 differnce) once we hit the track. I still smoked him. But to him it seemed he was driving a beast. Now with all my mods I got a little more benefit when I went with the H and flows.
So yes you get more benefit when you address both intake and exhaust flow...but dont delay doing one because you believe you wont benefit by not doing both. It is simply not true. A CAI is a good mod to do because it will address "real" intake issues later on when you are actually making a lot of power...and they look great!
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'97 GT with 80mm C&L MAF, C<rue-Flow CAI, MAC 70mm TB, Superchip, 180 thermo, B&M Ripper, King Cobra Clutch, FRPP aluminum quad/adj cable, MAC O/R H pipe, MIL's, Flows, Granatelli Solid control arms, FRPP 4.10's, FRPP aluminum driveshaft, Fidanza aluminum flywheel, FRPP 9mm wires, TMD aluminum U/D pulleys, Steeda full length SFC's (welded in), and 17" polished aluminum Cobra wheels with Nitto 555 Extremes, Kenwood/Alpine sound. Waiting for install: PI intake.
What you are saying is true in that you will see better gains from individual parts if you address multiple issues at the same time. But to say it doesnt make sense to go to an aftermarket exhaust without addressing your air intake components and exhaust manifolds seems a bit off target. First of all, with regard to modular Mustangs, the stock Ford exhuast manifolds do a bang up job from the get-go. That is why shorty headers are generally of little to no benefit. There are very decent dyno gains however from changing to high flowing x or h pipes and better mufflers. So it does make some sense to change those components idenpendent of the intake parts. Meaning you are still getting decent gains. Aftermarket CAI setups on otherwise stock applications are not going to make that big a difference in performance. A net gain on a dyno of 10 hp from a CAI on an otherwise stock car is considered really good. Guys...please be real...you arent gonna get a big "seat of the pants" change from just 10 HP. If you even get 10. And what is this great throttle response thing from changing your CAI? I have heard of better throttle response from changing throttle bodies, coil packs, wires, and plugs...but not from a CAI kit. What a lot of people call great throttle response ususally ends up being the increased noise of the incoming air (because silencer is removed). It "seems" the car gets more responsive or aggressive...in reality it is simply an audiological signiature difference...the new sound is something you are not used to hearing. Hence, I did several bolt on mods and put new gears in my car, except for an H pipe, so it still sounded stock....my buddy took his stock 97 in and had an H and some flows put on. His car sounded awesome!! To him it was really alive and aggressive. He knew he could take me. He had no noticable change in his performance (time wise..maybe .08 differnce) once we hit the track. I still smoked him. But to him it seemed he was driving a beast. Now with all my mods I got a little more benefit when I went with the H and flows.
So yes you get more benefit when you address both intake and exhaust flow...but dont delay doing one because you believe you wont benefit by not doing both. It is simply not true. A CAI is a good mod to do because it will address "real" intake issues later on when you are actually making a lot of power...and they look great!
I don't pretend to be an expert so I will bow to your knowledge. My point was that if you have a restrictive intake and a restrictive manifold, you don't get full benefit from aftermarket exhaust until you open up the whole system. Below is a pic of a stock exhaust manifold with a JBA Shorty header. The stock manifold is on top. I'm not sure why you think that stock manifold is so great. Seems like the air flow is very restrictive from looking at it.
I would be cautious about the CAI kits out there. Many times you wind up with some gains but that is due to leaning out the fuel/air mixture. I had bought one some time ago and wound up taking it off the car due to detonation. Since recently upgrading my exhaust I decided to try it out again. It seemed to work just fine for a short period, then again, it failed to perform better than the stock intake. A straight pipe will work better than one that curves into the fenderwell since the air flow is directed through the MAF rather than bypassing it. The almost 90° bend in the stock intake is to keep the air flow passing into the MAF. Since the stock box get air from the fender any way, it will not make much of a difference unless you are sucking in engine heated air. If you really want to improve the air flow into the motor, your best bet is to reduce back pressure in the exhaust by means of cat-back or other parts. IF you do notice any difference from just a CAI, be cautious if it runs lean otherwise you may get something unexpected like detonation. So far I have been lucky that the motor has not had any serious effects yet. But I did notice that two plugs had some blow-by in the sleeves. So far I am not convinced that CAI's are worth the money.
i think mine did on my 95 v-6 stang and i had the mac cold air kit, it triggered a light saying lean but that was like months after i installed it. I think it mainly has to do with the bend in front of the mass air, i think the k&N would be fine. no bends and a straighter airflow then stock.
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1998 Mustang GT automatic stock gears, some mods...sold
Best et 14.690@94.37 with a terrible 2.24 60ft
New ride 2000 GTP, gutted air box with K&N, 180 thermo
Best Et 14.57@93.35
*mods after run, Autolite 605s, GMPP STB , MPS 3.7
I'm not sure why you think that stock manifold is so great. Seems like the air flow is very restrictive from looking at it.
