Hey dude, like yours did, my TWM cable bushing got here before the shifter (its still in the mail) so I went ahead and put them in. Did you notice a change in the engine noise after you installed them? At first, I thought I dident put my airbox back on right, but I checked it, and its good. I guess its just the vibration of the metal bushings that don't fit near as tight, as the stock rubber bushings? It seems to get louder under increased throttle. Im hoping you had the same experience or I fear they may have sent me bushings that are too small. Mine have about half a centimeter of play in them up and down. Thanks man

 

Sounds like you have the wrong bushings. Mine fit like a glove and I had no extra noise.

 

Dang, that is the suck.....Its loud dude! At highway speeds, 6 gear and 2700-2800 rpms, if I floor the gas, its sounds Exactly like I dont even have the airbox on.....

 

Unless you threw in a motor mount while you were at it, you aren't in good shape.

@jtk2: I'd probably just do a red filter behind the gauges instead of nail polish.

 

ha yea thats texas for you man (referring to mightyp). Im from Kansas and moved to texas and omg it seems like everyone is clusterf****** on the highway. lol no wonder why my parents won't let me drive in the snow here. dang it lol

 

So I’ve had my Descendant Cold Air Intake installed for a little while now and it’s about time to review it.

Pros: Great price, cleans up the look of the engine bay and eliminates the power lag between 3.5K RPM and 4.5K RPM.

Cons: The zip ties seem kind of cheap to hold the wires in place and the rubber spacer isn’t very durable.

Review: I got my Descendant CAI through a group buy with a custom paint job. Since the paint was a limited-time offer, I won’t go into it much, other than to say, I love the way the red intake looks under the hood. The standard intakes come in silver or black and cost $189. This is a great price for an intake, especially one that can be used as a Short Ram Intake or as a Cold Air Intake.

The intake itself is a fairly simple design, with shaped, 3” piping and a welded spot for the MAF sensor. The welds are clean and the piping is well designed to be as straight as possible. The kit comes with 2 pipes, a DC cone air filter and the necessary accessories/hardware to make it all work. As I mentioned, it can be configured as a SRI or CAI. As a CAI, the filter sits below the driver side headlamp.

Installation of an intake is similar no matter the brand, so I won’t go into that, but I will comment on the 2 “cons” I noted for this intake. First, the stock airbox has a clip to hold a small bundle or wires in place, the Descendant intake has no such attachment and the wires must simply be zip-tied out of the way. This isn’t really a safety or performance issue, but for someone who likes everything to have its place, it feels a little sloppy. The second “con” is a little more practical. The pipe used for the CAI mounts to the car where the stock snorkel mounted, but requires an adapter as the new mounting bracket sits about 1” above the hole for the original mount. Descendant provided a rubber spacer to fix this, but the metal screws attached to the rubber spacer are just glued and will come loose if you aren’t careful during the installation. I actually pulled the metal screw off the rubber spacer and had to glue it back together. I used household superglue, which worked fine and is still holding strong. Neither of those negatives will affect vehicle reliability or performance (I already raced my car with the intake), but should be considered when buying the intake.

Now to what you really want to know about, performance on the car! Well, I can’t speak to the sound. I have the Torque Solution motor mount installed, and I can’t hear anything from my engine bay but that. Gas mileage has improved, though very slightly (1/2-1 mpg) and the intake does make the car a bit peppier. The extra pep is most noticeable from about 3.5K RPMs to 4.5K RPMs where I had felt a power dip with the stock intake. With the new intake, the dip is gone and power is smooth from idle to redline.

Overall, the Descendant Intake is a good value for the money and I’m glad I bought mine. I love the way it looks and how the power feels smoother throughout the RPMs. There are a couple things I wish Descendant had designed different, but the sacrifices are acceptable to keep the cost down.

 

I call shenanigans! That intake looks way hotter due to your keen eye for design and color accents!

In all seriousness though, how would you judge the connection from the intake to the TB? Do you think the short arm with the filter would have any issues of shaking or working loose since there is no "arm" for a SRI?

Any room on the CAI arm to get a different silicone connector to lengthen the connection to the SRI arm, perhaps letting you get more clearance of the battery/neg terminal to avoid scratches? (bored at work, and the K&N is getting boring for me)

 

LOL, you seem bored at work a lot! Oh, and thanks for the compliment

First, I think the SRI would be fine. The pipe and filter don't weigh much and the connection is pretty solid. I know the stock connection was sure a pain to get off!!!

