Keep in mind that's unfiltered air you were sucking in.

 

I think your missing your condenser bar.

 

alittle dirt isnt going to kill the engine. Ive seen people do far worse lol.

 

I think im going to get the HAHN racing intercooler and piping.


I don't have to get a computer tune for that do I?


If yes, then im gonna go ahead on getting a new cold intake so I don't pay for multiple tunes..


If no, ill wait and see how its gonna run with the intercooler fixed.

 

You dont need a tune for the following components:

-Aftermarket intercoolers (yes any size available on the market)

-Aftermarket Charge piping

-Downpipes (catted or non-catted) - might need a tune to turn off the emissions oxygen sensor check if the
downpipe trips a CEL, non-catted ones have a higher chance of doing that. Especially if the bung is not angled and directly in the path of exhaust gasses.

- Recirculating by-pass valves.

- catback exhausts, mufflers, muffler deletes, resonator deletes, etc.

-K&N intake specifically. There is a high chance that you could run the stock tune with this intake without needing a tune if you orient the filter upside down. There is a thread on it in here. All other intakes will trip a CEL.


If your going to go the route of putting a bunch of bolt ons on the car with out a tune, a Aeroforce interceptor gauge maybe a good investment. You can watch your STFT and LTFT to see if they start drifting too positive and or negative which is what will happen with aftermarket intakes. The K&N seems to stay between +/- 8% which is acceptable. 0% is desired by the cars computer but a slightly negative value is ideal (means your running slightly rich).




P.S. - I notice my shif tboot is actually coming completely apart at the top while detailing this past weekend. I went to redlinegoods.com store and ordered a replacement boot I posted above. I was tempted to get a 1" reduced boot since I have a TWM shifter but im not paying an additional $9 for that.. I will let you know how it fits and quality in 2-3 weeks.

 

I would also look at the zzp setup also. Their increased clearance intercooler would do you well.

 

If i was doing another intercooler. Id go with the Zzp low profile intercooler. Uses factory mounts and fits under the bumper.

The Treadstone TR8 is what I have now and I did not like the tight fit behind the crash bar. I hate the sandwich mounting brackets.

 

definitely get ZZP intercooler versus the others

 

I wish I had gotten the increased clearance one. But got the other one. It's been good, but parking lot curbs don't like it so I have to part like an idiot to keep from smacking it. Not like I'm running 550whp anyway.

 

Not sure if your still following this page OP but I went ahead and ordered a new boot through redlinegoods and here is my impressions.

quality: 5/5

bought the black leather with silver stitching. The materials look grade A especially for the price. Leather looks a little flatter than the oem boot but that's not a bad thing. It looks like real leather.

Price: 5/5

$46 with free shipping. Arrived in a week, maybe a week and a half. No tracking. Seems very affordable for the product you get.

fitment: 3/5

i knew it was a too good to be true product for the price. The feel and look of the product exceeded my expectations for $46 but require some editing and trimming to fit the oem cobalt boot frame. The cut out tabs did not line up and required me to hold the boot over the frame as centered as I could and slightly enlarge existing tabs to fit using a razor blade. Had to be very careful. Not difficult to do but wish I didn't need to. After I stapled the new boot in place using a $10 staple gun from the hardware store I could barely squeeze the boot frame + boot back into the center console frame. The leather is much thicker than the oem stuff. I managed to snap it back together but there is a lot of tension. I can see the sides of the frame bow up slightly (no clip on the sides) revealing some staples I put high up on the boot frame. If I don't point it out to a passenger they'd never notice or see it.

The only other thing I can say about the fitment is that the OEM boot secures the neck via a zip tie but there is no way to secure the new boot at the neck. Luckily it is snug enough and elastic enough to stretch over the shifter reverse lock out mechanism and holds tight.

overall: 4.3/5

I think it's a good value for the product and does what I want it too while looking better than oem in the process. It's a tough install for the leather but I can imagine the bride material or vinyl would be an easier install.




OEM boot showing wear near the top where it meets the reverse lock out. Lasted 8+ years, not too shabby for fake leather. Ive seen them fall apart sooner.



OEm boot vs new boot. I did not do a size comparison, wish I captured that. They are relatively equivalent in size. I did not reduce the the size by 1" for the STS. I ordered it as OEM height. The quality is on a different level. Also in photo is my TWM reverse lock out piece for the STS.



Stapled to the OEM frame. Kind of a pain because the staples were short. The staples barely went through the plastic. Also I added another row of staples towards the bottom of the frame to hold the leather down. Found it too difficult trying to install frame back into the car with the leather folding on itself.



TWM STS taken apart. I had a fun time trying to remember how to take this thing apart and put back together lol. Been 7 years since the install.



All back together. Low lighting photo.



with Flash on. You can see the silver stitching. nice little accent for the the silver interior cars.



Daylight photo from this morning.



side view daylight photo. This is where I noticed the glimmer of a staple just above the chrome frame and a slight gap on the side. Oh well good enough.



another angle. daylight with shade.