Installation Time
(approx) 1 Hour
Difficulty Level:
Simple installation for anyone.
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Justin: The C&L Intake that we have here today is currently one of the most affordable options for the 2018 and newer GT owners looking to get an open element, no-tune required aftermarket system under the hood. Now, the C&L will deliver a powder-coated, black aluminum intake tube along with your reusable oiled filter and heat shield, all for the low $200 price point.You're gonna be looking at a simple bolt-on install here, guys, so figure a soft one out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter, maybe an hour to complete from start to finish as we'll show you later in the video.All right, guys, so if you're checking out the C&L here today, then chances are you're in the market for an intake but would prefer to keep things a little bit more budget-friendly. Now if that sounds like the case, then the C&L is certainly gonna be a great choice because, again, at the time of this video, you're actually looking at the most affordable option again for the 2018 and newer GT.Now, as far as what's included, well, you are getting a powder-coated, wrinkle-black aluminum intake tube here, which I like because it's a nice clean appearance. It's a low profile look once installed, and ultimately that aluminum material is gonna be great at preventing heat soak. Now, the C&L does also include a reusable high-flow oiled filter that, yes, is washable. It is reusable, which will ultimately save you some dough in the long run as opposed to just replacing those cheap paper element factory filters every 10,000 miles or so.But outside of the intake tube and that high-flow oiled filter, the C&L kit does also include, as you can see, rather a large heat shield here that will help isolate that filter from the hot engine bay air, along with the included weatherstripping that will seal that air box to the underside of the factory or aftermarket hood.Now, ultimately, guys, going with a sealed enclosure will return slightly lower intake air temperatures. So, if that is ultimately a concern for you guys, I would certainly consider one of the many aftermarket options with a sealed air box here on the site. But just keep in mind that those typically are a little bit more costly.Well, let's talk benefits because, obviously, there are a few expectations when installing something like this. And the biggie, no doubt, with that open element design is gonna be a lot more sound under the hood along with a more modified look, of course, compared to that factory air box. But of course, we've got some power expectations as well with something like this. And listen, guys, I try to be pretty honest when discussing this topic because a lot of manufacturers will throw big-time horsepower and torque claims out there with some of their systems.And what I'm gonna tell you is it's been my experience over the years that something like this is gonna result in maybe high single digit, low double-digit gains best case scenario without the use of any custom or CAN tuning. Now, ultimately, yes, CAN tuning or custom tuning will maximize the gains through an intake like this, but at the end of the day, I just want you guys to be realistic with your power expectations when switching to an aftermarket option, such as the C&L.Now, before we get into the install, I do wanna mention that the C&L does include all of the necessary clamps, couplers, hardware, all that good stuff to make for a very easy and painless install.Now let's talk about that installation again, and I'm happy to say that, listen, guys, if you have a little bit of mechanical know-how and even a generic set of hand tools at home, well, then you should be able to get this intake in place and rather easily. So, to give you a better idea of just what you're in for at home, in the garage, or the driveway, feel free to check out our detailed walkthrough and tool breakdown now.Man: The tools you'll need for this project are a 3/8 power ratchet or a standard ratchet, a short extension, a 10-millimeter socket, a 1/4-inch drive ratchet, a short extension, a 7-millimeter socket, an 8-millimeter socket, a T20 Torx bit, a 6-millimeter Allen wrench, a 2.5-millimeter Allen wrench, a pair of pliers, and a trim removal tool. Hi, everyone. Today we're installing a cold air intake on our Mustang, but before that, let's watch a short video on how to uninstall the stock air filter first.Woman: Okay, so the first step in our install, once the hood is popped, is to grab a trim panel removal tool and remove two covers on each side of the engine cover to expose some nuts that we have to remove. Okay, so you will see two little cutouts on either side of this cover. Just take the end of your tool and pry up in one of the cutouts, and this should come out. Repeat that process on the other side. So, there are two 10-millimeter nuts, one in each side of the cover. You're gonna want a 10-millimeter socket if you can find one and a nice long extension to make sure you can get on the nut. Go ahead and loosen it up and remove it. Repeat that on the other side.Okay, now that these nuts are removed, you can grab your cover on the edges and pull it off. There should be several clips that you just need to release in order to remove the cover. Okay, now we can disconnect the MAF harness, pull back on the red tab. It might be hard to see, but it's on the bottom here. Press down and release. Now, you can release this vacuum line on your intake tube. Press down and release it.Next up, we're gonna remove this crank case vent line. There's a blue tab, press back on the blue tab and it should come free. Just press backwards on this blue tab here to release those.Okay, now you can grab a set of pliers and release the sound tube. Go ahead and squeeze the clamp and you should be able to wiggle the tube off. Now, if you can't get it off by hand, you can gently pry back on the tube with a flathead. Just be careful not to damage the rubber. Next