Hi, been about oh 4yrs since ive owned a mustang (90 2.3) and have been the proud owner of a 2002 3.8 for about 4 days now. My goals with this car aren`t 13 second quarter miles or anything, my first goal is a good handling, and something i can drive anywhere. But i`ll add power where i can as my budget dictates. Made my list of mantinance stuff the car needs, air filter is on the list. Looking at the stock air intake track, it looks pretty efficent. Its not a convoluted path, air filter is right next to the fender, the filter is conical, the intake tract is plastic so i should isolate heat better then a metal eBay CAI. I didn`t really get into it, but my old 2.3 had a intake resonator in there i removed and added some ducting to the fender on a modified air filter box for a little more flow. Is there a resonator in the 3.8`s intake tract as well. Long story short, wouldn`t a slightly modified stock intake tract with a drop in k&n be just as good, or nearly as good as a aftermarket CAI for a fraction of the price. Thanks for your time.
a CAI will maybe add 2 or 3 ponies, nothing major....because it makes for a more smooth flow of air to the plenum, but mostly its just for looks. but the added benifit is that it makes the exhaust tone a bit deeper.
I would ( & did) drop in a K & N filter and save some money. You'll get just as much HP increase and cost a lot less.
The major restriction in the intake is the upper intake itself. If you look there are two bolt holes right after the throttle body that impead air flow. Yes a CAI would help some. And why not have a 13 sec car? I do and If I can make it to the track before they all close, I am hoping to drop a 12 sec slip!
Thats not a fair comparison, your from Georgia and if i remember my Dukes of Hazard correctly, you guys all have your cars pulling low 13's and jumping ditches. I'm from Canada in December, snow and ditches don't mix, and the only 13's around this time of year are 13" snow tires on a rusted VW Scirroco.
Whatever you do, it's not going to yeild a huge gain, whether it's a CAI or a K&N. The gain to be had from removing the silencer and adding a K&N filter is going to depend on who you talk to. Some people say it's worth ZERO hp, some say it's worth 2-3hp. Similarly, some people say that a CAI is worth ZERO hp over the K&N filter w/ the silencer removed, and some people say that the CAI is worth a few hp above that. Personally, when I went from the K&N filter minus silencer setup to a BBK CAI, I picked up about ~5whp.
