Installing Steeda’s Pro Flow cold-air intake for the 2015 Mustang GT
By Steve Turner
Despite all the advancements found in the latest Mustangs, the tried and true hot-rodding techniques still work. Fortunately for those of us that like to play with cars, easy bolt-on parts still provide gains, which makes for fun and satisfying driveway work for do-it-yourself enthusiasts.
One of the most popular mods for a modern Mustang is a cold air intake, and one of the latest versions available for the 2015 Mustang is from Steeda. The company really took its time refining the product to ensure that the fit, finish, and performance were up to the standards of its customers.
Before getting started, Jamie Bell laid out the parts of the Steeda Pro Flow cold air intake and the tools necessary to install the system. It’s definitely a job that anyone with basic mechanical acumen can handle.
“This Steeda ProFlow Mustang Cold Air Intake for 2015 Mustang GT Manual opens up the intake system of Ford’s new 5.0-liter power plant and allows it to breathe much more freely than the stock intake system allows—taking your 2015 GT Mustang to the next level of performance,†says the company. “Our engineers started with a large surface area high-flow, nano-fiber air filter, added our famous, ‘race-tested’ velocity stack entry and then designed a black powder-coated heat shield with a durable rubber gasket to seal the shield against the vehicle’s hood.â€
We made a trip up to the company’s Valdosta, Georgia, manufacturing facility to catch some of its new S550 parts coming right off the production line. While we were there, we documented the installation of the Steeda S550 cold-air intake (PN 555-3193; $394.95). Follow along as Steeda technician Jamie Bell installs the kit and see how easy it is to free up some additional airflow and performance from your new Mustang.
Jamie started by unplugging the mass air sensor and disconnecting the factory fasteners and vacuum connections.With the factory inlet removed, he turned his attention to joining the Steeda billet mass air housing with the Steeda air box using the supplied Allen-head fasteners. The Steeda mass air features a velocity stack inlet and uses an reducer insert for tune-free applications. However, you can remove the insert if you plan to flash the PCM with an aftermarket calibration.Rather than creating its own fresh air duct, Steeda chose to mate its air box with the factory duct, as its engineers believe the ample factory pathway provides plenty of airflow from the scoop behind the grille.With the duct in place, Jamie navigates the heat shield into place and joins the duct with the factory scoop. The Steeda air box mounts using factory mounting locations using a mixture of factory and supplied fasteners.Steeda’s engineering team worked hard at developing an air box that will fit every iteration of the S550 platform so far—V-6, EcoBoost, and GT—while leaving plenty of clearance for its high-flow nano-fiber air filter.With the mass air and filter in place, Jamie swapped the factory mass air sensor into the billet Steeda mass air housing.Jamie suggests installing this adapter in the hose and then pushing it into the inlet tube, as the factory connector is a snug fit over the billet fitting.Jamie then installed the inlet tube joining the mass air housing with the throttle body. Steeda engineers went through several iterations of this tube to get the fitment just right, and this is the final design.Like the shape of the tube itself, Steeda’s team put a lot of effort into properly locating the connections for these vacuum fittings. Jaime said that putting them in the wrong spot could cause an oil consumption issue.While the Steeda kit utilizes the factory inlet duct, you do lose this muffler, simply cut it off and install the supplied plug in the duct.Here’s the completed install. The inlet tube is a prototype unit, so the production versions will be pure black plastic that matches the air box. You can retain the factory Induction Sound Tube if you like, or use the supplied plugs to delete it as shown here.We were at Steeda’s Valdosta, Georgia, facilities to install the final hot-off-the-presses kit, but Steeda tested the system on its Dynojet at the Pompano Beach, Florida, campus. In stock form, the company’s 2015 Mustang GT put down a stout baseline of 392.47 horsepower and 361.69 lb-ft of torque. Adding the Pro Flow cold-air with the no-tune sleeve, the car picked up peak-to-peak gains of 10.09 horsepower and 8.79 lb-ft of torque. Removing the sleeve and adding a Steeda calibration, via an SCT Performance tuner, added another 13.13 horsepower and 6.37 lb-ft of torque.
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