[daoud]

Over the last week and a half I've managed to get some good mods done....

First, the Hunter brush guard. I won't post images of the install, as others have done a fine job of that. I will say that cutting the necessary holes in the plastic cover underneath the car was WAY more difficult than I had expected from some of the posts I've read. Especially on the passenger side- putting the main mounting bracket on that side was difficult all the way around. Just not much clearance to get the hardware in there. Once that was done, it was all smooth sailing. The thing is rock-solid once it's all torqued down. A little Satin Black spray paint on the exposed hardware and good to go! Also installed Grille-Tech upper and lower grille guards which you can't see very well.

Next, the Steelcraft tail light guards- VERY well made and finished IMO. Installation took me a minute to figure out- I have to say that the instructions are less than stellar, as was the case with the brush guard too. These guards have two bolts which replace the OEM bolts, and a bracket which stands the forward part of the guard away from the lens of the taillight.That part is a bit fiddly and you have to line it all up right( I used duct tape to hold it in place) and then gave the rear of the lens a good smack to get it popped back in. The only thing the bracket is secured to is a plastic stud which helps hold the lens in place- could be made a lot sturdier with some further modification.

Finally(and I know it's not an exterior mod, but while I'm on a roll here....), the K&N Typhoon- I'm posting a picture of all the crap I had to take off- It was pretty amazing!

GOOD instructions with this one- nice stuff-looks good too, eh?

Next is the exhaust and I think some nerf bars and then I'm gonna give it a rest.

 

[Culinary Wolf]

Have to say I like the placment of this intake a lot more than most of the others out there. Would not be hard to seal it for the factory intake air. Most are higher in the block where the heat is getting pushed to.

How has been the performance vs the stock box ?

Grill gaurds look great also. I like the tail guards !

 

[BLK BOX]

Looks great dude! I've always wanted to get a brush guard for my E but my concern is how heavy they are, will it hinder the gas mileage? Love the tail guards too!

 

[daoud]

Thanks for the flowers, y'all....I haven't yet figured the MPG since I put on the Typhoon but just looking at the gas gauge it doesn't look like it's used any more fuel than it did previously- can't tell if it's using less, though. I'm pretty amazed my fuel economy isn't WAY worse-as others have posted, you sure have a tendency to romp on the accelerator just to hear it go BWAHHHHH!!!!! It's pretty noticeable under hard acceleration! And when the engine's cold and you start it up there's a giant sucking sound- thing gulps some air.

The brush guard's shipping weight was 50 lbs, and that caused me some concern. But several folks here have said they haven't seen any differences in handling or fuel economy since installing one. If you think about it it's not that much weight- like having a big dog strapped to your hood, is all. Or a kid.
I can honestly very highly recommend the eBay seller truckgeardirect- actually that's Hunter itself, and the guards are shipped from Houston (Although they talk about "factory direct" the box was stamped "Made in China," which was a bit disappointing) and they had my guard sitting at my door less than a week after I ordered it.
I got the taillight guards on eBay as well from us-autopartsdepot for $49.99 shipped- a heckuva deal- fast service as well. The Typhoon was $159.85 shipped from eBay seller carparts- cheapest I found it anywhere.
I likes me some eBay!

 

[Eww-an E]

Looking good there Sir.8) I take it you're happy with the Tyhpoon kit?

 

[zachjowi]

good looking stuff, I have that same brush guard and I'm working on getting some custom plates made to put it on my 2009 Looks like I will have to add some tail lights covers if I can find them, and the air intake.

 

[daoud]

Looking good there Sir.8) I take it you're happy with the Tyhpoon kit?

Thankee kindly- Yes, I'm very happy with the Typhoon, and I thank you for your recommendations. It's been a good experience- the instructions were perfect and everything went where it was supposed to go. And it seems to do what it's supposed to do. I'm anxious to see how it performs when I get the new exhaust put on......might be like a rocket sled on rails! Or not so much, probably. But it will probably sound good and hopefully the performance will pick up a tad. At first I thought the E was underpowered, but it's not, really. I just hadn't driven a four cylinder much in the last 15 years. I forgot you gotta wind 'em out. Takes a bit of getting used to- I just have to remind myself that the engine's really NOT going to blow up, and that it's O.K. the revs are that high. So it's not really slow but every little edge can help, and sound better to boot....

 

[DarkElement07]

Very nice...

That looks good, very clean look. I like what you got going on.

 

[daoud]

Thanks! Like I said, the stuff was all well-made and fits right. You can't even see the brush guard while you're driving. All I did was put it all together.
Actually I thought my head was going to explode during that installation. Got kinda frustrating for a minute. But I knew other people had done it so it MUST be possible.

Painting the bare metal bolts really helped. It just looks like it belongs there now.
I can get some black Steelcraft nerf bars for $150.00 shipped- I'm thinking that would kind of round out the look.

 

[Eww-an E]

Thankee kindly- Yes, I'm very happy with the Typhoon, and I thank you for your recommendations.

You're quite welcome,I'm glad to hear you're happy with your purchase.

 

[zachjowi]

Could I please get some more pictures of the tail light guards. Pics of where they are mounted, multiple angles, etc. I am trying to design some of my own and you are one of the few people I know that have them.

Thanks

 

[daoud]

No problem, although I hope you're not in too big of a hurry......not very good picture-taking weather here at the moment. If you don't mind I will leave the guards in place for the "photo shoot" - as I said they were a tad finicky to get perfectly lined up. If you're making your own guards I hope you will be able to create a better mounting method for the forward bracket which as I mentioned is mounted to a piece of plastic- you'd have to do some drilling but it would be MUCH sturdier. So probably tomorrow for the pix, OK?

 

[zachjowi]

No problem, although I hope you're not in too big of a hurry......not very good picture-taking weather here at the moment. If you don't mind I will leave the guards in place for the "photo shoot" - as I said they were a tad finicky to get perfectly lined up. If you're making your own guards I hope you will be able to create a better mounting method for the forward bracket which as I mentioned is mounted to a piece of plastic- you'd have to do some drilling but it would be MUCH sturdier. So probably tomorrow for the pix, OK?

When you get a chance to post that would be great. I'm going to make a prototype using some copper pipe and see how close I can get.

 

[Soylent Green NJ]

Looking real good! I did the tail light guards too. Like the K&N intake install. Mine already had a K&N filter inside the stock airbox so I left it alone for now.