I've attached a pic of 'Needswings' air intake for the N/A Crossfire.
From the earlier thread, I can remember the following questions...
1. Cost? (similar to SRT6?)
2. What is the hose/pipe for? (if you look at 'RPM's pics. you can see it dropping down just after the first elbow?)
3. When will it be ready? (2/3 weeks?)
4. Gains? (running on dyno soon?)

From what Needswings has mentioned to me...
There may be a group buy (pleeease!!)
It's already tried and tested with oodles of knowledge from people who know!

 

Guess I will post my opinion too for others to read.

I didn't have as much involvement as Apkano (steve) in the development of this, but I did let Rob from Needswings take a look at my car.

Rob is a very educated man. He knows what he is doing and is very professional about it. He took the utmost care of my car, probably better then his own. No complaints and I have no doubts about their product whatsoever.

 

Pics of intake on apkano's car:
Attachment 7651

Attachment 7652

 

I see someone already got the ball rolling...thank you spensley!

Let's see...First off, everything nox1s said is very true. NeedsWings is more than professional in what he does. This is reflected in the product you receive. Every precaution was taken when he worked on my car, and I was asked if it was ok before anything was done, every step of the way. This intake wasn't slapped together in a couple of days. The manufacture of this part is top notch, solid materials, good bends, and beautiful welds (I should know...I'm a welding/robotics consultant!). Rob has a considerable amount of time, money, and development invested in this intake!

Once again...the good stuff. There's been no dyno run (yet), multiple people involved, and we all have schedules. I can say, from the calibrated butt sensor, that there definitely feels like a difference! The car seems to pull a good deal harder now...especially above 2,800 rpm. Flooring the throttle in 4th gear at 80 MPH definitely puts a smile on my face! Throttle response seems to be improved as well, not surprising when you compare the path of incoming air now to the stock airbox. A few days ago, we had a couple of inches of snow so everyone was driving like grandma in Florida, that is to say very very slow! I figured it was a good time to test the temperature of the intake. I drove in 1st and 2nd gear most of the way to work, never exceeding 30 MPH. High rev + slow speed = underhood heat! The temp of the intake was in the 90 degree area at it's hottest point...everywhere else was in the 190+ degree area. This was measured with a Fluke IR thermometer, the same one we use at work to measure the temperature of tooling and welds, a very accurate device.

The other big improvement is the sound. Much like the SRT6 intake from NeedsWings, you can really hear the engine suck up the air now! If you just snap the throttle now you can hear that big sucking sound. All through the rev range the car sounds healthier, I've become very attuned to the way my car sounds because I have 25000 miles on her and I rarely listen to the radio. Now, I can probably rip the radio out and save a couple of pounds.

Overall, this is a very impressive product. If anyone asks for my opinion I'd definitely recommend it!

 

Apkano,
Nice write up. I think I will be getting this set up on my 04 this spring.
Is it easy to install ??

 

It goes on pretty easy. Though I haven't put it on...NeedsWings always has!

I think the toughest part is getting the stock parts off.

Everything is a direct bolt on, you can put everything back to bone stock if you want. No cutting, chopping, or mutilation of stock parts!

It's very much one of those things where you want to take your time, and make sure everything is right. I have quite a few miles with it and haven't had any adverse affects. It fits pretty low in the engine bay, plenty of hood clearance, and when installed correctly it doesn't interfere with anything, or rattle at all. Good clearance all the way around.

 

For all you manual trans guys...tooling around in 4th gear at 2,500 RPM on a 45 MPH road is a lot more fun now...I look forward to those people who cut you off at the last second so they can make a left turn in front of you!

The look from the guy in the 'Stang was priceless! He even told me I was number one!

 

I think Needswings says it's about a 2 beer task (15 mins)!!!
He obviously has all the right tools.
I think using a kitchen knife instead of screwdrivers, pliers instead of wrenches, I can make it last a 12-pack!!!

 

Correct, Needwsings said it probably will take around an hour to install yourself, but they know it like the back of their hand so it takes them ~ 15 minutes.

 

2 beers thats like 3 minutes wow! lol the other thing i remember was i asked about the filter size as it looks small in the first pic, needswings replied that it is the exact same filter that is used on the srt 6 and it flows 900cfm which is way more than any of us require. oh and i commented that it was a very nice looking piece of equipment!

 

when will they have the horsepower gains up?

 

Thats so pretty! you wont even miss the engine cover!

 

Personally......when I open a hood I'd rather see an engine.........not a giant piece of plastic.

But that's just me though!

 

agreed and pretty bits of speed parts!

 

Apkano, you should now be able to fly right over the top of the potholes !

 

1. same as our srt6 intake, it will cost us more to produce due to the extra materials/flange but im hoping this will be offset due to the much higher number or na xfires versus srt6's
2. im not sure which you are referring to? the valve cover recirculation hose?
3. as soon as we get dyno numbers ill open the initial group buy, i already have 20 tubes being bent now so those should be ready this comming week.
4. comming soon

 

if you can change your own oil you can install this without any issues, or if you want to swing by we will install it for free. we can rip thru a bunch of xfires in the parking lot for the hotel for the dream cruise as were about 15 miles away.

 

yes im sure you could make it last, "honey, ill stop drinking when im done intalling this"

 

im sending off some spare valve covers to be powdercoated to match the intake so the motor can be pretty without the cover

 

still needs wings to be able to lift off