I bought this Ractive style filter with the 3" pipe off ebay for $20+ship.
http://cgi.aol.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2438304042&category=38634
Here's a link to pics of my car and the CAI.
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/439462
I got a 4" to 3" sheetmetal reducer and taped it to the end of the filter with metal foil tape. I then cut the 3"Pipe to the exact length needed to mate up. This can be prepped in 15min. and installs in about 5 easy minutes with clamps to the stock pipe behind the pass headlight. It has cold air (at least after I wrap the chrome pipe with header wrap), won't let water splash onto it, is decent looking, and easy to install. I took it for a test spin and was most surprised how the tires would spin much, much easier than b4 ,even though I had a K&N already on the end of the stock hose. I was lucky enough that they messed up giving my choice of filter, so they let me keep the standard filter and sent me the Ractive heat shielded style to, and with the section I cut off i now have an extra short ram pipe and cone filter spares. The only strange thing is that when I let off the gas I get a gurgling sound. Is this some negative air flow reverb or something or bad for the turbo bearings ?
that looks pretty friggen cool.... why did you do all that stuff after the filter tho? Was it hard modifying that piping to fit... that's a nice looking intake for 20 bucks!
Since the stock inlet pipe behind the passenger headlight is 3 inch pipe and the air filter has a 4" inlet, a 3"-4" adapter is needed which clamps to the stock hose but tapes to the filter because it is the exact same diameter. The only other modifying is cutting the extra length off of the pipe they send you to the exact length needed with a hack saw (carefully) and deburring the edges. I think this is a good and easy CAI. They let you choose which filter out of about 10. This style looked best to prevent heat. I will wrap all non insulated sections soon to maintain cool air only. I think the 3" pipe helps it a lot for quick turbo spool up.
nice thanks!