2011 Ford Mustang owners have been singing the songs of sweetness ever since the 3.7-liter 4v Ti-VCT V6 made its way onto the scene, bolstering the baseline pony car into the powerband which Mustang GT achieved just a few years ago. What’s more, the new Ford Mustang power plant pumps out the 305 horsepower figure along with a economical feat–31mpg on average! So, once a new Mustang V6 owner has had the keys for a while and the modification bug takes a bite..well, we all know what happens next! The aftermarket players help quench the thirst for more power by supplying a stream of performance-enhancing goodies.
The latest we caught wind of for the 2011 Mustang V6 is a BBK cold air intake kit, installed on a 2011 V6 by LateModelRestoration. Keep reading to check out their installation writeup and jump over to their page to check out all the play-by-play photography, guiding the way through the entire process!
Late Model Restoration CAI install on a 2011 Mustang V6
Well as some of you know, the new 2011 Ford Mustang V6 has been making some headlines with its new 3.7L 4V Ti-VCT V6 Engine with a stunning 305 horsepower rating from the Ford factory and a mind boggling 31 MPG. We were very curious to see how one of these cars stood up to the hype that came along with it, so what’s the best way to test the new car without buying one? How about renting one? That is exactly what we did. We picked up a white rental 2011 Mustang V6 automatic with all the options you could want for a full 4 day test drive! Here is a pic when we picked her up at the rental lot!
The 2011 V6 Mustang looked pretty good as it sat and we were very surprised at the engines performance as it was stock. We ran the V6 Pony pretty hard around town and out on some back roads to see just how far we could push the new 3.7L V6 platform. Surprisingly, we kinda fell in love with it. It met every expectation we asked of it and kept begging for more. Although the new motor may not look to impressive, once you get behind the wheel of one, we think you will change your mind….
Once we had tested our borrowed Mustang’s V6 for a day or so, we decided to install a BBK Cold Air Intake For The New Mustang 3.7L V6. As everyone knows BBK’s parts have always been simple to install and look great under the hood of any car, so we figured we couldn’t really go wrong with it (plus we stock hundreds of BBK parts everyday in our warehouse!). I grabbed a new cold air intake off the shelf and headed to the shop to get it installed and see just how simple it was. We started off by removing the factory air box from the throttle body by simply loosening the band clamp and unhooking the crank case vent tube hose from the intake tube by prying the clip up on the connection and pulling it off as seen in the picture….
Now you will need to unplug the mass air flow senor and remove the push pin that retains it to the air box. Once this is done simply move the harness out of the way until you get ready to reinstall the new cold air intake kit.
Once the air inlet is loosened, crank case vent tube is removed and the mass air harness is put aside, you will need to remove one 10MM bolt from the fender apron on the driver’s side of the engine compartment.
Now the fun part of pulling out the stock air box, and simple enough, all you have to do is pull the inlet tube off the throttle body and then pull straight up on the air box. When you do this, watch the underside of the air box, there are 2 grommets that fit into the fender you will need to reuse on the BBK Cold Air Intake Kit. Note: If your Mustang is an automatic like ours was, you will have to remove an extra this vacuum hose off the inlet tube that is located right next to the crank case tube. It simply slides off with no clips or connections to be removed.
Once you pull the air box out, you will need to remove your factory mass air sensor that it located on the inlet tube. It is attached with 2 torx bit screws, so you will need to have a set of small torx bits to remove it. Once you remove the mass air sensor, simply drop the sensor in to your new BBK inlet tube and attach with the supplied hardware.
After installing the mass air sensor into the new BBK inlet tube, you will need to take the new BBK air box housing and install the 2 aluminum placement pins in the bottom of it with the supplied hardware. Also install the two rubber grommets from the bottom of your stock air box on to the placement pins at this time.
Now you will need to install the new BBK Air Box into the engine compartment. First you will need to remove the original air inlet tube from your Mustang, that is next to the radiator. To remove this, lift up and pull forwards towards the engine. It should simply pop out of the retaining clips.
Now you will need to loosen the upper radiator bracket enough to slide the front of the air box underneath it. The rest of the air box pushes into the factory holes, using the factory grommets. Also reinstall the 10MM bolt on to the side of the fender apron to secure the new air box. Once the air box is in place, make sure to tighten your radiator bracket down.
Now that the air box is installed, it is time to install the inlet tube and the air filter. Install the inlet tube to the throttle body with the supplied coupler. Make sure you tighten the band clamps to ensure a leak free seal. Next, go ahead and slide the BBK High Flow Air Filter on to the end of the inlet inside the air box.
After getting the BBK Cold Air Intake installed, you will need to plug in the mass air sensor, the crank case ventilation tube and if your car is an automatic like ours, reinstall the vacuum line on to the inlet tube.
Once all three of these are plugged back in, you are ready to go! BBK designed this intake for the New Mustang 3.7L V6 to utilize the car’s stock tune, so no custom tune is required and you are ready to hit the streets.
All in all, the BBK Cold Air Intake for the new Ford Mustang 3.7L V6 is an awesome quality part, that looks great and adds a significant amount of power and throttle response to the new V6 platform. This install only takes about 30 minutes from start to finish and you definitely will not be disappointed with the results. Although we weren’t able to get any actual dyno numbers, a test drive alone with the new intake system gives a noticeable difference in overall performance and the “whooshing” sound under the hood sounds cool too! For the price and quality, if your looking for an aftermarket cold air intake for your new Ford Mustang 3.7L V6,with a great price, this cool air intake system should be at the top of your list!
Source: LateModelRestoration
I had a chance to ride in a manual 2011 V6 Mustang with the BBK CAI. It looks and sounds great and It definitely felt quick. I’m curious as to how well it would respond to a tune.