We really identify with Mike, because like us, he keeps improving his car, and has big plans for the coming year. “I bought the car from the original owner in 2007 and I finished restoring it last year, spring of 2009.” he tells us. “It continues to evolve, I’m planning to participate in some of the muscle car shootout events like the Midwest Muscle Car challenge next spring.”

Here’s Mike’s step by step install in his own words and pictures:

“Just wanted to share my simple install of a Spectre performance air intake. I had been looking at a few variations of cold air kits for a while and chose the Spectre option mainly because it was a nice quality aluminum piece and went with the old Trans Am vibe that I’m going for.

The price wasn’t exactly low but your get what you pay for and it was no more expensive than some of the other options. I was going to fab my own but it would have been more of a ‘box’ looking thing and I frankly don’t have the time.

In my car I had moved the battery to the trunk which created a perfect spot to mount the intake.
The parts I ordered utilized a 4″ hole and tube.

Here’s the hose, simple stuff, and the price for these two parts was very low, so you could use these to connect to a factory air cleaner assembly for a great low-cost solution.

I marked the location for the 4″ hole.

I then rented a roto-zip rotary cutting tool, but a 4″ hole saw would do the trick too.
Here I test fit the inlet connection.

Here is a view through the grill, for my car this location turned out to be a nice area for some direct air flow.

Now that the hard part is done (which is actually pretty easy), I put it all together using the stock air filter assembly. I love this option, looks great this way, almost like a factory option.

Then a couple days later the shiny part came to my front door
In my case I had to remove the ‘stove pipe’ and I relocated the heater hose, simple stuff.

This pro-fab kit is shipped with one inlet and has another loose inlet for placement later, I will likely add the second tube when I install the ‘big’ engine when that gets done.

The finish is bare aluminum which was a little rough, I just hit it with a scotch brite pad, then some mothers polish to get the final finish I was going for. Here is the final result

I finished it all off with some stainless hose clamps and some stainless button head cap screws for the inlet.”

Thanks for sharing your build Mike!

Over the past few years, the Spectre team has travelled the country with our truck and muscle cars visiting a variety of car shows and autocross events. In our travels we come across a lot of cool cars and hundreds, if not thousands, of high-tech pro-touring Camaros. One of the slickest 1st Gen F-Bodies we have ever seen is James Shipka’s “One Lap” Camaro. The dark red ’67 features a Racepack digital dash, custom racecar suspension, a built Katech powerplant, HRE Wheels, bodywork designed for maximum downforce and more. Jim built the car with racing champs David and Mary Pozzi to compete in the prestigious One Lap of America event, originally founded by Brock Yates as a successor to the Cannonball Run.

We were talking to Jim and the Pozzis a few weeks ago at Run to the Coast, and they commented that they felt the car was losing power because all it had for an intake system was a conical filter stuck on the end of the throttle body. We agreed to engineer a Cold Air Intake for the car based on our ProFab system, so they towed the car over to the shop.

The end result is actually closer in design to our 5th Gen Camaro Cold Air Intake then our 1st Gen Camaro model, since the car has a Gen IV small block and pretty exotic sheetmetal. A polished 4″ intake tube capped with a hpR filter draws cold air from around the radiator through a hole in the core support, as opposed to the old setup that sucked air from directly behind the radiator. Should be good for at least a little extra power. By the time you read this the team is likely participating in the opening of the race, and you can follow their progress at OneLapCamaro.com . Good luck!

[View with PicLens]

By ducting cooler ambient air to the engine, you can dramatically improve performance. The more powerful your engine (and therefore the more air it requires, since engines are basically big air pumps) the more it is effected by inlet air temperature. Here are some examples.

On a typical hot summer day, underhood temps in a classic mucle car can be as high as 190 degrees. By reducing air inlet temperature 50 degrees - to 140 - the engine gains 25 horsepower and 26 lb/ft of torque. Dropping air inlet temperature to ambient (in this case 80 degrees), the formerly 300hp engine becomes a 360hp engine!

Performance improvements are even more impressive on a 350hp engine - which gains 70 horsepower and 75 lb/ft of torque when air inlet temperature is lowered from 190-degrees to 80-degrees. Think about that... there are very few ways you can add 70 horsepower to your engine without tearing into the internals or adding nitrous.

Ever wonder why your car feels so much faster on cold winter mornings than on hot summer afternoons? The more power you make, the more your engine is effected by the density (temperature) of the air. Cooler, denser air means more oxygen is packed into the combusterion chamber on every compression stroke of the piston. The more powerful the engine, the great the improvement in power. A 500 horsepower engine can see a 100 horsepower gain from a 110-degre inlet air temp drop. But even a modest 30 degree inlet air temp drop picks up 24 horsepower and 25 lb/ft of torque!

Editors and bloggers having a bite at the Spectre MPMC party

Since we have rolled out so many new cold air intakes for the muscle car market in the past year, we felt this was a great opportunity to show off our latest hardware, race cars and more.

The original plan was to hold an outdoor type car show, but since the weather turned ugly (a rarity in here in So Cal) we moved everything inside, including the dinner, cars on display, a film about the SpeedLiner, dyno runs and more!

We want to thank all the manufacturers and journalists who attended the event, the car owners who supplied Spectre ProFab equipped vehicles for the indoor car show, the editors who brought cars for top-speed dyno runs and of course the entire Spectre Performance staff for all their hard work making the party happen.

