It's Christmas eve and look how many of us are posting. Not sure what to make of this. Anyway, went to work this morning for three hours, then gave Petunia a bath and wax. While doing so my Christmas present to myself, a certain CAI from Needwings, arrived. So I'd thought I'd post my observations and experiences on installing the CAI.

So on to my notes:

First off, the intake kit was beautifully packed - a steamroller would have had to run over the package in order to damage the parts inside. The kit was complete with all required hoses and clamps and even a CD with installation instructions. It even had a license plate frame included - nice touch!.

Minimal tools required - 8, 10 and 11 mm deep sockets or wrenches, and an additional 10 mm wrench (a 7/16ths wrench substitutes nicely). Also a medium flat blade screwdriver, a towel, and for me, a hammer and long marlin spike. You will also need Adobe Reader 8.1.1 to view the CD. Lots of sites offer a free download. Just remember - Google is your friend.

This is rather obvious but open the hood the full 90 degrees.

My valve cover breather hose was already disconnected from the intake. Not happy about this. My grill was also broken - the far passenger side mounting tab was broken under the attaching screw. More unhappiness. I found a large enough washer to go under the screw head and reach over to the unbroken portion of the tab. Even painted the washer black so it wouldn't be as noticable.

My throttle body connection came off easily once I unlatched the upper clip. Not sure if the throttle body connection lower clip naturally releases after the upper clip is unlatched or if the lower clip was even latched in the first place. After what I've seen so far I'm beginning to wonder....... At any rate unlatching the lower clip will be a challenge so do the upper one first and then see if your throttle body connection can be rotated off without unlatching the lower clip.

The grill is easily removed - remove the 4 screws at the top, pull the grill forward, and then reach behind the grill and lift up on each of the 4 locking tabs at the bottom and pull the grill off.

Remove the passenger side horn from it's attaching bracket and remove the bracket also. My passenger horn wiring was routed in front of the main vertical bracket, not behind as shown in the instructions. This meant that I had to unplug the wires from the driver's side horn to be able to route the wire bundle over to the driver's side. This will make sense when you look at how the horns are wired. Remove the driver's side horn from it's bracket and the bracket itself. Needwings provides two brackets, one with two holes in it and the other with threes holes. Attach the longer three hole bracket where the driver's horn bracket was mounted. Attach the two horns to the bracket. The three holes in this bracket are not equally spaced but you should be able to figure out which end goes where. Don't forget to install the wires back onto the horns. I also tie-wrapped the wire bundle together where it folds back on itself between the horns.

The radiator pass through piece is fastened in place with two pins as shown in the instructions. The vertically mounted pin in front can be pried off with a large screwdriver. The horizontally mounted pin on the radiator support bracket is far more challenging to remove. I resorted to knocking it out with a marlin spike boldly embossed with a warning not to use it as a punch. So much for heeding warnings. Unfortunately the pin popped loose and fell down under the radiator. It eventually wound up on the floor but to save yourself some grief put a piece of tape over the front of it so it won't go flying away.
The pass through piece was a little difficult to pull out. Pretty much lever it sideways towards the driver's side and then pull it up and out. There is a nutplate (for the grill) above the piece and this nutplate can be pried off to provide a speck more clearance for removing the pass through piece.

When reattaching the power steering cooling line with the Needwings bracket (the shorter bracket with two holes in it), push the line back towards the radiator as far as possible. You are trying to make as much room as possible for the K&N filter. When attaching the bracket to the cooling line, use the wrench on the bolt head and the socket on the nut. Don't forget to re-install the screw on the attaching bracket on the driver's side.

Put the towel on the bumper before installing the elbow fitting. Push the elbow fitting as far as possible onto the hose else it may stick out to far and interfere with re-installation of the grill. Also position the clamp as shown in the instructions otherwise the clamp will hit up against the radiator support.

As noted in the instruction, use a towel to cover the passenger side heat shield and also cover the fender with a towel or something similar. I spent quite a bit of time bent over the fender and there was a real possibility of scratching it if it wasn't protected.

The 90 degree coupler gave me all sorts of grief. It was just small enough that it would not slip over the throttle body with any kind of ease. About three quarters of it would fit on and I had to use a scribe to pry up the remaining quarter edge to get it on. I positioned it as best as I could and then clamped the coupler down so it would not pop off when installing the rest of the intake.

