Purchased and installed 3" tubes from fabtech today.

All-in-all, very easy. Only two tips necessary:

1. The 3" couplers that fit the airbox, they're extremely tight. You really need a combination of a heat gun and silicone spray to get them fitted.

2. The angled silicone couplers are somewhat different. Make sure you've got the smaller one for the driver's side air scoop and the slightly larger one for the passenger's side air scoop connection.

My personal steps:
1. Fit the 3" couplers
2. Attach the angled silicone adapters to the back of the air scoops
3. Insert the tubes into the angled adapters at about a 90 degree angle to their appropriate alignment and then twist them into place.
4. It helps to release the airbox clips so you can lift the airbox a few inches and meet the tube, then you can more easily fit them together and bring them down into place.
5. Secure each of the hose clamps, one to each side of the tube where it meets the silicone adapter.

I went for the heat wrap, so I used black wire ties to hold it on, as shown in picture.

Took me about 1 hour, most of that time was powering through the 3" couplers.

So - the impact. Let the supercharger scream. It absolutely changes the both the frequency and 'loudness' of the supercharger. You'll know it when you're pulling hard

One caveat to be aware of: the driver's side angled silicone coupler attaches to the rear of the air scoop. When it attaches, there's a little bit of daylight, maybe 3/8 of an inch or so. I emailed Steve about this, and of course he responded immediately, and suggests it's nothing to be concerned about. I'll run it for a week or so and see if a few heat cycles shrinks it up a bit (Steve's suggestion).

All in all, I'm very happy.

Sorry for the blurry pictures, my hand shakes a bit.

 

Very nice!

 

Definitely on my wish list.

 

One other thing I should mention, the heat wrap makes the tubes just thick enough that they do put a little upward pressure on the plastic engine cover that clips on above them. It's not enough to prevent the engine cover from holding in place.

I don't think this is a big deal, and I also think that had I known it was going to do this, I probably could have created a slightly different angle with the tubes to prevent it.

However, if you're a stickler or you've replaced the factory piece with a carbon fibre cover, you may want to consider the ceramic coating as it will be thinner.

 

Any in-cabin sound clips?

 

I know the stock tubes, especially drivers side have some restrictions. However, with the S55 tube mod, that is eliminated.. is there really any power to be gained? Has anyone done a before / after to really quantify the gains? I'm just curious.

 

I have not done anything quantifiable ... and I am not the most experienced wrench, driver nor hobbyist around but ...

I don't really expect significant all around HP gain. In my case, I have a tune coming from Eurocharged, and I wanted to make sure that, in general, I was providing enough airflow for the occasions where airflow would matter.

I think it's going to be hard to quantify the gains, and w/o some serious fans, very difficult on a dyno ...

 

I honestly cant imagine these will do much. when the biggest restriction (from what ive read) is our factory airbox. im sure it helps flow, but by a very minuet amount. but they do look a lot better than the factory pieces lol on the other hand if F.P has info to prove us wrong, please do.

 

I'd imagine the largest gain would be increased induction noise

 

Well at least they look good and can't hurt

 

Thanks for the Little DIY!!! Tubes Look good!!

As far as some of you asking about Gains: We don't claim these tubes to add more power, You will maybe see a few ponies at most on a dyno graph. The main thing is that you are adding some serious surface area to a very restricted factory induction system, Thus letting it induct air into the combustion chamber quicker, and adding a sweet sound form the S/C to boot