metroplex

I know this part is very old and the current market is focused on the 11-14 Mustangs, but I thought I'd post my install and review.

The instructions were easy to follow and straight forward. I cleaned the silicone couplings with alcohol, and cleaned the elbow with alcohol as well. I chose to buy and use liner clamps from McMaster-Carr (Stainless, size 64 and 72) because the standard worm gear clamps that are included have grooves that can cut the silicone. Usually T-bolt or Liner clamps are used with silicone hoses.

The Steeda elbow inlet with all the clamps and couplings weighed 1000 grams, while the stock air tube weighed 1161 grams, so that is a weight savings of 0.35 pounds.

The clamp for the vacuum tube seems to be destroyed after removal, and I'll have to find a replacement if I ever want to go back to stock (and there are some good reasons to do so). But I measured the OD of the rubber nipple to be 0.90 inches, with a clamp width of about 3/8"

The Steeda elbow is not very flexible, it tends to stay in place with the couplings attached. The only way I could get the elbow installed was to first attach the couplings to the throttle body and MAF housing, then finaggle the elbow into place.

There was contact with the upper coolant hose. After some adjustment of the elbow, it looked clear - but after I started the engine and ran it up to operating temperature, the hose either swelled or the elbow/couplings shifted and it contacted. There was no way around this contact. The siicone coupling barely clears the power steering reservoir.

Also, the vacuum tube was severely kinked trying to use the included rubber hose for the nipple. I had to trim that hose by about 0.25" so the stock nylon vacuum line wouldn't kink much.

I made sure to only hand tighten the clamps on the elbow using a flathead screwdriver. Overall, I am not that impressed with the design of this elbow inlet. The elbow could have been designed for more clearance around the upper hose and power steering reservoir. A world class engineering and manufacturing department would have done this in 20 seconds, especially accounting for manufacturing tolerances on the Ford assembly line.

I ended up using a long piece of bicycle inner tube with some nylon ties on the upper coolant hose to protect it from rubbing against the elbow. I know I am going to hear a dozen or so replies from people that "ran the elbow for eleventy billion miles and 7 years without any problems or contact" but this is what I observed on my 2007 GT.

I am skeptical about 6-8 rwhp gains. Granted the inlet of the tube (at the MAF housing) is much larger than stock, the transition to the throttle body oval isn't that different on the Steeda unit. While revving the engine, I noticed the exhaust no longer burbles or pops upon deceleration like it used to do. I have the Steeda charge motion delete plates along with the FR500S axle back exhaust. It used to do the awesome snap-pop during deceleration.

Fords4Ever

So you had the burble with just the Steeda CAI but lost it with the elbow? Was that the only change at that time?

I want to do the CAI but can't lose the decel burble - I love that!

metroplex

Yes I noticed that while testing it out. I had the Steeda CAI for about 2 years and with the FR500S axle-backs, the exhaust burble was very noticeable. I didn't notice that much of a change with the Steeda CMCV delete plates. But with the Steeda elbow, I tried my best but didn't hear that burble/popping sound even with a cold exhaust. I may have to do some road testing, but usually I can get it to pop in the garage. I did hear a different sound, like something winding down very loudly when letting the engine slow down.

I also figured out why a lot of the Steeda elbow users are saying they don't have any rub with their coolant hose - the bulk of the users have 05-06 Mustangs. Ford changed the upper hose routing for 07-up.

metroplex

I did some more testing, and the popping upon deceleration is gone/severely reduced. The gurgling/burbling is still there. All in all, I wish it didn't contact the coolant hose and had more clearance from the power steering reservoir. I also had to trim the vacuum hose slightly (not a big deal). I'd give the elbow kit upgrade 4 out of 5 stars.

I noticed quite a few GT dyno's showing about +40 hp gains with the Steeda cold air intake, elbow, charge motion delete, 93 octane tune, and the Steeda underdrive pulleys. I have all of these except the underdrive pulleys, I could not find the gains (if any) from just the Steeda underdrive pulleys. I won't even consider underdrives because of the problems I had in the past with the Steeda's on my 4.6 2V V8 and it's not worth it in the long run - and I never really felt any gains from the UDP's on my 2V V8.

m05fastbackGT

If your concerned about not having enough clearance from the power steering reservoir, just move your inlet elbow in towards the throttle body a bit more and you should be good to go from there !

metroplex

The elbow is jammed in towards the TB as much as possible. There's not much room for adjustment.

metroplex

I am not too concerned about the PS reservoir, but I was concerned about the upper hose contact. I removed the entire upper hose and trimmed about 1/8" off the thermostat housing end of the hose. I also replaced the horrible OEM hose clamps with some Ideal-Tridon Series 65E all-stainless #28 liner clamps. Now there's enough clearance between the upper hose and Steeda elbow.

metroplex

Just an update.

Even with the hose pushed in forward towards the t-stat housing to give several mm of clearance, the hose swells up when the system is hot and pressurized and there is still contact on the intake elbow. I suspect this will heat up the air going into the engine, defeating the whole purpose of the cold air intake.

m05fastbackGT

If only the silicone coupler (hose) is making any contact with your upper radiator hose, there shouldn't be any heat related issues.. If on the other hand should any part of the plastic inlet elbow make contact, then yes I would most definitely be very concerned !

metroplex

Like I said before and before, the plastic elbow is sitting right on the upper coolant hose. Even with enough clearance when cold, the upper coolant hose swells enough to directly contact the plastic elbow. Steeda obviously did not test their intake elbow on 07-09 Mustang GTs.

m05fastbackGT

I totally agree with you and I also don't understand why Steeda didn't change the design of their plastic inlet elbow after Ford relocated the upper radiator hose in 07-09.. But the more I've thought about, the more I realize that Steeda originally designed their cold air intake for the stock inlet tubes on all 05-09 Mustangs to begin with, as they didn't come out with the plastic inlet elbows until 2006.. At any rate, Steeda should've waited at least a year longer before coming out with the inlet elbows.. Anyhow I'll be sending you a PM and discuss this with you in further detail..