Dixi has a Cold Air Intake (or, if ya wanna get hep with the car lingo junks, CAI) made by Steeda -- it was one of the first mods made, right after the JBA axleback exhaust. The CAI is a nice item, big ol' filter and a sturdy, sheet-metal type shroud with padding to boot...but it did not (and still doesn't) come with a custom intake tube to the engine. If I knew two years ago what I know today -- no, wait, that's not right -- Steeda was pretty much first out of the box with the CAI for the V6, so I would have bought it, period -- anyways, there are now several CAIs on the market, and most of them have a custom tube.
Of course, I now have Tube Envy and have been contemplating this piece from MMR:
So why buy it? "Because it looks cool," cooeth the right brain. "Because of the horsepower gains," declareth the left brain. Both brains are correct, at least for this mod and this Pony Owner. The folks at MMR are claiming "up to an additional 7 RWHP!" I could definitely do at least one blog entry on those two little words "up to" and what they REALLY mean...but not now...suffice it to say that the stock intake tube sort of looks like this:
~
except the curves are sharper, and it's just common knowledge that if air has to run through that kind of obstacle course before mating up with the gasoline and producing those happy explosions that move the pistons that turn the crankshaft that rotate the back tires that make Dixi GO...well, the air will be tired and not as enthusiastic and you'll get less power.
Or something like that.
Actually, the whole process and mechanics of the internal combustion engine is freakin' unbelievable. It's one of those things that is so far outside and above my radius of expertise, it's like magic. I'm sure I could learn it -- want to learn it, in fact, hopefully will have the time in my "golden years" to get into all that, maybe take an auto shop class or two -- but right now it's like, God bless the man or men who came up with this, because if it had been left to me we'd still be hoofin' it.
What the MMR tube purchase really comes down to, and what ALL power adder mods come down to, is price per horsepower. The tube is $170 plus probably 20 beans shipping, tax...let's say an even $200. I'm guessing this will get The Dix an additional 5 hp, max...which means $40 per hp. The good thing about this piece is that I think I can install it myself, so there will be no additional labor/shop cost. And as you will see, as the story of Pony girls Dixi and Luci continues...those costs are not trivial. Far from it.
I'll probably order this soon. Just letting the thing germinate, or ferment, or whatever, for now. I'm getting better about impulse buying on this stuff...at least a little...
"Wait for it, wait for it, give it some time..."
-- Howard Jones, "Everlasting Love"
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