Browsing around on the net I've found many different brands and prices of intakes for mustangs. No I want the performance along with the sound. All options offer about the same in filters, but difference depends on material. For instance, K&N offers a intake system thats plastic or rubber- guessing much like my stock intake just formed different. Most of the others now show and say that they are aluminum. 95% of them say cone-shaped reusable filters. To my understanding they should all offer some type of increase in performance. I would assume (but not possitive) that the aluminum pipes would give me the sound I want where plastic or rubber would hold the sound. Now my question! For an aluminum intake, what would the quality difference be in paying $80 verses higher priced? Is it just the name? Or is there actually a performance and/or sound difference? Reading some of these posts on the forums makes me lean more towards the fact that intake is an intake. No difference other than material used. Also if its an aluminum intake I'm looking for, is it worth paying $450 for one or $80 for the other?

 

I bought mine off ebay, a CAI is a CAI. Payn for the company name more than anything. I think I paid about 50$ for mine myself. And works just as good as any 100$ one from the well known companys like K&n I think mines from MAC though.

 

I paid $140 for my mac one. I'm satified with it, it definitly gave me a great performance gain. It gave my exhaust a deeper throtty sound to but it kind of hums around 4000rpm.

 

Well, for future reference, I'll end up buying an actual CAI. But for right now I was inspired by a couple people I know to custom make my own. They said it doesn't really matter about the material, the idea is to get the coldest air flow to the engine. The one dude had shown me his custom intake for his neon made out of PVC pipe and a K&N filter and let me listen to it. he said that he got the perfomance he wanted, and the whole thing cost him $20+tax and it sounds awesome as hell!!!! So I'm gonna look into it and see what I can custom build out of PVC, heat reflecting tape, K&N filter and see what happens. I will be taking pictures and I will keep all of you updated on it. I'm not sure if or how I can get sound clips... but I'll figure out something!

 

i would just not waste the time and buy a real one as soon as you could

 

I made my own too on a 96 V6. All I did was take the air silencer off and cut off as much of the box as I could, but still allowing the clams on the box to snap shut over my K&N filter

 

i bought a mac cai on ebay for 150...

i shoulda just got the plain ol ebay one tho[>:]

 

Ya i just bought a MAC of e-bay for 139.00 USD, i could have bought a 39.00 one but id rather have a name behind me when you buy stuff of e-bay. and as for making your own, do what ever you want, but what if you dont do the best of job and it falls of and gets caught in your belts or start sucking up dirty air and fry your motor?[&:][:'(][:@], id say spending the extra money is well worth it. plus do you still have warranty?

 

I just bought a cheap *** ebay cai for $50 with shipping included, it didnt come with instructions but if you understand your car it shouldnt be a problem. I bought a K&N filter to increase airflow a little more, it sounds sick as hell....you can really hear the engine sucking the air in and it definately gives a boost in power when you hit the power band. I'd say it was good for a few rwhp, nothing staggering but a good start.

 

Well, I bought the parts and made the CAI piping that I'll be using. Right now I only need a boot to connect the piping to the throttle body and a Filter. I used the UPR Big Mouth idea. It'll be a high flow filter connect to a 12 inch long, 3inch diameter pipe... reduced to a 2inch diamter pipe connected to the throttle body. I will take before and after pictures and let you guys know what I think about it and how it performs once I get it on. I'm hoping by having a 3" reduce to a 2" pipe will cause a higher flow of air to the throttle body. But once again it's stock and not connected yet. So far, I've only put about $9.50 into the intake. The filter is about $40.00 and the boot is another $1.20 or something so grand total will be just under $50.00 If it works, it'll be the shiznit cause I made it. There are a couple more ideas I have for the future to maybe help it out, like an insulation to keep the pipe cooler and a heat/rain guard to protect the filter. Still under concept and hoping it works. I'll keep you all posted!