I did not attach the end of the 27 in breather hose until after everything else was installed in case the hose needed to be trimmed. I did eventually cut off an inch and a half before installing the hose on the valve cover. I routed the hose low and behind a wire bundle coming off the fire wall so the hose would not press up against the bundle. I then routed the hose over another hose and between the driver's side heat shield and a gray vertical cable (as shown in the instructions). I also tie-wrapped the hose to a lifting eyelet (this is something that doesn't really need to be done - I just did it out of habit from tie-wrapping hoses and cables on aircraft engines).

The elbow fitting the filter was installed on needed to be rotated around a little until the filter was positioned where it would not interfere with the grill.

I could not find the extra piece of felt to cushion the intake from the coil packs so I tie-wrapped a cut up piece of hose to the intake to act as a cushion. It's not pretty but it works.

Gave the horns a toot just to make sure they were working.

Went for a test drive but traffic prevented any good runs. The engine sounds more authorative, the pickup and throttle response seems better, and the supercharger does seem to pull more strongly once revved up. Further testing is definitely needed!

Things to do still: Inspect the system to make sure nothing has come loose. Replace the cushioning hose piece tie-wraps with clamps - same effect but it will just look better.

Areas of concerns: The intake 90 degree coupling is under a lot of tension, at least in my setup. I spent maybe an hour fiddling with it and still am not real satisfied with the outcome. This is one area that I think needs to be looked at. Maybe have one end of the coupling longer, or redo the angle of the mating end of the intake, or maybe make the intake straight and use two 90 couplings. I'm just concerned that with the tension the coupling is under that it could slip off the throttle body.

Another area that I'm not really satisfied with is with the filter and grill. My filter is up against the power steering cooling line and the grill. Needwings did a good job in fitting the filter in considering the space available but I'm just leary of the contact since I've seen too much damage from this kind of contact in regards to planes. I think I'll grind away the back of the grill for additional clearance, and pull the filter forward a tad to clear the power steering line.

Last area of concern is the two horns on one bracket. On a plane that bracket would be guaranteed to break from the extra weight. On the car this setup is probably just fine but for my own peace of mind I think I'll rig up a support for the bracket.

Good job, Rob. Wouldn't hesitate from buying further products from Needwings.

As always, this post has not been run through a spell checker.

 

What a review ! Thanks Brent. I wish everyone who posted comments and criticisms would write like this. Here is an excellent review of a new product with fair minded criticisms without being disrespectful and giving us all a lot of information about this wonderful product. I only hope Needwings can take such a review and improve on an already excellent product. Thanks to both Brent and Needwings.

 

very nice and very accurate review! I did get to beat on the car a little this morning and all I have to say is WOW!! Big difference in basically every aspect. Throttle response is way better now and I can say that its the first time i spun 3rd!! NICE!

 

Thanks guys for the comments. I rather like the term critique over criticisms because it sounds more friendly to me. My concerns over the intake was taken from an aviation point of view. The intake is just fine when evaluated from an automotive point of view.

Checked the setup after a run and everything is nice and tight so that eased my concerns about the coupling. I still want to grind the grill out for more clearance though.

I experienced only a little better throttle response but that may be because I feather the throttle in the interest of better gas mileage and ticket avoidance. Will have to check the difference when mashing the gas pedal. Should be fun. The car definitely pulls harder with the supercharger all wound up. I use to blast up a hill next to my home. Now I can BLAST up the same hill.

Now I'm just twiddling my thumbs waiting on some pulleys......

 

Thank you for the time you spent on the writeup, it is appreciated

First off, the intake kit was beautifully packed - a steamroller would have had to run over the package in order to damage the parts inside. The kit was complete with all required hoses and clamps and even a CD with installation instructions. It even had a license plate frame included - nice touch!.



My throttle body connection came off easily once I unlatched the upper clip. Not sure if the throttle body connection lower clip naturally releases after the upper clip is unlatched or if the lower clip was even latched in the first place. After what I've seen so far I'm beginning to wonder....... At any rate unlatching the lower clip will be a challenge so do the upper one first and then see if your throttle body connection can be rotated off without unlatching the lower clip.

Yes, once the top clip and the 4 valve cover grommet clips are loose you can tilt the entire assemble towards the hood and it will slip off the bottom of the TB, ill add it to the instructions.


Remove the passenger side horn from it's attaching bracket and remove the bracket also. My passenger horn wiring was routed in front of the main vertical bracket, not behind as shown in the instructions. This meant that I had to unplug the wires from the driver's side horn to be able to route the wire bundle over to the driver's side. This will make sense when you look at how the horns are wired. Remove the driver's side horn from it's bracket and the bracket itself. Needwings provides two brackets, one with two holes in it and the other with threes holes. Attach the longer three hole bracket where the driver's horn bracket was mounted. Attach the two horns to the bracket. The three holes in this bracket are not equally spaced but you should be able to figure out which end goes where. Don't forget to install the wires back onto the horns. I also tie-wrapped the wire bundle together where it folds back on itself between the horns.

