Okay so against the advise of the forum majority, I decided to give the Mina Gallery Performance Intake a try...

I had a different experience with Mina on this than some of the others did. First off mine DID come with the Heat Shield as described and let me say it was a very good fit and very well made, including all rubber molding to "seal" it from the hot engine compartment. Like some of the others I didnt get all of the clamps that are needed to really install this correctly and I noticed after a few days of driving the cone filter was working its way loose. I made a run to my local auot parts store and picked up a couple of stainless steel clamps for the intake kit and its solid as a rock now.

I can honestly say there is a marked inprovement in throttle response and you definitely can hear the difference when you "get on it". So far my feedback is that it is a definite upgrade from the factory box and K&N flat panel filter. I guess time will tell. Its already December here in Ohio so the weather is cold, but I am going to keep a close eye on this as warmer weather returns to make sure I dont start getting the issues with the computer reporting a lean code due to heat. I kept the old factory box and panel filter close by in the event I need to revert back.

Basically, I wanted to share this with the group as I know there has been quite a bit of discussion around these Cold Air / Hot Air induction systems.

I added a couple of photos here as well so you can see the heat shield installation as well. Pay close attention to the connector pipe between the filter and the mass airflow sensor you can see the two stainless clamps I had to add, without these the kit will definitely work its way loose and the filter will end up falling into the hole where the old box used to be...

Any comments or feedback would be welcomed. I am curious to know what anyone else running a similar setup has done with the old intake tubing from the front behind the grille to where it used to connect into the stock intake box. I left this in place being that I dont know if this will be a permanant install yet or not...

Thanks guys, enjoy the photos!

 

Hope it works out and time will tell.... Thanks for sharing pics with us. R U going to add the modded air intake tube? This alone should help with 13 chp.

 

Yep! That's phase II! I am going to be replacing the full intake with the new elbow as well as a the SC pulley and exhaust.

Goal is to push as close to 500 horses as possible without major engine or intake modifications. I plan to "blog" about the progress and results here for everyone to see / share. I am hoping I will have some success, with these smaller less invasive and less expensive mods. Hopefully it will help to make sense of what works, what doesn't and what to avoid all together!

I don't expect huge HP gains but if I can pick up a couple of ponies keep the car looking stock and gain a little at launch then mission accomplished,

Cheers!

 

Sounds like you have a good plan. The air intake tube definitely makes a difference in throttle response and approx. 13 chp. Last week recieved my STR with rebuilt trans. and torque converter...she's a beast! The mods likely allowed an additional 50 chp and torque. With: DSC off, Sport mode, from a dig the tires roast and she bounces off the limiter through third gear. Have to learn how to launch this beast with street tires (Mitchelin Pilot Sport A/S).

 

i was thinkin about buying this intake, but the only issue i have is where are you getting cool air from if the filter is behind the headlight??

 

It's a secret. Kinda magic.

 

Good point zetecstr and jagv8.

 

Exactly! I definitely wouldnt call this a cold air induction system. Of course Mina doesnt sell it as a "Cold Air Induction Intake" rather they are calling it a High Performance Intake. I believe the latter is true of the system. I certainly can hear the difference even without WOT.

Keep in mind I have only been running this now for about a week, so my inital comments are subjective at best. However, I have noticed quite a bit of increased throttle response early on.

The factory system is a Cold Air Induction system and from what I can tell from the way it was setup it draws air in from the oval shaped opening right behind the grill and draws through the air through the round plastic tube back into the bottom of the air box. The air is sucked through the flat panel filter (I did have the K&N filter previously) and into the intake.

It seems like its a lot of air circulation to get it to the intake definitely not a direct route as with this kit from Mina.

To try and emulate some of the factory design I have left the air intake in place but its just flowing the air into the empty hole where the factory intake used to be. That said with the open design i am sure there is cold air coming in from the old tubing and with the heat shield with the rubber seals they have included the hotter engine compartment air I would believe is limited some.

I guess my thoughts are that it is probably a 50/50 blend of engine compartment (heated air) and fresh cold air coming from the original intake below...

I have read many discussions on this topic and have heard of some people having issues with the engine pulling a lean code from hot air being pulled into the engine with this but as I recall these were installed without the heat shield. I cant say definitively because its now colder weather here in Ohio, but like bfsgross and I had in the thread earlier time will tell...

Worst case I can always revert back to the stock factory box an K&N panel. Its really only a 20 minute intall and so easy a "caveman" could do it!

 

Perhaps some tin snipping can be performed on the fender near the filter, allowing fresh air to reach the filter? This setup comes stock on the Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500. A Mina "like" open air element is used with similar heat shield and an opening in fender to allow fresh air to filter.

 

Something I have done is cut my stock air box flap larger. We all know that there is that motor that opens the door on the airbox under WOT. I removed the motor and cut a hole roughly 5x larger than the stock one. Then I used some sticky foam insulation (I want to say an inch wide) to seal the box to the rad support (as best as it will). There are holes and passages behind the light for air to flow. I checked the iat when I did it, and sitting in traffic the temps barely rise (5 or so degrees) above ambient.

 

Thanks for the cool idea Mike.

 

Finally finished my intake upgrade project today!

I have the full Mina Performance intake installed with Heat Shield and now the Caldoofy 80mm Stage 1 Intake. Others have commented that it was difficult to install and required some cutting of the silicon.

I didnt experience any issues with this may due in part to the Mina Intake Kit, not sure but it all come together beautfifully and in less than 20 minutes.

Here are some shots of the finished intake project before, during and after!

Cheers!

 

Awesome Chris. How does she run? Waiting for the Mina intake to arrive.

 

Mahvelous!

 

She sure sounds good! I havent had a chance to stretch the legs on her yet, going to take her for a nice drive in the country tomorrow!

Now waiting on the exhaust pieces and parts to start arriving. Going to intall the Magnaflow CATs the X Pipe and the Mina Exhaust. That ought to do the trick.

Will also be putting on those Mina Lowering Springs here in the next few months... She should be good for another 140K miles!

 

Chris, you may want to consider the Magnaflow Tru-X center muffler (built-in x-pipe) in place of the Magnaflow x-pipe. The set up you're about to embark on will yield a raspy-offensive note and loss of a small bit of low end torque. The Magnaflow Tru-X center muffler is a center muffler/x-pipe in one. Much of the bark is attenuated with this muffler and maintains backpressure. I did both and settled on the Tru-X.

 

Thanks for the "sound" advice Seth! Sorry couldn't resist the pun...

I will definitely go that route I want some added GROWL but will pass on the bark... Looks like my first phase is nearing an end.

Phase 2??
Maybe a blower rebuild - port polish
Bigger SC pulley
True LSD!

Phase 3???
Avos Twin Screw!!! Hehehehehehe

 

LOL! We're on the same path. Just want to go back and kick the butt of the MB S55 that walked me two years ago. Be there soon with the LSD, headers, and blower port. keep up the great work Chris.

 

Nice work.

 

Definitely a work in progress! Shooting for that 500hp early STR...

Today she goes back to the body shop for a respray of the drivers side quarter panel. The paint has a small (quarter sized) area that is just flaking off...

Then off to my Indy mechanic to replace the EGR pipe and install the Mina lowering springs...

Work...work...work!