So I am by no means a mechanic and I decided to build my own cold air intake on my 2008 Mustang GT after getting bored being home for the break from college. This was so much fun but there were no forums out there that I could find that would really help me on how to do it myself for pretty cheap considering a CAI is normally ranging from $175-$300. So I'm making this forum so others can see what I did and maybe it will help them if they want to do the same thing. I will update it as I go on with my build as well.
So to start off I went to pep-boys and gave myself a $130 budget (which was about right even though this whole thing was a pain in the butt to figure out on my own lol). I bought an aluminum 1' length, 3"diameter pipe, a spectre 60 degree elbow, a spectre performance air filter, and a vibrant performance 4"diameter to a 3" diameter intake rubber tube fitter. Thinking I had everything, I started taking off the stock air intake system and putting in place piece by piece the stuff I had bought. Then I finally saw it, I had no place to put my MAF sensor and the only one at O'Reillys that has a big hole in it doesn't work. also, the little piece that connects to the engine didn't have a slot for it.
So here is where I actually gain some ground on this project. After going back and forth with auto parts stores trying to figure out exactly what I needed, and a bunch of BS later I finally got to a point where I just said screw it I'm jerry rigging this, and i'm so proud of how its turning out. So my life saver after returning the pipe back to pep-boys was this piece at O'Reillys( https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/b...?q=8219+&pos=0 )
This piece had the hose adaptor and everything. even though it says it doesn't fit a 2008 mustang gt, don't believe it the thing fits like a glove, I kept the 60 degree elbow and bought a blue spectre coupler for it and I was almost done until it took me three days to find the MAF adapter for the tube, and I bought the one that has to be welded on to the pipe ( Both aluminum, part number is 9924011). now of course after I buy it I see that they have some that are already welded on to a piece of pipe (facepalm). so I cut a rectangle hole in the pipe (hardest thing ive done, used a drill bit then had to file it all out to the size of the piece.)
Now that the piping is together I can work on the heat shield. unless you wanna buy a whole kit and just only use the heat shield which would be stupid. I went to home depot and bought a 10$ piece of aluminum sheet that was 1' x 2' and is currently working beautifully, you can bend it into the shape and cut it very easily, all I have left to do now is cut a hole in the middle and bracket the piece into the car and ill be done! That's all I have for now, Pictures and final product to come once I figure out how to get them on here. Let me know what looks like could be done better or if something sounds like it could not be good for the engine.
Let me know what yall think! also what else should I do to it! I have flow master super 40's on it and this is in the works (More updates coming soon).
So to start off I went to pep-boys and gave myself a $130 budget (which was about right even though this whole thing was a pain in the butt to figure out on my own lol). I bought an aluminum 1' length, 3"diameter pipe, a spectre 60 degree elbow, a spectre performance air filter, and a vibrant performance 4"diameter to a 3" diameter intake rubber tube fitter. Thinking I had everything, I started taking off the stock air intake system and putting in place piece by piece the stuff I had bought. Then I finally saw it, I had no place to put my MAF sensor and the only one at O'Reillys that has a big hole in it doesn't work. also, the little piece that connects to the engine didn't have a slot for it.
So here is where I actually gain some ground on this project. After going back and forth with auto parts stores trying to figure out exactly what I needed, and a bunch of BS later I finally got to a point where I just said screw it I'm jerry rigging this, and i'm so proud of how its turning out. So my life saver after returning the pipe back to pep-boys was this piece at O'Reillys( https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/b...?q=8219+&pos=0 )
This piece had the hose adaptor and everything. even though it says it doesn't fit a 2008 mustang gt, don't believe it the thing fits like a glove, I kept the 60 degree elbow and bought a blue spectre coupler for it and I was almost done until it took me three days to find the MAF adapter for the tube, and I bought the one that has to be welded on to the pipe ( Both aluminum, part number is 9924011). now of course after I buy it I see that they have some that are already welded on to a piece of pipe (facepalm). so I cut a rectangle hole in the pipe (hardest thing ive done, used a drill bit then had to file it all out to the size of the piece.)
Now that the piping is together I can work on the heat shield. unless you wanna buy a whole kit and just only use the heat shield which would be stupid. I went to home depot and bought a 10$ piece of aluminum sheet that was 1' x 2' and is currently working beautifully, you can bend it into the shape and cut it very easily, all I have left to do now is cut a hole in the middle and bracket the piece into the car and ill be done! That's all I have for now, Pictures and final product to come once I figure out how to get them on here. Let me know what looks like could be done better or if something sounds like it could not be good for the engine.
Let me know what yall think! also what else should I do to it! I have flow master super 40's on it and this is in the works (More updates coming soon).