tonkpils555666sas

I have the steeda cold air intake on the car. I was wondering if the other brands such as C&L ir JLT were better than the steeda. I was wondering if you do actually push out more horse power with those two brands compared to the steeda. Is it just a difference in filter size and material???

jdmcbride

Do you have the Steeda HF Elbow? I have heard that the Steeda with the HF elbow flows as much as the other two you listed.

I will be going with the Steeda CAI if I don't decide to supercharge. But I will be getting a Brenspeed tune if I get the CAI.

subzero05

There are a couple others that may be better overall, but it wouldn't be enough of a benefit to warranty swapping one out for the other $$$ wise

F1Fan

Hi tonkpils,

If you have the current Steeda CAI kit with the newer cast and machined or older fully milled and hand fab'd 90mm MAF housing your Steeda flows just as much air into the throttle body as any other stock CAI kit on the market. There are a couple of higher flowing CAI kits offered like the C&LRacer but you can match the C&L Racer's air flowby installing the Steeda High-Flow Intake Elbow upgrade tube. The Steeda CAI kit produces just as much or moreengine power as anyother production CAI kit available on the market. The Steeda CAI kit is known to work very well and is very well built which is why Ford is selling them as their own and even has developedthe 50-statecertified ECU calibrations for them. Steeda is thelargest sellingthird party parts manufacturer of Mustang performance parts in the world and they didn't get there by selling junk. Steeda got there by selling the best engineered and built parts on the market. The biggest differences between the CAI kits from the different CAI kit makers on the market is emissions legality and long term support for the kit. Ford and Steedaare backing the Steeda designed and produced CAI kit and they have50-state emissionscalibrations for their CAI whichnoother kit on the market offers. Rest assured that you have one of the best available performance CAI kitswith the best "total package" on the market.

Cheers!

mriverdude1

I've got the steeda as well, and I did a bunch of cross research between the 2 cnl's and the jlt. The difference in these compaired to stock theat makes the big jump in horsepower is in the diameter of the new mass air flow housing. The cnl street's housing is 88mm the jlt is 89mm and the steeda/ford racing one is 90mm. The cnl racer intake is a 95mm and is reall only recomended for heavily modified engines ie. cams heads and such it flows a little too much for basic bolt ons. I can't remember the cfm flow numbers for each of the big three but the steeda with the elbow out flowed the other two by a small margin. If you don't have the elbow I would highly rcomend getting it, I ordered mine with it and have run the car bot ways and there deffinately is a difference.

F1Fan

Hi mriverdude,

I think the Steeda was and is one of, if not the best CAI kits on the market when upgraded with the high-flow elbow and the ability to get parts down the road will be a plus once people seehow poorthe durability of most ofCAI kitsreally are. In practical termson a N/Astock displacement 4.6l 3-valve GT motorSteeda's CAIwith the upgraded elbow can flow as much air as any streetbuild is capable of consuming no matter what you do to the engine. Saleen has a huge 98mm MAF on their new PJ 302 motor but this is really just a way to overcome the limits of the stock intake for those 20 extra cubes. Alsoa production style accordion intake tube with thestock dual 58mm throttle bodyis much easier to fit withthe flexible type tubes and it's a lot cheaper to not have to design, build, calibrate and certify a larger throttle body when they can simply bump up the MAF housing diameter and get nearly the same results on the dyno. The PJ 302's air intake looks to bepretty efficient and if I can find a used one I'm going to buyit and get some time on the dyno to developthe transfer tables and a tune forthe thing to confirmmymental model of the intake.I know thatthe PJ 302's intake is as quiet as a stock GT's and it should flow as much air as any of the big tube racertype intakes without theinduction noise and offersimple air filter replacements instead of having to clean the cotton filter a couple of timesa year. These are all features I'd like to have under my hood seeing how I prefer performance and function over bling.

I bought the Steeda high-flowelbow upgrade before they were advertised and have had it on my car for a long time. I also noticed a slight improvement in performance but it may have been noticeable only because I had already installed a BBK 62m throttle body andCMCV delete plates so the stock rubber accordion tube was likely the airflow restriction at that point. All I have left to install are a set of cams/beehives/ti retainers and then I'm done in the engine department. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do about wheels and tires as my stock Pirelli's are just about shotnow at 24K miles.

Cheers!

ohnoesaz

All CAIs perform within a few HP of each other. Simply testing one on a cold day as opposed to a warm day would be enough to make it beat the other CAI that it had lost to just the day before. There is not much of a difference at all.

Its all in the tune.

chp2150

The big selling point for me was the stainless steel air box and the way the mass air flow sensor housing bolted to the air box. All stainless steel hex head bolts and washers, a quality piece of equipment. It's not just a plastic box with a hole in it and the intake stuck through it. Also, the new elbow is completely smooth inside, not rough like the cast aluminum elbows. I'm using B***chips tune and it's like a different car.

F1Fan

Hi ohnoesaz,

Sure, but this is only true when the CAI kitis not the power limiting factor on the engine. Once the CAI kit airflow is the limiting factor the differences in CAI kit airflows will become more obvious on the dyno. For example when you have all of the usual intake bolt-ons, standard CAI kit, 62mm throttle body and CMCV deletes changing CAI's makes no real difference. But when you install a set of hotter cams the higher flowing CAI kits will allow the cams to produce more power than the smaller CAI systems produce. Somefolks have seen this on the dyno when switching between the C&L Street and Racer kits and standard Steeda CAI and the SteedaHigh-Flow Intake Elbow. Brenspeed and JPC have both experienced this with CAI kits. You have to have a need for the part before it willproduce power up to it's potential. This is why the C&L Street CAI is good enough for most people and the Racer looses some power until you add a 62mm throttle body and cams and then the story is reversed with the Racer making significantly more power then the Street CAI kit. It's all about keeping the system balanced from one end to the other or you will not see maximum power gains from a given component.

Cheers!

F1Fan

Hi chip,

You have my name! I too liked the stainless steel air divider Steeda designed. If I was going to build a CAI system for the car I would have done something similar to Steeda's basic design but I would have used a hose from the lower valance to direct coolerambient air up fromthe front of the car up to theairbox and also used a smooth blow-molded plastic tubewitha broadercurve than the Steeda high-flow intake elbow upgrade. But that was before I went and did some insturmented air temp testing.I've datalogged the IAT from theECU with the Steeda CAI stainless steel air box and found that when the car is moving there isless than a 5F temp differential between air infront of the radiator and the airin the Steedafilter box It won't get much better than this without some kind of ducting from the under the bumper like I had origninally planned to do I have also runa large diameter ductup from the lower valance through the radiato support to direct cold air directly intothe Steeda air box and did not see more than 2F dropin air temp so I pulled it outbecauseall the water and dirt that is directed into the air box is a PITA to keep cleaning out. Steeda's design is practicallyperfect and I doubt there is a more effective CAI air boxon the market. As far as Steda's high-flow intake elbow goes I think they could have done a little bit better but not a lot better. The issue I have has more to do with fit and the reliable positioning of the intake tubethanperformance which I doubt can be improved much if at all without a larger 95-100mm MAF housing and a redesign of the intake tube shape and the addition of flow diverters inside the tube at the elbow to the throtle body.

Cheers!