I only say this because that aside from the JBA's (which are very well designed and proven to give a small gain over the stock design), I havent seen another short tube header that ever made a performance difference. Long tubes yes...but not short tubes. Dont get me wrong, you are right on about addressing all the issues of intake and exhaust, it is a sound principle. I am just saying you can gain from doing exhaust alone. And also addressing some other quotes about throttle response and SOTP gains...whatever those are.
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'97 GT with 80mm C&L MAF, C<rue-Flow CAI, MAC 70mm TB, Superchip, 180 thermo, B&M Ripper, King Cobra Clutch, FRPP aluminum quad/adj cable, MAC O/R H pipe, MIL's, Flows, Granatelli Solid control arms, FRPP 4.10's, FRPP aluminum driveshaft, Fidanza aluminum flywheel, FRPP 9mm wires, TMD aluminum U/D pulleys, Steeda full length SFC's (welded in), and 17" polished aluminum Cobra wheels with Nitto 555 Extremes, Kenwood/Alpine sound. Waiting for install: PI intake.
Why is a FIPK so much better than this Saber Motersports CAI? It seams like I may get slighly less performance increse, but with the money I save I can buy something like pulleys.
I think it is because the FIPK eliminates that nasty 90 degree bend in front of the MAF. When you put the filter in the fender you create turbulence. The incoming air is not accurately sampled and that causes bit of performance loss. You can address some of this problem by canting your MAF towards the engine bay, as this puts the sensor into the least turbulent portion of the airflow.
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'97 GT with 80mm C&L MAF, C<rue-Flow CAI, MAC 70mm TB, Superchip, 180 thermo, B&M Ripper, King Cobra Clutch, FRPP aluminum quad/adj cable, MAC O/R H pipe, MIL's, Flows, Granatelli Solid control arms, FRPP 4.10's, FRPP aluminum driveshaft, Fidanza aluminum flywheel, FRPP 9mm wires, TMD aluminum U/D pulleys, Steeda full length SFC's (welded in), and 17" polished aluminum Cobra wheels with Nitto 555 Extremes, Kenwood/Alpine sound. Waiting for install: PI intake.
Can I piggy-back a question. Have you guys heard of many problems with people using K&N filters and having their sensors clogged or covered in oil? Talking with the guys that dyno'd my Cobra, they said that they've tuned cars and had problems with the tuning only to find out that it stemmed from the MAF. I use the FIPK and love it, but I always have worries in the back of my mind about the MAF and whether the oils will make it all the way up to me S/C and screw that up, too.
Not only have I heard of this problem but suffered from it. What usually seems to happen is people clean and then reoil their filters and tend to get to generous with the oil, but I actually had my problems with the new filter. After having it on for about 3000 miles I noticed my car was running a little rough. I cant really describe the difference but it just seemed to be suffering a bit. I had just changed plugs and put on new exhaust and didnt know what the problem was. I ended up pulling my Superchip, canting the MAF a little, checking the filter for clogs...nothing seemed to work. Then a friend came over and pulled the electronics on my MAF. He shot the wires clean with automotive electronics cleaner that we bought at O'Reilly's. Put em back in and fired it up. Guess what...all better. Another lesson learned. He said I had oil from the filter on my sensor wires. As long as you keep an eye on the situation the oiled filter should work just fine. I dont think there is anything wrong with occasionally cleaning your MAF electronics.
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'97 GT with 80mm C&L MAF, C<rue-Flow CAI, MAC 70mm TB, Superchip, 180 thermo, B&M Ripper, King Cobra Clutch, FRPP aluminum quad/adj cable, MAC O/R H pipe, MIL's, Flows, Granatelli Solid control arms, FRPP 4.10's, FRPP aluminum driveshaft, Fidanza aluminum flywheel, FRPP 9mm wires, TMD aluminum U/D pulleys, Steeda full length SFC's (welded in), and 17" polished aluminum Cobra wheels with Nitto 555 Extremes, Kenwood/Alpine sound. Waiting for install: PI intake.
has anyone tried the wms intake system? i am very interested and think im gonna buy it...but its $450!! http://www.wmsracing.com/pgi-ProductSpec?WMS-HVI but it does come ceramic coated and with a custom pro-m 95mm maf. designed for the system plus it just looks bitchin' what do you guys think ? yay or nay?
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1998 SVT Cobra #4941 of 5174 built on June 19,1998
4.30s, Speedcal, WMS CAI, Pro 5.0 shifter, Sniper Tuner, March pulleys, Mac O/R H pipe, Flowmaster orig. 40's, King Cobra clutch, D/S rotors, FRPP 9mm's, Max. Motorsports C/C plates, Termy front control arms, H&R SS springs, MM solid steering rack bushings, Tokico HP struts and shocks, Mac subrames, HID Bi-Xenon 6000k kit, Saleen 18" wheels, Saleen S-281 spoiler, sequential tails
Up Next: Termi diff, 31 spline Axles, LPW girdle, MM LCAs
. I have pictures of the intallation, check it out on my site 
