i recentley bought a 2004 crossfire limited its a great car but as CAI's go im not looking to spend 5 to 8 hundred from needswings...i saw this sight blinglights.com sells a dual style CAI for 100 free shipping. to good to be true ? or any other sugesstions would be great

 

I did actually waste some money on this. It's not a great set up to be honest. There is nothing carbon fiber about it, and the cone filters are not of a good quality - you really do get what you pay for. The filters also sit within the engine bay, which means you'll effectively have a HAI - Hot Air Intake!

From everything I have read it is evident that the Needwings or TVT Design intakes are the way forward for serious gains.

I opted to make my own, there is a really good thread on this, search: How To: Building a Short Ram for about $150


I adapted mine so that the filter sat behind the front grill. Definite improvement to the stock intake.


For the price of the Blinglights intake, you are far better off either making your own CAI or going for the K&N panel filters, doing the grill mod and removing the plastic air ducts (not sure that is what they are really called) that sit on either side of the radiator. You will then have a nicer feed of cold air whilst retaining a relatively stock look.

Just my 2 pence.

Regards

AR

 

I would suggest replacing the stock engine cover with the MB C320 cover and BAM!, you've got cold air and larger air intake tubes and filters. You will also have to buy two reducing couplers that go from 3" to 2.75" if you plan on using the stock tubes that go from the engine cover to the grille area. I found a cover on Ebay for $125 recently. Shouldn't be too hard to find.

 

read the first reply.... that about sums it up

 

TomStratRT has a point! This is the set up I'm currently running, and it is probably more responsive than the single CAI I put together - that said I do have K&N's in the airbox and have run the pipes to sit right behind the grill.

It maybe a slightly more expensive option, depending how much you can source the engine cover for, but it's definately worth it - the cover looks pretty good too.

I can't recommend the K&N's enough though, I found the engine response improved dramatically from the stock filters in the MB box.

Whichever option you choose - happy modding

Regards

AR

 

thanks for the advice i apreciate it ill definitley be using the forum for future modding advice and i think ill be going with the mercedes engine cover

 

Tom stratRT did u mean C230? there are currently no listings for C320 engine cover on ebay...and what model years would work on the xfire?

 

2001 to 2005 Mercedes C320 engine cover (3.2L V6). When I picked mine up the Ebay ad had it listed as a C230 but I knew it was a C320 based on the picture of the item. This is what it should look like:



It's a two piece cover. You can't use the intake tubes as they aren't compatible with the Crossfire. But there's several ways of getting around that.