Yes we installed another one tonight, I needed to unclip the 2 terminals on the driver side horn and reattach them once the horn was relocated, the xmas clip needed to be pushed thru from the frame to get the extra wire length. Ill touch up the instructions here aswell.

The radiator pass through piece is fastened in place with two pins as shown in the instructions. The vertically mounted pin in front can be pried off with a large screwdriver. The horizontally mounted pin on the radiator support bracket is far more challenging to remove. I resorted to knocking it out with a marlin spike boldly embossed with a warning not to use it as a punch. So much for heeding warnings. Unfortunately the pin popped loose and fell down under the radiator. It eventually wound up on the floor but to save yourself some grief put a piece of tape over the front of it so it won't go flying away.

Yes that pin in the back and getting the plastic piece out of the hardest part, the clips are a push thru type thru the center, we used a small phillips head tonight and popped it out for the back one and a pair of side cutters to pry out the front one (did not have to cut it off)

The pass through piece was a little difficult to pull out. Pretty much lever it sideways towards the driver's side and then pull it up and out. There is a nutplate (for the grill) above the piece and this nutplate can be pried off to provide a speck more clearance for removing the pass through piece.

The one we did tonight came out very easily, mine was little more difficult, just basically wiggle it clockwise (if you were looking down at it) with some upward pressure and it works it way out, i should have made a vid clip of it, i will next time i do one


The 90 degree coupler gave me all sorts of grief. It was just small enough that it would not slip over the throttle body with any kind of ease. About three quarters of it would fit on and I had to use a scribe to pry up the remaining quarter edge to get it on. I positioned it as best as I could and then clamped the coupler down so it would not pop off when installing the rest of the intake.

yes i agree it is tight and takes a minute to get it on, easiest way for me was to put my hand inside the 90 degree coupler while standing on the pass side of the car and just opened my fingers from the inside and it goes right on, we took it on off 3 times tonight and there was a few fumbles and abkano laughing at me but i bet i got it on everytime within 45 seconds. i went thru 6 different brands of silicone couplers before we found this one, all the others were either too tight or too loose, I dig the size and flexibility of that coupler very much, just barely loose enough to be able to spin it once on the throttle body for adjustment

I could not find the extra piece of felt to cushion the intake from the coil packs so I tie-wrapped a cut up piece of hose to the intake to act as a cushion. It's not pretty but it works.

Sorry it should have been in the goody box, ill drop some in the mail for you tomorrow

Went for a test drive but traffic prevented any good runs. The engine sounds more authorative, the pickup and throttle response seems better, and the supercharger does seem to pull more strongly once revved up. Further testing is definitely needed!

take that beast for a ride

Things to do still: Inspect the system to make sure nothing has come loose. Replace the cushioning hose piece tie-wraps with clamps - same effect but it will just look better.

Areas of concerns: The intake 90 degree coupling is under a lot of tension, at least in my setup. I spent maybe an hour fiddling with it and still am not real satisfied with the outcome. This is one area that I think needs to be looked at. Maybe have one end of the coupling longer, or redo the angle of the mating end of the intake, or maybe make the intake straight and use two 90 couplings. I'm just concerned that with the tension the coupling is under that it could slip off the throttle body.

Email me some pictures when you get a chance of the connection angles and lets see whats up

Another area that I'm not really satisfied with is with the filter and grill. My filter is up against the power steering cooling line and the grill. Needwings did a good job in fitting the filter in considering the space available but I'm just leary of the contact since I've seen too much damage from this kind of contact in regards to planes. I think I'll grind away the back of the grill for additional clearance, and pull the filter forward a tad to clear the power steering line.

Can you feel thru and see how much clearance ya got, I could slide my fingers all the way around the one we installed tonight, let me know where you think it may be too close please, the filter size can be adjusted but I didn’t want to go too dinky looking, we may be able to swap in a thinner longer filter, ill have to break out the big k&n book and see what we can try for ya.

Last area of concern is the two horns on one bracket. On a plane that bracket would be guaranteed to break from the extra weight. On the car this setup is probably just fine but for my own peace of mind I think I'll rig up a support for the bracket.

Sure, ill have to look when back under there if there is another mounting point for the bracket

Good job, Rob. Wouldn't hesitate from buying further products from Needwings.

