I would first like to express my excitement for my first performance mod additions that I will be purchasing once I make my final commitment.

Second, I'd like your opinions on these products. I know about 70% of this forum uses ALTA as their modifications supplier, and would like to compare them to other companies.

First up: 15% S/C Pullies
ALTA vs. Madness

The Madness claims to be made of aircraft quality aluminum, whatever that means. Heh. Does either S/C Pulley perform better and/or last longer than the other?

Also, is there any other mod I should get to compliment the Pulley? Sparks? Belt?

Next up: CAI
ALTA vs. Madness vs. Promini

Alta - supposedly the loudest and highest hp gain. Optional air box top. Should I purchase the box top? I would think that would limit air... Or does it prevent air from getting away? Foam filter. A plus.

Madness - Lifetime warranty. Very appealing. Paper filter.

Promini - $170 thru their website. Nice price. Sleak appearance. Enclosed design; again, is that good?

Thanks for everything guys!

 

Aircraft quality - it's rated to fly apart. Its just marketing.

You can go with colder plugs (I didn't) but make SURE you torque them - there are multiple instances of aftermarket plugs jettisoning.
With a 15% you don't need a new belt, but depending on age it might be time to change it.

Box tops are about keeping warm/hot engine air out of the intake.

 

Pulley material, whether it's steel, aluminum, or titanium, doesn't affect how accurately they can be machined or balanced. As for the weight, the difference is pretty negligible, considering that the belt has to spin the entire pulley/supercharger shaft/water pump assembly, not just the pulley.

 

Okay. So pretty much, doesn't matter for pulley.

But for CAI, the ALTA and Promini come with enclosures, whereas the Madness does not? I need help here. I hear good things about the ALTA, the Madness seems to be overpriced (for no enclosure and for being paper filter), and the Promini seems to put out bigger hp/tq gains.

edit: buuuut... The ALTA seems to be the only one that comes with the tube...

 

I think one problem is that you are getting caught up too much in marketing. HP/torque gains are not going to be any more than about 1 to 2 hp off of a CAI filter and that is about it. Extra gizmos like tubes and pretty boxes are marketing as well to be honest.

Bottom line is that all the products mentioned do well and the choice is what you want. Same goes with the pulley....

FWIW, I have the Madness CAI and love it. I get a nice thoaty growl and love the sound of the woosh I get when I shift. Fitler is a great quality and easily cleanable.

 

CAI are for sound and smoothing out throttle responce only. Anything more gained is negligible. Also, never having to replace a paper filter again is a pluss, even if cleaning/oiling a foam one can be messy.

Torquing new spark plugs is a must. It might seem like you are turning them more than you might be used to, but these engines run boost. As stated above, they could blow out if not torqued.

 

Mkay then. Well what about the hose? ALTA claims to have a straighter hose than the factory one is.

 

Marketing...

 

Welp. I got an intake. And got it installed. $76 was the final total on all the parts. Went to Shucks and bought an intake kit and coupler by Spectre. Came with 10 year/100,000 mile warranty. Not as good as K&N's but ah well. It's also cotton fiber, so I can clean it.

I think it's a pretty good setup, overall. Dunno if not having it enclosed will dumb the power down a bit or not. Any comments?

As far as sound and performance goes, I can definitely notice some more pull, especially above 3000rpm. The sound is also pretty dang mean.

BTW, the pic was before any cleanup, so you'll see some fingerprints. Heh.

 

OK, nice looking, but right off the bat you're going to have heat problems. What you have is an HAI,not a CAI. You have nothing in place to keep the hot engine compartment air out of the intake. Yours will work, just not as well as a sealed box. You don't mention it, but did you alter the firewall baffle to allow air to enter from the cowl? If not, go do so . Now. Otherwise you'll be sucking hot air only, and performance will suffer greatly.
My suggestion? Sell the Schucks parts to a local ricer and buy an engineered system. More money, but it will do what it is supposed to; namely, make more power and make you happy.

Just my 2 cents.

 

I could build a box around it, maybe. Sigh. Dunno. Just don't like how expensive everything is for this car, when it does the same thing as others do for other cars.

edit: How about purchasing a foam slip cover for the filter and getting heat wrap for the piping?
Also, I need to find out how to get the box out...

 

If you want to get into modding, you have to be willing to pay.

I recommend getting the Bentley service manual. found here.

That thing has everything in it.

 

So he has a hot air intake, big deal. The engine is breathing better which solves the main issue with the stock air box. If he gets creative he could put a box around what he has now and build his own CAI for around $80.

 

Tell me how.

I have a topic on it here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=119691

Or PM me.