Hey there everyone, I'm new to the mustang community, having just bought mine three days ago. It's a 1997, and it already has dual exhaust. I'm looking at a MAC cold air intake for my first mod, but wasn't sure if the extra 10hp was worth $180.00... Any wisdom?

 

I've never believed that ANY cold air intake would net you 10hp, more like 3-4 at best. All the dynos and numbers you see on manufacturers sites are in conjunction with a bunch of other mods. Unless you've already done a bunch of performance mods, you won't see 10hp, although I'm sure others here will disagree with me.

But that aside, I think a CAI is a pretty good first mod. It's usually the first or second thing I do to my car. You'll notice a little bit of power, and the sound will be cool. Not bad for less than $200. Since you have the exhaust done already I say go for it. Although you may want to look into the ebay ones and save a hundred dollars. The name brand ones are only prettier, that's all you're paying for. I once had an ebay CAI on my old car for $60, then got an AEM CAI for $220.....no difference in power/performance. The AEM just looked better. Read some of the posts, there is a thread on just CAI's, I'm sure you'll see some good suggestions there too.

 

Ehhh.......... yea/nay, more nay than yey, but they look cool.

As stated earlier expect a 2-4 rwhp gain, nothing more and maybe less.

 

is it worth $180? no. is it worh ~$40 on ebay? sure!

 

Put a K & N filter in it and remove the silencer. It's a lot cheaper and will net the same gain.

 

+1

 

I think I'll probably go with a K&N. What's the part number that fits the 1997 V6? And does anyone have a site that accepts Paypal (and don't say eBay)?

 

just go to autozone or kragen

 

I ended up buying an eBay system with a K&N filter. All said and done cost ~$75. Now I only hope I'll be able to install the bugger...

 

Why ebay, the damn thing is going to fall apart on you within a year, two tops.