Rob Kinnan of Hot Rod Magazine (L) and Matt D'Andria of Motorator.com (R) chat in front of the Spectre SpeedLiner

Part of the SpeedLiner crew with the record-setting land speed car

Strapping down the Petronix project Camaro SS on the dyno for a top speed run.

The Easy Access Oil Changer relocates your oil filter to the top of the engine compartment where it’s easy to change without a mess. The kit also includes a filter relocation bracket that holds an extended oil drain line attached to your oil drain plug, a 12v pump that plugs into your cigarette lighter to help pump out all the old oil without getting dirty on the ground, and a variety of fittings to make it work on nearly any vehicle.

Other advantages include the ability to run large capacity high-performance oil filters and the ability to move your filter away from headers or other heat sources that can cause burns during service.

Click here for more information: Easy Access Oil Changer

The kit includes a polished mandrel bent aluminum intake tube, lifetime warranty hpR Filter, laser-cut aluminum heat shield and all necessary hardware. These intakes are available at most major auto parts chains or can be ordered direct by calling (909) 673-9800.

Check out the complete install and dyno test in the video below:

We take the muscle car cold air intake business seriously – but at the same time we know this hobby is all about having fun with fast, cool cars. With that in mind we maintain a fleet of different muscle cars we use as R&D testing platforms. Some of these include a 1970 Mustang Mach 1, a duo of 2nd Gen Camaro Pro-Touring cars, a Supra-powered Maverick, a drag race Dodge Dart and more. View the complete list of our test cars and get a peek under the hood at the Spectre online garage.

The entire Spectre engineering department is working hard to produce as many new ProFab Cold Air Intake systems as possible. With that in mind, we always need new cars to trial-fit products, dyno test intakes and more. If you’d like get your vehicle into the testing program and are willing to loan us your vehicle for a few days of careful R&D in our shop, you can drive away with a new cold air intake. Here is a list of the cars we are currently looking for.

Our dyno numbers are obtained on our in house MD-1250 chassis dyno, using one of our many company cars, or a donor car from a volunteer. It is important to know that dyno numbers are relative, and should be used as a reference or as an indicator, especially since most people don’t have the opportunity to run their vehicle, repeatedly, on a dyno.

There are many factors that can cause dyno numbers to appear too big, or too small. It is important to know these factors and consider them when using dyno numbers. The best use for dynos is in tuning a particular vehicle which is why all race teams use them, and to get optimum performance from your vehicle, it is best to use a dyno as well. many companies in the after market will quote or publish dyno numbers and use those numbers as a means to sell their products. This is fine as long as everyone is upfront and honest about what those numbers actually mean. There are literally an infinite number of variables each one of which has an effect on the dyno numbrs obtained. Keep these variables in mind when you hear of a company that “guarantees” their horsepower dyno figure. The fact of the matter is, they can’t guarantee any number to any person because they haven’t had that persons car on their dyno. Why? because of all the variables.

Here are just a few of the variables that should be considered:

1) Variations between identical cars. Even if you took two identical vehicles fresh off the assembly line, and tested them identically, side by side, there would be differences between them. This is because of tolerances in assembly, multiplied out over hundreds of parts. In order to get two or more identical vehicles, they must be entirely blueprinted. This is extremely laborious and only done in cases such as the IROC race series.

2) Weather and location play a big part in variances. Temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and altitude all contribute to results that will never be the same, as the odds of achieving the exact combination of identical conditions is virtually impossible, the odds would be in the millions.

3) Variations between dynos themselves. Dynos manufactured by different companies areis very different in their design and operation, as well as how they are set up. Even identical dynos in the same location, under the same conditions, would need to be calibrated at the same time in order to achieve similar results. And differences between different dyno manufacturing companies are significant.

4) Dyno operators. Like drivers, every one has a slightly different style and follows different methodologies in order to obtain results. No two are the same.

5) Dyno methodologies. Hood open or closed? External Fan? How big? What volume? Number of runs? Time between runs?

6) Variations in vehicles. The following must be considered as items that would make a difference in dyno results; tire size, inflation pressures, rear end gear ratio, transmission type, oil viscosity, vehicle age, radiator size, cooling liquid type and age, rear end fluid, transmission fluid, clutch type and clutch wear, fuel – type and age and so on.

It is very easy for dyno numbers to be created to suit the purpose of the creator, just by manipulating a few of the above variables, even slightly.

This is why dyno numbers and results should be taken “with a grain of salt”. They should be used for reference only, and only considered when the testing procedures and parameters are clearly spelled out.

Thanks,
Amir Rosenbaum #86

Good airflow feeds horsepower- something Spectre Performance has learned first hand through rigorous real world testing on the dyno, salt flats, and race tracks across the country in their quest to develop the best induction systems in the industry for modern muscle cars. Their latest innovation is a bolt-on Cold Air Intake Kit designed specifically for 2005-09 Mustangs.

While Ford engineers were forced to design a cost-conscious intake quiet enough for the civilian driver, Spectre engineers used an in-house dyno and flowbench to develop the highest flowing system possible. The sweeping, high-flow design provides allows the 3-valve 4.6-liter to inhale easier. As a result, the Spectre ProFab Modern Muscle intake creates an impressive 18 horsepower increase on a stock 4.6 liter GT, as well as an overall increase in torque and acceleration throughout the entire RPM range.

This Spectre ProFab Modern Muscle Cold Air Intake uses a high-quality polished aluminum intake tube, a high-flow washable reusable hpR cotton filter backed by an unlimited lifetime warranty and a powdercoated heat shield to block underhood radiant heat. All necessary brackets, adapters, hardware, and complete step-by-step instructions to make installation easy are included.