Is it just me or does anybody else think people are ruining a work of art under the hood by removing the OEM air boxes and adding all these CAI tube's or pipe's? These cars already have CAI that can be improved a little and still keep it looking OEM under the hood. Man, I think the engine's are just butt ugly when people pull off the air boxes and add these aftermarket or home made tube's. One of the first things I thought when I opened the hood of a Crossfire was daym, that engine looks so cool. For a regular Xfire or an SRT6. I guess I'd better get my flame retardant suit out after submitting this.

 

I like them better stock. But I don't mind looking at what others have tried. I might do it if someone could come up with a lot more horse power and better looks.

 

i would rather show people my tail lights than stop and pop the hood open.

 

I've not had my car to a track yet and all I have to gauge mod's that I've done is a G-tech meter. But I would just about be willing to take a bet that anyone with one of these home made tube's or pipes would not beat me by no more than 0.1 or 0.2 seconds in the 1/4 if they did beat me. And another factor in me putting my car against someone else's car with one of these tube's would be the size of a pulley upgrade, I don't know how much bigger some of the after market pulley's are than my Renntech pulley. And as far as popping the hood, I've had quite a few people ask me to pop my hood to see what's under there .

 

Form memory, haven;t you done the SL55 Y pipes like me ? I don't recon most of the other mods on the Air intake system will perform noticable better than this anyway. Once "on the go" you are forcing air into the system anyway, so the air filters are probably the main restriction then and I have K&N's fitted in the Stock boxes. I too prefer the Stock look and when I go for a servie, I will swap the Y pipe over in about 10 mins before it goes in. Along with running 99 ron petrol (UK) I recon this set up gives a nice improvement over standard......Also the sprint booster makes it far more exciting to drive.

Si

 

Yes, I did put the SL55 hose's & "Y" on mine, but it still looks OEM and it did drop my 1/4 time on a G-tech 0.4 seconds and gained about 3 or 4 MPH. But that did also include removing the resonator too. On my G-tech I'm doing a 12.3 in the 115's in the 1/4. I just don't like it when people take a piece of art and make it butt ugly for just a possable gain of around 0.1 to 0.3 seconds in a 1/4 mile run.

 

Steve,
Choice in pulleys right now is 178 Renntech/API/LET or 181 LET and 185 LET. A member up here is playing with a larger pulley of 191 I think. After 181, you need to start making additional changes for fueling and heat concerns. I think stock engine bays looks best, but fast is important on the street. Also which set up yields more is hard to determine. Dyno's and locations all effect results, so without before and afters on the same car it is hard to have comparable results.

 

When I bought my Renntech kit I did question them a lot because it was a lot of $$ and I didn't want to do anything that could screw up my car. They told me that their kit basiclly pushed the car up to the limit's of what was safe for the engine. If you are out on the streets playing with another car that 0.1 to 0.3 in a 1/4 isn't going to make that much of a difference. But that's just my opinion, I know looks ain't everything, but a couple hundredth's of a second isn't either.

 

LET has been doing alot with the mercedes SLK32 which is same engine. Erick of LET is a great guy and honest. The 181 pulley is safe and so is the 185. The 185 just puts the fueling system at it's limit right now with available programming,the 185 is entering new territory. I am sure Renntech is correct with the comment on the 178 being safe but are wrong with the engine being at it's safe limit. Renntech only has this set-up so they tell you what they need to to make a sale. 1500 in parts and 1500 for the name and badges. I don't mean this as an insult by any means but Renntech will attain nothing different then an API pully with say an In Motion tune. Renntech sells you the kit with a ECU reprogram. Renntech isn't dyno tuning for maximum gains so basically it's what I call a canned tune, same as In Motion. Now as far as a few tenths go.... well on pinks that could cost you your ride
As far as the car goes, my SRT will be going the route of 181. I'll more then likely do the SL55 y-pipe and intake tubes or go the whole SL55 set up like Brian Brave. I'll remove the ressonator and that will be it. More then likely I'll stick with stock engine bay looks because my son and I will hit a few car shows for fun. My true love is my 2006 Duramax Diesel with SCIII and EFI live

 

Ha, I won't be doing any pinks running. I might throw down $50 or $100 on a race though. And I too plan on hitting a few car shows next summer, I wanted to this past summer, but just never found the time.

 

Steve, NO PULLEY 12.4 1/4 mile and yes I do have a ( butt ugly ) intake. But I think the blower sitting there for all to see is a work of art.

P.S. Fellow hoosier, April US 41 Dragway, see you there, right

 

Yes, its just you.

