First, is their any major performance differences between the mustang tuning cold air induction and say mac..except $90.00? And is it better to run shorty headers vs. long tube?

Thanks

 

intake..i think that the JLT Ram Air Intake is where its at....

as for headers....longtubes are best for performance gains but shorties are easier to install....

im sure more will chime in to this too

 

Dont get any intake that is metal.....Get a JLT intake.

 

LT's are better for performance!!

I have the K&N FIPK and love it.

 

Exactly, Im pretty sure MACs intake is aluminum which actually makes you lose HP, its robs the engine from keeping the air in. Like the others make SURE you get a plastic intake such as JLT, because even though aluminum looks nice, its about the performance after all isn't it?

As for headers, shorties headers are COMPLETELY worthless on our 2V motors. 3-4 dyno proven hp from shorties, whereas some LTs are making 18 rwhp alone.

You are wasting your time, money and energy with shorties. LTs or forget about it.

And BTW, NO headers are easy to install.

 

I heard alot about the bend in the inlet pipe leading to the throttle body. Is it true that this can really mess up your a/f ratio, and how bad is the bend on the c&l pipe? Also the c&l pipe isnt plastic, how much will this heat up?http://www.cnlperformance.com/inlet.html

 

it's absolutely true but it has nothing to do with bends before the TB, it's the bend before the MAF that's the issue. Not everyone has the problem in any pronounced form but it's just plain bad politics to put a bend within reach of your MAF. You'll get inconsistent readings from it and the car won't act right all the time...even if you don't notice, it will and you could damage the engine if you start romping on it too hard without knowing what kind of signal you're getting from the MAF.

I've had the C&L and Steeda CAI and ABS CAI's and CF CAI's and done temp tests on all of them. After a good long drive on a warm day you can feel the performance difference with any metal inlet pipe. the C&L inlet pipe just soaks up a lot of heat and it's got an inordinately curvy path which is bad for flow. If you insulate it with some heat reflective tape or kevlar wrap it's a lot better but in general I don't like metal inlet tubes for NA cars. Steeda's CAI isn't too bad on the heat soak but it still does heat up a bit. ABS and CF CAI's vary. CF has almost no heat soak in my experience. In general CF and ABS plastic are poor conductors of heat so they're usually one of the better options.

bothering with anything but LT headers on a NA car is just like giving away 500 bucks plus install. Until you get forced induction/nitrous you won't benefit much at all from shorties.

And meebix is correct... there is no such thing as an easy header install on a 4.6 Mustang until you toss in a tubular K-member.. and then it's not so much easy as just less than the ultimate PITA.