There are many products in the aftermarket realm that aim to free up or create more horsepower. While some of these use biased data or are just plain false, I was eager to try one of the more common products: the cold air intake. I wanted to start with a modern vehicle, with low kilometers and completely stock, to avoid any variables in the results. One problem though: none of my personal vehicles fit the criteria. However, my dad’s 2021 Mustang GT fit the bill, and even better, Christmas was right around the corner.
In case you haven’t gotten into my gifts for my dad on vacation, usually revolves around his Mustang. This works well as he likes to have the produce thrown at his pride and joy and I like to drive the car during the week. Although all the work falls on my lap, and even after the work is finished, the duty to show the results to the public is again mine. Needless to say, it’s a tiring process, but I like knowing that my brothers are fighting a losing battle giving away t-shirts and gift cards in neatly organized bags, compared to me throwing horsepower and looks at their S550.
Trying to eliminate as many variables as possible, we decided to use Aikman Performance’s Dynocom hub dyno. This would eliminate any variable friction loss compared to other banks.
The factory intake on the S550 Mustang is not visually jarring or as hideous as previous years of the Mustang. This adventure wasn’t to clean out the engine bay, but to clean up the buzz of what a well designed cold air intake could do to a tune. Since we were going for horsepower, I decided to use the required tune Steeda Mustang GT ProFlow Open Cold Air Intake paired with an SCT Livewire TS+ Performance Programmer, using the Steeda tune to see what kind of numbers the bank would show.
Before I started throwing engine bay products and uploading CAI tunes, I wanted to see how much power, at the wheels, Ford had given pony buyers. The second step would be to see what gains can be seen with a tune only setup, before the final step of installing the Steeda cold air intake and loading the specific cold air intake map.
Even though it wasn’t mine, I still wanted to play with the SCT Livewire TS+ before handing it over to my dad. I wanted to see how much better the Livewire TS+ was compared to my much older X4. To say I was jealous would be an understatement, as the Livewire TS+ features a 4-inch color touchscreen that offers gauge display, easier menu options, data logging, and even the ability to time event dragstrip-like performance. We won’t even get into the fact that you can use the programmer to get a reverse camera. While my X4 has the same storage and charging capabilities, it’s a far cry from the capabilities seen on the Livewire TS+.
The SCT Livewire TS+’s 4-inch touchscreen allows us to easily navigate screens, upload new songs, and view critical data.
Christmas came early for my dad with Aiken Performance in Cedar Park, Texas, and he opened up an after-hours slot to ride the Mustang on his dyno. While the idea of being the king of the horse table was quickly diminished upon arriving at a shop full of race cars with parachutes on the back, it was still exciting to be in a shop that puts performance first. As the owner and man behind the computer, Jerry Aikman, and I talked, I was quickly uploading the files that Steeda had emailed me to the programmer.
After allowing the engine to warm up and the oil temps to be within spec, which Ford lists as “normal” in their gauge display options, we were ready to go for a few runs. As the engine speed increased and the dyno hubs began to spin at a rapid pace, my ears perked up as the Coyote engine, even in stock form, began to open up. After about 10 seconds the gas pedal was lifted and the dyno squeal was lowered. The factory manual transmission Mustang had mustered a respectable 410.8 horsepower. The second run produced the same horsepower figure.
It was time to start getting more horsepower out of the pony car and we decided to start with a Steeda tune designed to upgrade the stock Coyote engine. Since most bolt-ons that provide the biggest gains in power require a programmer independently, it was a natural step to see what this higher power axle could provide on its own. The Steeda tune for a bone-stock Coyote Mustang netted a 15-horsepower gain, showing 425 horsepower after the second dyno run.
While the tuning gains alone were impressive and showed what Ford had left on the table, I was excited to see what the Steeda intake coupled with the final Steeda CAI mapping could prove. Fortunately, Aikman Performance was also interested and we got to work installing the Steeda Mustang GT ProFlow open cold air intake.
The Steeda ProFlow sealed cold air intake claims to lower intake air temperatures, increase power at all RPMs and reduce heat soak compared to the stock unit.
The factory air intake system, while cumbersome, was easy to remove with simple hand tools. Once removed, the engine bay revealed a large area to install the new Steeda intake with the help of the instructions. Now it was time to see if we could mirror Steeda’s horse claims with an intake and tune.
Again we let the oil temperature return to normal and proceeded to do two more pulls. The computer monitor switched from the gauge display to the dynamic graph and another 10 horsepower was found. The extremely conservative tune from the Steeda wizards along with the Steeda cold air intake revealed a final number of 434.9 horsepower at the wheels. That’s not bad for a simple tune and intake, but you’ve ticked the first few boxes of any bolt-on build.
We gained 24.1 horsepower and 21.8 lb-ft of torque with a cold air intake and tune. However, where the products really shined was on the open road.
The final numbers turned out to be even more impressive when they showed just how conservative the tune was. Had we cranked up the tune a bit, we probably would have squeezed 6 more horsepower out of the engine, but I’ll take that any day, and since this car is meant for street driving, I was happy to see the numbers. increasing Now that the bench part was done, it was time to enjoy the car on the roads of the Texas Hill Country.
While the numbers are great for bench racers, the cold air intake and tuning added a visceral driving experience throughout the mid- and upper-range powerband. Even though I had only restricted myself to the animated driving mode, the changes were obvious and they were for the better. The engine sounded louder and the accelerator pedal also resulted in quicker acceleration. All said and done, this is one modification I don’t regret making for my dad. All that’s left is for him to jump bravely into the passenger seat as my mother takes the wheel again.
