Steeda CAI Review and Install Notes:

[Evolvd]

Haters gon' hate...

If you have JLT and you like it, good for you, get out of my thread as you have done nothing to enhance the discussion. See how easy that is?

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[Sasuketr]

Not to burst anyone's bubble, but here's a few observations from my morning drive WITH stock airbox...

Outside Temp according to the car was 35 F:
Inlet temperature at idle (After the car was sitting for 10 minutes warming): 55 F
Inlet Temperature @ 35 mph: 43 F
Inlet Temperature @ 50 mph: 39 - 40 F (It kept jumping back and forth)

I'm not entirely sure that the restricted CAI is really worth it. I do however believe that with a tune it would definitely be worth it since you remove the restrictor and pull in more air.

I may still buy the restricted CAI anyway, and then take out the restrictor when I get it tuned.

Interesting,

Day 3 with my Steeda no tune intake and i also observed the following temps below:

Outside air 45 degrees

Idle 10 minute warm up, IAT was 70 degrees.

At rolling 45 to 52 mph on the way to work the IAT temps were between 51 to 53 degrees! I didn't see any temps being more then 8 degrees above ambient while in motion!

 

[ridenfish39]

When I'm on the highway I'm 2 to 3 degrees above ambient. I did dremel out all the holes in the driver side of the grill though.

 

[SLA]

I was getting 3-4 over ambient on the way to work this morning. From speeds ranging from 40-80 mph.

 

[pietran30]

:shrug:

What's the relevance? With an ambient of 80 I saw AIT's @ 83-84 on the highway yesterday w/Steeda. Until the ecu pulls timing the temps aren't nearly as important as the flow.

Because it APPEARs that with the restrictor, you aren't pulling in any more air and that the air you're pulling in is as hot as the stock airbox anyway.

And to Khyber: Yea I understand already. I never said anything about a tune with the regular CAI not being better than stock.:headbonk:

 

[Sasuketr]

When I'm on the highway I'm 2 to 3 degrees above ambient. I did dremel out all the holes in the driver side of the grill though.

That might help the temps but you might also mess up the aero dynamics and fuel efficiency of your car!

 

[Sasuketr]

Because it APPEARs that with the restrictor, you aren't pulling in any more air and that the air you're pulling in is as hot as the stock airbox anyway.

And to Khyber: Yea I understand already. I never said anything about a tune with the regular CAI not being better than stock.:headbonk:

Its not just the amount of air you are pulling in, pressure drop through the filter, increasing the velocity of the air, less friction loss through the fittings all that affects the outcome.

 

[stoli]

That might help the temps but you might also mess up the aero dynamics and fuel efficiency of your car!

A half dozen dime size holes in a grill isn't going to measurably impact either.

 

[DrDing.Muscle]

Installed mine over the weekend. Overall the install went fairly well. Only issue I really had was when I removed the inlet tube thing from my stock air box one of the areas where the little retainers holds it broke the tube and it wouldn't stay together. I had to put a small machine screw in there to hold the inlet to the new air box. That plastic on the stock inlet tube is very hard and kind of brittle so be careful when removing that. I also broke one of the clips on one of the pcv lines but found those clips at autozone in the help me section. The new elbow piece was kind of a pain to get in the right place to tighten down the clamps on the MAF housing and throttle body but with a little patience can be pretty easily done.

I would say overall I do feel like I feel a good performance gain. The car feels smoother too and seems to rev out easier than before like it is less labored trying to rev.

 

[SLA]

Installed mine over the weekend. Overall the install went fairly well. Only issue I really had was when I removed the inlet tube thing from my stock air box one of the areas where the little retainers holds it broke the tube and it wouldn't stay together. I had to put a small machine screw in there to hold the inlet to the new air box. That plastic on the stock inlet tube is very hard and kind of brittle so be careful when removing that. I also broke one of the clips on one of the pcv lines but found those clips at autozone in the help me section.

Thanks for the info on the clips for the pcv lines. Broke mine as well and had been looking for replacements. I assumed I'd have to buy from ford.

 

[XKRJAG]

Tried installing mine this weekend, had wrong bolts included for the MAF sensor, so I got to reinstall all the factory stuff, hopefully they'll get me some correct bolts so I can get it going.

 

[Knight5.0]

I also broke one of the clips on one of the pcv lines but found those clips at autozone in the help me section.

Man i broke two of them, i didn't even think to look here.. thanks!

 

[Sasuketr]

I also broke one of the retainers that holds the air duct together. It was the bottom piece so didn't affect it too much. I also used the original MAF sensor screws from the old box and they worked fine.

My suggestion to future installers, do not sub assemble the filter and its velocity stack piece before putting the box in the engine bay. It is hard to align the air duct inlet to the front of the car. After that you can also put your arm in there and see if you are all the way forward and connected to the air inlet housing!

 

[RegDir]

Tried installing mine this weekend, had wrong bolts included for the MAF sensor, so I got to reinstall all the factory stuff, hopefully they'll get me some correct bolts so I can get it going.

Had the same problem, buttons for MAF were #10, not #8. Just went to Depot and picked up some #8s.

 

[Sasuketr]

Had the same problem, buttons for MAF were #10, not #8. Just went to Depot and picked up some #8s.

The factory screws are longer i wonder if that cause any issues? Have you tried using the factory screws for MAF?

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