But on a serious note...I personally like the look of the Needswings intake better. That big irrigation pipe running to the back of the engine tells me that's a performance setup. The stock system looks like a stock system, made for fuel economy, and aesthetics.

I also prefer the SOUND of a supercharger to the lack of sound you get from the stock setup.

Best of all worlds would be if the needswings intake was dual and went down both sides of the engine...but I can live with the one sided american muscle style intake. Having just gone from a 2004 Cobra with a JLT cold-air intake...the needswings intake looks "right" and "normal" to me because that's what I'm used to on a supercharged car.

 

I think the tube intake system has become "the thing" - a lot like carbon fiber hoods on a Japanese Imports - ugly but effective.

I say if it helps performance - and these cars are asthmatic - and looks are not important to you, then go for it. I priced a complete off-the-shelf, do it yourself systems at Kragen Auto Parts at $125 - why folks pay 4X that is beyond me.

I personally like the stock look and is why I went with a complete SL55 intake system. I still have a few cosmetic final touches to do - and with the package deal I got form LET, was not much more then a of-the-shelf tube intake from Kragen. Plus two tubes are better then one, and both my tubes are max size thru the radiator openings and those massive filter boxes really fill up the engine bay. I think the bay looks naked with just a tube and I would need to polish up the exposed aluminum. Take a look at detail work that Lantana did to his MB V8 engine. That’s sweet!!.

I found a performance shop in LA that will modify your stock pulley (you pull and send) to 178mm - same as ASP and provide you with the water pump and idler pulley plus a custom tune (send your ECU) for $1,150 - that’s probably the best deal yet.

But I like Erick at LET - he is extremely knowledgeable about these engines, is willing to work with you and he offers some nice packages. Can’t wait for the 185mm pulley and see how my baby pulls

 

It's not just you. I agree with you from an asthetics stand point. The factory Air-Boxes and Engine cover are very pretty. The only thing that makes them look better is to cut out the mesh part covering the supercharger and putting one SRT SIX's Engine plates on there.

As everyone knows, I have the NeedsWings Intake, and it isn't the most attractive setup I'll admit. The AMG engine with it's cloths off is a pretty ugly lump. However, I would rather have the performance in this case. The Intake itself looks very nice, and I have the Engine cover in place so it doesn't look too naked. For the power increase and SuperCharger sound, I had to do it.

 

[quote=bikecop]Steve, NO PULLEY 12.4 1/4 mile and yes I do have a ( butt ugly ) intake. But I think the blower sitting there for all to see is a work of art.

P.S. Fellow hoosier, April US 41 Dragway, see you there, right[/quote

I'm pretty sure I would get better times with a different launch technique, all of my runs on my G-tech have been just flooring it with the TC on. Anybody that has driven an SRT 6 should know that's not the way to launch. I do hope to get up to US 41 Dragway next summer even though it's 180 some mile drive for me, (about 5 hours). I think it would be pretty cool to get a bunch of forum members there at the same time.

 

Back when I bought my Renntech kit there was not as many choices as there are now. The choices were Renntech, Evosport & I think the other one was Kleeman or something like that.

 

The CAI units aren't pretty but I want power right now. If I get tired of looking at the engine then I will put everthing back on. No big deal, But it's probably a long way down the road though!

 

I don't think the NeedsWings CAI is ugly.
I really don't care if the engine is ugly or pretty. More power = good enough for me.

 

To each his own Steve. You should know this. Remember when everyone was razzing you for going with the Renntech ECU upgrade when Speed Innovations was so much cheaper with the same HP increase? I personally don't mind either way to be honest. I like race cars with the plumbing going all throughout the car like the Pro Street class in the PSCA. Seeing the cold air intake reminds me of that look.

The OEM intake is not a cold air intake, it is a ram air intake. Every newer car has a port to some cold air source. For example trucks have their airboxes feeding from the fender wheel, that doesn't make it a cold air does it? My fiancee's Miata had the same thing. That wasn't a cold air either.

I personally think fitting the V8 airboxes looks like a hack job because you have to cut and fabricate which makes it look handmade.

The Needswings intake is a high quality looking and performing piece. It is a one piece mandrel bent (no one else has this) pipe that fits the contour of the engine bay perfectly.

The air must be pretty thin where you live

 

I guess I should have said it different, Needswings intake is a nice looking peice of pipe. Is it considered a CAI? If it is, does just putting the air filter outside the engine bay make it a CAI? It's just that to use it you have to revel the ugly a$$ dull aluminum engine under the nicely designed air boxes. I really don't care if I have the fastest car, just one of the fastest is fine with me as long as it looks good too. I consider my car a show & go, not just a racing car.