I'm just curious to see if he ended up with a HOT air intake.

 

actually i just covered up the holes they have, and then just drilled two smaller holes and used a adapter i found at homedepot. Make the holes smaller so you can thread the holes, then take it out, add silicon tape put back in, then use silicon sealant. Used the 3inch-3inch pipe adapter that it came with (will replace with straight black color instead of gay-blue) which provides a good seal around the previous holes. Actually doesn't look too bad or ghetto :-P going to also add a nut to the back of the hose end to make sure it stays. I'll post the howto on saturday when i get my pictures :-P



i feel like mc-guyver :-P a little tinfoil, potatoe and mothballs and i'll add a spud-launcher to the CAI :-P

 

But where in the car did the filter end up being located?

 

near the rear back tire......







j/k :-P identical to the AEM, only difference is the holes where the nubs should be. If your looking for a painless install, get a AEM and put it in. But if your going budget this works just as well. Oh, and i got a extra $10 back from the seller after i explained to him that i had to buy extra parts to make his "all inclusive" kit work.

BTW, this red CAI is the only one that i know of that has holes isntead of the hose-connector(nipple things). I've talked to someone in my local S2katlanta group that bought a ebay intake wihtout a problem.

 

pics???

 

All that work.....for a replica CAI that probably looses hp?.....

Better off getting the "Real Deal Holyfield" and the hp to boot.... just a thought..

Not hating on your setup but if you were truly looking for performance then why skimp..

If it's for looks....then sounds like you made it work..

 

well after taking off my bumper and actually installing it, i decided to go with the standard install (not redrilling taps etc). It actually works without any major modification, you just have to use the stock hoses versus the two little gay hoses they provide. Took a looong while to isntall due to cutting the paneling. The only thing i ended up having to pay for from homedepot was silicone sealand and a aircompressor fitting (1/2inch to 3/8 inch threaded both ends). I was painting my calipers at the same time, so i just painted the connector and sealant to match the tube. Turned out pretty good.

If anyone does this install i HIGHLY recommend a hole saw, i used a dremel (which i have on other cars and its quick) but the plastic paneling on the S is like 1/8th inch thick and ribbed, so it took good hour or two to make the holes ( cut, check, cut check , cut ,check, swear, cut, get a beer, cuss, check, etc etc).

All in all it sounds awesome and there is a nice noticeable gain in the response and butt-dyno (i didn't cut the hole in the bumper so its drawing air in from below. I really don't think its "loosing power" because its a cheap ebay knockoff. My previous car, i had a AEM CAI (V6 10whp dyno'ed) and my buddy had the ebay knockoff and we dyno'ed almost identical. I think there was a 2hp difference overall (not highend, indicating a CAI problem). He was using a AEM filter tho, not the provided one.

And anyway, the S's don't get huge gains from a CAI so its not all that important if i'm getting 3whp gain instead of 5whp i would see from something costing 5 times as much. Its a .8whp per $10 versus 0.2whp per $10. laying pipe is laying pipe. All in all, i love working on my S, and i don't feel like i just wasted $30 at all, very worthwhile mode IMHO.

Difficulty 7/10 - (cutting, bumper removal, walking around homedepot with a red-tube looking for a aircompressor part that'd work, part-number to follow) where a normal install would probably be a 6/10

 

UMMM.....instead of dremeling the cutouts, why not just buy a $10 set of metal shears? They cut the hole for my INJEN CAI in about 30 seconds. Like scissors through paper.

I highly doubt you will see any gains with the knockoff. The filter is probably also a knockoff, and probably has reduced flow. The reason why the AEM costs so much is the machining process. There is almost no turbulence through the turns, due to the machining. It kinda funnels the air. Knockoff intakes are usually not machined on the inside, and produce greater turbulence, so the already lower volume of air (from the cheap filter) is being further reduced by the turbulence in the tube. This is how I understand it, and why they can charge $250 for an intake.