Thank you and thank you for the indepth writeup, I love getting feedback like this, the usual... “hey sweet part, thanks” is always fun but that doesn’t make any improvements. I wish everyone did critiques. ill tweak the instructions on what I missed and do the research on that stuff I mentioned above.

 

"Now I'm just twiddling my thumbs waiting on some pulleys......"

as are we, im ready to take a stab at the ET/MPH record, im still waiitng for the word that there on their way

 

"I still want to grind the grill out for more clearance though."

whoa, dont destroy your grill, lemme order you up a different filter to try for us please.

 

why are the pullues for this car so expensive?

 

Hi Rob,

Thanks for your ongoing attention to your intake. I'm content to use the supplied air filter but if you really want to use me as a guinea pig then I'm happy to help out. I'll check my fiter installation to find out where exactly it's hitting at. I may be mistaken about the filter hitting on the cooling line(thought I felt it bump up against the line) but my grill is definitely pressing up against the filter. By the way, my kit had five large band clamps and I'm assuming that one was for attaching the air filter. But the K&N filter came with a clamp so a fifth clamp from you is not needed.

My horn wiring was actually tie-wrapped to the front vertical bracket, not clipped to the rear one so there is going to be some variation in the wiring from car to car. I think the instructions don't have to be too elaborate here since if an installer is at this point said installer should be able to figure out what to do with the wiring.

My concern over the horn mounting is that if the bracket bounces up and down enough then it will break. The situation is compounded with only having one attachment point for the bracket. I'm trying to visualize the area here and I'm thinking that a support running from the right side cooling line clamping screw to the end of the bracket would work since this would prevent the bracket from moving up and down. Conversly a thicker gage bracket would also work but you would still be stuck with one attachment point. As previously noted the horn setup would absolutely not work on an airplane, but will probably be OK with our cars.

My pass through piece was hard to wiggle out but then my front bumper has been removed for painting so it's possible that a slight misalignment after the bumper was reinstalled caused my problems.

My coupling was an absolute bear to install. I also did the hand in the hole trick but could not get it on until I used a scribe. Once installed I could not get it to rotate and if I left it loose then pressure from the intake popped it off. However, my supercharger was replaced so it's possible that the throttle body connection is a tad larger on the new supercharger. I can see where choosing a coupling is difficult - one too stiff leads to installation problems and one too flexible would allow the whole intake assy to bounce around too much. One thing I forgot to mention in my review is the use of lubricant on the intake and throttle body. I use Dow Corning #4 alot on planes and see no reason why it wouldn't work here either. Unless of course you do know of a reason.

I have my camera charging up right now and will get some pictures for you tomorrow. Again, thanks for outstanding product support.

 

the clamp that k&n supplies is not as good of quality as the 5 clamps i send with the kit, if you overtighten the k&n clamp it will strip out so the 5th clamp i sent is for a spare. i didnt want to have ti break the seal ont he new filter to pull that clamp out, ill make a note of it in the install file.

ya ill check the horn bracket out once we swap the intakes again on the dyno later this week on a na car

Dow Corning #4 - sorry im not familiar with that stuff, you could use a little bit of saliva on the inside of the coupler if you wanted to as it will dry up after a short period of time, do not use any wd40 or the like lubricants or it will remain slippery after install.

 

the first batch of pulleys just arrived, Distantpulse, crossbowme, and hawksview look for tracking numbers monday, the rest should follow shortly

 

Woo hoooooo!!! It's gonna haaaaaaaaappeeeeeeen!

 

thanks for the update.

 

Iam interested, keep me informed please,Woody

 

i held off the shipment yesterday, we installed ours to do the how-to and decided that most of you guys wouldnt have the special inverterted torq socket so im going to try and pick up 16 of those sockets to include for you guys (i do have new oil filters for you guys already to be thrown in), all the tool stores are closed today (just got done calling a dozen of them) so it will most likely be tomorrow, sorry for the delay i just want to make sure this is an easy install for everyone, btw, we got the pulleys on in less then an hour, it is a very easy install. the roads were starting to get snowed on yesterday but the few dry spots i went across there is a huge noticable difference with the pulleys, no way could you ever say "i don't know if i feel a difference"

 

I cant wait............I guess I can,.......car in storage. I heard there was a special tool you could get from MB. Are you going to be sending some instructions on to put it on? Thanx again...

 

Put me on the next list for the pulley. I just bought the car but can see this being ok next month.

 

Do you plan on getting an ECU tune rob to go along with the pulleys?

 

Now that is excellent customer service.
Can't wait to do mine this spring.

 

Rob,

Any update on the next shipment of pulleys?

Thanks,
SQ