up, grab your flathead screwdriver and loosen up the clamp holding on your tube to your throttle body. Go ahead and wiggle it to remove it. All right, grab your 10-millimeter socket again and go ahead and remove the bolt holding on the air box.All right, now we do have to remove this one pop clip that holds the MAF sensor connector line onto the air box. So, go ahead and grab a pop clip removal tool. Go ahead and pull that off. This back part of the sound tube is also connected to the air box. Just grab and pull it up and out of the way. Now that everything is disconnected from the air box, we can grab it and lift it out and off of the car.Man: Now before we get to the actual install of our new cold air intake, we're gonna need to transfer our mass airflow sensor from the old system to the new system. To do this, we're gonna use a T20 Torx bit to remove the mass airflow sensor from the old system, and we're going to use a 2.5-millimeter Allen head screw to install it in the new system. Now, we can install the sensor into our new tube, making sure, of course, that your holes line up. If they don't line up, that means you've installed it backwards, so just flip it around and everything will be fine. And then, like I said, using a 2.5-millimeter Allen wrench, we can go ahead and install this on the new tube. Now you wanna make sure to tighten this down, but don't over-tighten it.Now, our next step is going to be to install the weatherstripping that's supplied in the kit along this top edge here and around the bottom. To do that, we're simply gonna push it over the edge and make sure that it seats down all the way. Now it's not real difficult, but it is a little time-consuming making sure that it seats properly and goes all the way around the corners. And there you go.Now, one last thing to do before we actually start the install is we've gotta go ahead and finish removing our sound tube. To do that, we're gonna have to pull out this push pin right here, pull it off of the firewall, and then we can remove the sound tube from the firewall itself. Now, once we get that pulled off, we're gonna replace it with this plug supplied in the kit. So, let's go ahead and get that done.Now, it is a little bit difficult to get the camera back in here, but you know where the hole is at since you just pulled the tube out. So, we're just gonna go ahead and put this plug in here. Now, it is a little tight to get down in there, but with a little bit of work, you can get it done. Now, we can go ahead and install our heat shield. And we're going to install this using this bottom hole right here and the supplied 6-millimeter Allen head bolt for the bottom, and then we're going to use the original 10-millimeter bolt for the original air filter through this bracket right here in the original location.Now, it is a little difficult to get the right camera angle in here, but the hole itself is right down here at the bottom. So, we're gonna put our bolt in there and then see if we can locate the hole to thread it into. There we go. Now, like I said, we'll use our 6-millimeter Allen head wrench and tighten that down. And now we'll go ahead and tighten down our top bolt using our 10-millimeter wrench.Now we can go ahead and install our rubber vibration isolator into this top hole of the heat shield here, and we'll secure it using the small washer and the 10-millimeter nut on the outside.All right, now we can go ahead and install our intake tube. In order to do that, we're gonna use one of the larger clamps and just slide it over the top of the tube, making sure that the bolt head on top is accessible once we get it installed. Then we can slide our coupler onto the tube. We're not gonna put the clamp on just yet because we need to get final fitment. Then we can take our smaller clamp, slide it over the other end, again making sure that the bolt head is facing top so you've got easier access to it.Now, before we actually install this, your mass airflow sensor connector, I'm gonna recommend that you lay that over top of the weatherstripping on the heat shield just to make it easier to connect to the mass airflow sensor once it's installed. Now, you also wanna make sure that this bracket on the bottom of your intake tube sits over top of the stud on the isolator that we just previously installed on the heat shield.Now, once you've got it into position, you can go ahead and tighten down your clamps using your 8-millimeter socket. Now we can go ahead and install our larger washer and our nut on the isolator and secure that with our 10-millimeter socket. Now we can go ahead and reconnect our vacuum line to this side of the tube. And now we'll hook up our PCV line to the other side like so. Now we can go ahead and hook up our mass airflow sensor. And don't forget to push in the red tab at the top.Now we can go ahead and slide our clamp over our air filter, making sure that the bolt head is in a position that we'll be able to tighten it down once we get it installed. We'll go ahead and slide our air filter over the end of our tube and tighten the clamp down with our 8-millimeter socket. And finally, we'll just go ahead and reinstall our engine cover and secure it with the 10-millimeter bolts that came with it.And that wraps up our review and install of the C&L Cold Air Intake for the '18 to current Mustang GT. Thanks for watching, and remember, for all things Mustang, keep it right here at americanmuscle.com.
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Features, Description, Reviews, Q&A, Specs & Installation
Brand | C&L |
Cold Air Intake Type | Cold Air Intake |
Air Intake Tuning Requirements | No Tune Required |
Cold Air Intake Filter Type | Oiled |
Cold Air Intake Tube Material | Aluminum |
Fitment:
C&L 413513
CA Residents: WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm - www.P65Warnings.ca.gov
Installation Info
Installation Time
(approx) 1 Hour
Difficulty Level:
Simple installation for anyone.
What's in the Box
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