John

PS - Coulda gotten a used one on this site for $100-120 shipped.

 

Ok here are the pics. Also did my calipers and clear-sidemarkers at the same time.

http://66.219.59.147/nixpix/IMG_1511.JPG
http://66.219.59.147/nixpix/IMG_1512.JPG
http://66.219.59.147/nixpix/IMG_1513.JPG
http://66.219.59.147/nixpix/IMG_1514.JPG
http://66.219.59.147/nixpix/IMG_1516.JPG
http://66.219.59.147/nixpix/IMG_1526.JPG
http://66.219.59.147/nixpix/IMG_1527.JPG
http://66.219.59.147/nixpix/IMG_1528.JPG
http://66.219.59.147/nixpix/IMG_1529.JPG
http://66.219.59.147/nixpix/IMG_1533.JPG
http://66.219.59.147/nixpix/IMG_1534.JPG


And don't player hate :-P I never said this was the best setup, i'm saying its the best bang for buck. I should've taken a picture of the inside of the tubes for you, its nearly identical to my AEM i had.

And i doubt they "machine" the tubes. They do exactly the same as every CAI producer out there, they bend the tubes like normal people. The best they do is polish the inside, i did the same with some steel wool and brake cleaner to remove any overspray (i had to do the same with my AEM, both with negligable gains). Since its aluminium, it can strech and bend without creating "folds" like steel and other less malliable metals. AEM charges 250 for their intakes for the quality of the components and their manufacturing process (that and the 250 version has the second layer for resonnace and sound). And as for the "turbulence", if 4 bends in the pipe doesn't cause turbulence i doubt that a slightly less polished inside will void all gains.

I'm not disagreeing with you on the filter part, i trust K&N & AEM's filters as the best out there. They use a higher quality of fiber and fabric to make their filters than the knock-offs, and the good thing is that they're still reliable after cleaning. This knockoff i'll just use until it requires cleaning and then replace with a better filter. You can see in the pictures the quality of the filter is pretty decent.

Bottom line, is I don't want to create a flame-war. I know that AEM/INJEN are incredible company's (i've personally owned two AEM's and installed one INJEN in a 'lude loved them). I'm giving you my perspective as a owner and installer of BOTH types, so i've seen both sides (take this in mind before telling yours is way better if you've only every used yours). I've also dyno'ed both on the same type of car with negligable difference. Performance wise they're nearly identical (there isn't a $200 worth of performance gain), quality wise the AEM/INJEN wins hands down, but then again its up to you if your more after appearance and namebrands versus value for money. I do plan on replacing the filter with a K&N since its really the only component that quality wise matters. Its just pipes and cloth people, its not like its circuitry. I bought a S because its the best bang for the buck. If i wanted to go namebrand because something is "better" then i would've bought a porsche. Its same reason i bought the intake because i'm alot more technical than i used to be and i don't mind getting something to work if i can save $200.

Second bottom line. If you like peace of mind and want to be proud about saying "I have a <namebrand> intake" by all means get the AEM/INJEN. But if your like me and would rather buy a subwoofer with the money you save, then i'm saying the ebay intake is not a bad deal. The ebay does require like $3 for a part from home-depot, but all you have to do is screw it in and seal it with silicone. Trust me i'm partially a perfectionist (lol), so if i didn't think this was a safe option i wouldn't have it in on my car. I'm providing this post for the good of the forum, giving a balanced and non-biased review of the ebay intake, at first i thought i got screwed, but now i know it wasn't a bad choice.

If i were to do it again, i'd make sure i bought the ebay intake that has the metal nipples in place already so you don't have to make any modifications. Oh and also replace the colored hoses with some decent rubber.

note: if you see the picture of the filter and you see the screws, they don't just sit there, i placed them in rubber washers to hold the plastic away from the filter folds.

 

It looks like your photo host doesn't permit linking to here. We just see a bunch of red "x"s.