What would you recommend?

I was really excited to try out AEM's v2 intake, because my friends dad said he could get one really cheap through work, but i guess thats not going to happen anymore, and im not paying $300 for a CAI, so i have a couple questions for you guys...

If i buy a CAI off of ebay, what should i look for so i dont get a piece of crap? I was looking at a Bomz CAI, because they have nice UDP's, but they have crappy mounts for the intake so i was looking to stay away from that and the rest of them look pretty cheap except for a $100 one that had 3 inch piping, but would that be overkill for the 420a?

I guess im just looking for a little direction so any input would be great, Thanks!

My friend used the BOMZ kit and it worked out just fine. Its not like intakes are a super technical part. As long as they fit in properly and are bigger and less restrictive than the old one they shoul increase your hp and throttle response marginally. Its really not crucial which company makes them its just a pipe :)

:1: the filter matters more then the pipe, get the cheapest one that will fit, and get a K&N filter on it! BOOM! awesome intake!

Dido.

Got a $20 short ram back in the days (first mod to car). A pipe is a pipe. I then bought a short ram off my boy who totaled his car and made a full CAI out of it. As long as the pipes are not all dented, has holes, and (if more than one piece) not leaking, you're good.

Oh on my cheapo pipe the mount attaching to the battery did eventually crack off. Nothing you can't fix by welding or ghetto rigging something up.

Or you can do it the way I did mine and not have to worry about the shitty bracket that always breaks off.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y187/ohjiro/Eclipse/Conversions/0418081743.jpg

I'm going to be making an intake for my Cavalier with a piece of mandrel bent pipe, the shell of a 1g MAF, and my spare K&N. Not for performance though, more for hopefully better gas milage.

MazdaX, what exactly did you do the picture looks like it runs into the fusebox

It goes through the hole that's there from the stock airbox.

Thats pretty nice, is that an actuall CAI for the eclipse, or did you piece it together? Or i bet you probably just made the pipe curve to the side instead of down because that would be the smart thing for me to say, lol

While were on this subject does the same principle go for things such as strut braces? Or is that something that i should be more cautious with?

well i wouldt go with the cheapest Upper strut bars... nore would i cheap out on the lower ones... but i dont think name brand parts are needed here either...

I went cheap on my strut bars too and they're still in there. That was mod number 2!

Well you can buy the full length CAI but the problem with those are they put the filter right down by the wheel and lower than the engine so it catches an extremely large amout of road debris and water on rainy days so..I originally purchased a OTTO-R intake from my local shop and used 2 pieces of intercooler piping ( for the time being ) from my FMIC kit I purchased for when I do the turbo.Now the filter is on the outside of the unibody and sitting behind the front bumper cover. While it is getting supplied with cool , fresh and water free air from the fog light and other thingy holes and being protected at the same time from tire kick up debris.

Easy as pie =)