Second, I don't think a longer connector is really going to help. The pipe is pretty tight on all sides, not just by the battery, and to extend the connection, you'll have to twist the pipe to make it fit, and won't be able to connect the brace to the car.

 

Another day of AutoX today. This was a bigger course with a little more room to pick up speed. Felt like I did a little better today and had some people confirm I really need to upgrade my tires.

Not sure if I'm going to get any action shots like I did last time, but here's one of a bunch of the cars lined up for tech inspection and I set up my camera to take video of the track. So far, I only posted one with my fastest official lap (55.391 sec) though the lap I did with one of the experienced guys after the races was 54.325 sec. Too bad it didn't count. Oh well. I had it confirmed again that I really need to upgrade my tires.



/MightyP01?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/xy1wrbcghSI

 

Nice video how did the car feel in the turns was there alot of understeer? Good job. Tires screaming bloody murder I wonder what your time will be with better tires and mabye some sway bars? Or will that take you out of the st class

 

Even with just the H-Techs, the car feels really balanced, but there is definite under-steer from the tires. Both guys who drove a lap in my car said I should get new tires before doing more upgrades. Said the tires are by far the biggest weak point in my car.

I can do pretty much anything I want to the suspension and remain in ST class. My mod plan is now:

1. Wheels & tires: 18x7.5 wheels and 225/45R18 tires. Any wider bumps me up to the next class
2. Exhaust (mid-range power & sound)
3. Eibach Sportline Springs (stiffer & lower than my H-techs)
4. Sway Bars (probably TRD)
5. Front Strut Tower brace (probably TRD)

Other upgrades while remaining ST Class:
- Crank Pulley
- Header
- Down-pipe
- Stainless Steel braided brakelines
- Slotted & drilled rotors
- Rear strut tower brace

 

Nice video! Looked like a wicked course!

One suggestion...trust your brakes! You can go SO much deeper. Try this at your next event. When you think you should brake, wait, then wait again, then hit the brakes so hard you engage ABS. When you know where that point is, realize how much later you can brake, giving you more time to throttle and make speed.

Oh, and I think you'd like the Prokit better than the Sportlines. The drop actually tends to kill the actual bump in spring rate.

Love how smooth you are though! Its awesome! A little later braking and you should pick up tonnes of time!

When is event 3!? I'm getting anxious here!

 

Thanks and this was actually a much faster and more open course than the first one I drove. And I'll work on braking later next time. Honestly, I'm not even sure what my brakes are capable of. Never felt like I maxed them.

As for the springs, the extra 1/2" messes with the suspension that much that it counters the spring rate? Wow. I honestly wouldn't have though 1/2" would make that much difference.

And thanks, but I think the Yokohamas force me to be smooth. They are very touchy and if you get jerky at all, they give up and you go sailing through cones. But I guess that's a good thing since when I finally get good tires, I'll be able to fly through corners with all the extra grip.

Next event isn't until mid Sep since the other region I go to took Aug off. On the positive side, however, the other region is trying to do 2 events next month, one of which is a driving class. I'd love to get some time with an instructor, so we'll see.

 

Minor Update All.

Ted and DT9 sent me some stickers for my engine bay. I have covered all but one yellow warning stickers (I just noticed the last one today). Sorry the update isn't more exciting. Next race isn't until Sep 11th and I'm on a buying freeze until I find a job.

 

now its on like donkey kong!

the battery one has to be my favorite

..and that scikotics is official? i've been offered to join...but i saw one of the rules was stickers...like there had to be a big one on the front or on the back or something...and then other stickers had to be approved...i'm not sure seemed like a lot just for stickers and i'm pretty picky on how i want mine to look

 

Your engine bay is very nice may I ask what paint and clear coat you used?

 

^ Thanks. And other than the intake, it's all just red caliper paint. Fairly cheap, easy to use and obviously has no problems with the heat.


Yes, it's official. And while I can't speak to other chapters, Scikotics chapters around here are about as formalized as a band of thieves. Some guys sticker bomb their cars while others don't have a single sticker (not even a Scikotics sticker). Until recently, we lost of our dealer sponsor, so our chapter had no stickers to give out anyway. My sticker said the specific chapter where I just wanted a general Scikotics sticker, so I took off that part. Since there are no fees to join or forms to fill out, you can pretty much do whatever you want.

 

I see, maybe I should just talk to the guy in charge of the LA chapter then....he seems really cool. i just takes him forever to return PMs...which is why the most of the info i could find was some kind of "official rules" page.

 

New stickers look great Paul!
Let me know if you need anything other ones.

 

Our chapter is the same way. We text to pass on info and don't really use the Scikotics forum much.