• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Cold air intake question

D

dyaballikl

CEG'er
Joined
Jul 9, 2007
Messages
374
Location
Issaquah, WA, USA
I'm new to the Contour thing, and I'm an ok mechanic. I pulled the intake off my Mercury Tracer, which it was designed for, and put it on my Contour. My question is this: most people I see putting intakes in their Contours basically lined it up just like the stock one, with the filter where the stock filter was. Is this just for looks, so you can see the filter? I put mine down in front of the transmission. It doesn't look the best, because you can barely see the chrome can the filter, but I figured there's more air flow down there and it should be colder. Is my logic bad? Here's a pic of my setup:
cimg0797vr8.jpg
 
Itll really suck if you go thru a high puddle!!!

CAI is gonna get more air flow or cooler air cause its directed to grab fresh colder air and NOT the hot air that your engine is giving off!

But also with putting it in a lower place you have to watch out cause if you get water going into it, it will destroy your engine!!!!

Look into purchasing a bypass valve, im sure AEM and a couple other companies make them, But its engineered to protect your engine from the intake sucking in water!

- Amyn
 
um... not on topic at all. but how did it feel when you put that on and how much did it cost you to do?
 
devanmc said:
um... not on topic at all. but how did it feel when you put that on and how much did it cost you to do?
Click to expand...

i honestly can't tell if you're making fun of me or not....
i don't think there's any real risk of pulling in water, since the intake is such a steep climb up the piping, and i don't drive through many puddles, i suppose.

if you were being serious, the intake system was about $135 for my Tracer, and it really did feel ok :crazy:
 
dyaballikl said:
i honestly can't tell if you're making fun of me or not....
i don't think there's any real risk of pulling in water, since the intake is such a steep climb up the piping, and i don't drive through many puddles, i suppose.

if you were being serious, the intake system was about $135 for my Tracer, and it really did feel ok :crazy:
Click to expand...


I paid about 70-90 usd for mine, and here is the link to the pics. I routed mine through the drop between the battery and the transaxle to where the filter sits in front of the transaxle.

http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?p=113090#post113090

jamesmason was my name and I think KerryKool did the same one or a variation of it.

Edit: to clarify I bought all the materials and built it from scratch.
 
Last edited:
that's cool. i did wind up getting 2 sets of the intake system though, since 1 was short a single bracket :D. so i kinda got them both for $67.50/each. plus it's a good filter.
 
i wasnt making fun of you. i was just trying to see if it is actually worth doing to my car soon
 
oh, lol, ok. i'd definitely recommend doing an intake upgrade. the cold air upgrade is a bit more difficult, since it requires removing the battery and mount temporary (not really difficult, at all), and the standard intake, where the aftermarket filter goes where the stock filter was, is very easy. removing the plastics is a piece of cake, just make sure you keep the maf (that metal box inline with the intake) actually as part of your intake, as well as plug in the iat sensor (which is also plugged into your intake) somewhere. you can get the ones that are designed for your car, or you can just go to your local autoparts store and get generic parts, they work just as well, cost a lot less, but don't look quite as good. just remember, bigger filter = better, and inverse cone filters have more filter surface area, so that's better still.
 
sounds good. i might do my own "custom" intake. a cheap cai-ish type thing. im thinking about doing just part the sleeper z. by, doing the piping that goes from inside the fender and into the airbox, instead of the small tube that is in there...does it sound like a cheap way to get started on the sleeperz intake?

am i just stupid for this idea or is there other way like any focus or other car cai i could buy that would take the piping through the fender. so that the filter is not sucking heated engine bay air?
 
Last edited:
To clarify, Are you saying take out the stock intake completely(pre t/b piping to box, box, and all the piping in the fender?) It is fairly easy to do that (I've already did it with mine) but if you want to send piping through the stock hole you'll have to cut it bigger to get the piping to fit. Spectre has a piece together 3" diameter kit that works pretty good, all you'll have to do is make measurements and get the right style pieces for the different bends and whatnot. If you go to the below site, they have all the part numbers and you can give that list to auto zone and they can either order it or will have it in stock. look at the modular intake systems. the kits they provide for the focus don't go as far as what you're talking about but you can get all the pieces individually and make it any way you want.

http://www.spectreperformance.com/#CATALOGhttp://www.spectreperformance.com/http://www.spectreperformance.com/#CATALOG
 
another thing for my stupid curiosity.which is better as in power to cost, the sleeperz intake or the focus/eBay ones ive seen around?
 
devanmc said:
another thing for my stupid curiosity.which is better as in power to cost, the sleeperz intake or the focus/eBay ones ive seen around?
Click to expand...

Without a doubt, my (sleeperz) intake setup is better for performance.
I used to have air flow/pressure/temperature data that proved that my intake performed better.
 
SleeperZ said:
Without a doubt, my (sleeperz) intake setup is better for performance.
I used to have air flow/pressure/temperature data that proved that my intake performed better.
Click to expand...

thanks for the info. ill probably get working on that in a few weeks
 
SleeperZ said:
Without a doubt, my (sleeperz) intake setup is better for performance.
I used to have air flow/pressure/temperature data that proved that my intake performed better.
Click to expand...

Do you think you might be able to find the data from it somewhere? The car i want to do this to is still my dads and he wants to see this info, before he lets me dive head first into doing your intake.(i get the car when im 18 though,so next year)
 
devanmc said:
Do you think you might be able to find the data from it somewhere? The car i want to do this to is still my dads and he wants to see this info, before he lets me dive head first into doing your intake.(i get the car when im 18 though,so next year)
Click to expand...

Its not a big deal. Show him the How To. I'm sure he will come around.
 
it's all hard plastic anyway, meaning it's not too critical, and it's tough to break. it's all reversible, save for cutting the hole. personally, i don't cut anything on the parts i may someday sell the car with. although i'll probably never sell the car, i always get extras.
 
dyaballikl said:
it's all hard plastic anyway, meaning it's not too critical, and it's tough to break. it's all reversible, save for cutting the hole. personally, i don't cut anything on the parts i may someday sell the car with. although i'll probably never sell the car, i always get extras.
Click to expand...


yeah i still have my factory intake system:crazy:

i think i can probably through it away now:laugh:
 
Well his intake does call for cutting holes in the stock air box. Which means i would need to find another one, if i want to put the car back to stock later to sell.
 
alright, will an air box from any year work? also,will need to find a junkyard around here, could be hard im not sure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top