I also forgot to mention , the way I designed my simple intake for 3 uses , WAI , CAI or a huge 4'' ram air tube running into the filter housing from the fog light port (straight as it can be without hacking) straight across running into the fender which I had to open to 3'' it serves as the low end cai intake and also holds the filter housing snuggly in place then complimented with the 4'' port to the low side of the filter housing that the ram tube runs too. Its not very sophistacated but proved to be a benefit for all types of conditions. The plastic and rubber tube matereals prove to absorb less heat thats why I stuck with those types of materials even though they have ribs and what not. On cold days I use the WAI setup open filter , the only benefit I noticed from this is its alot louder and "get the hell out of my way!!" but I think in actuality I gain throttle response but I lose alot of power on the low end just missing that umph so if Im gonna drive agressively I use the CAI setup , it has the same throttle response as the WAI setup cus I mean the filter housing has a 3'' intake and a 4'' intake both from colder sources than the engine bay.
When I look at ridenour's WAI setup I think " thats gotta sound damn mean!" and I like it alot. It looks sharp , sophistacated and clean. Id think twice if he pulled up beside and let his machine bounce off the rev limiter at a light. I have a neat lil trick for improving the WAI setups for better throttle response , torque and hp. I took my stock MAS housing and ported it from a split 55mm to wide open 75mm using a hack saw , die grinder and a file. This greatly improved the throttle responseand added a tiny touch of hp and torque and another benefit was the 3 MAS coils dont get gummed up as fast as before so they require less often cleaning. Ive done tons of porting on my 3400 (upper and lowwer intake manifolds , I port polished the exhaust manifolds) I have to watch for leaks on a daily basis but it really made that lil v6 torqy. G-Tec pro rated the torque at 271lbs at 3750 rpms not bad for a naturally aspirated v6. I dont know if buying a setup like this is the best bang for your buck however since most of the work was done myself I guess it was worth it. What wasnt worth it was the fact that I have to modify interlocking gaskets to be even with the ports cus there wasnt any extra meat. This was the biggest most expensive mistake I have ever made with modding a car. Im on my 3rd set of brand new "modified gaskets" which i used a lil silicone on the 3rd one as an experiment to see if it helps hold back the leaks. I think Im averaging 20,000 miles per gasket change. The coolent loves to squeeze into the engine and as soon as I notice it I have to do the following.
1) save money for parts , $260. Gaskets , oil , oil filter , coolent flush and new coolent. Errr thats alot for just parts like gaskets and coolent.
2)Find time to tear the engine apart and clean it in and out , modify gaskets , put it back together and add the fluids. Problem Im not a tec so simple things like removing and replacing vacuum lines spark plug wires (which I have numbered for the future cus Im a dumbass) and a ton of other crap thats over my head. Takes me a few days to do this myself 6 hours with a little help and this job only takes one of our mechanics 2 1/2 hours so they laugh at me.
3) Then the dreaded road test to make sure I put it back together right (which I messed up several times in the past by fogeting to plug in things simple like throttle position sensors and mas plugs.
Hey but then again thats what learning is all about right? I learned my lesson and decided next time I want ported Intakes and exhaust I will simply save the cash and buy proper ones with the proper gaskets. Pretty dumb huh?