I wish it pulled like a v8...lol! I agree...its a refreshing upgrade from the stock setup.

 

I thought you had the WalletRaid (er, uh, Airaid), PNOY?

 

the airaid is a thing of the past...

 

Mike (SoCal)

I was digging through some old posts and I came across this one from you on May 30th. I was just wondering if anything ever became of this.

I may have missed a later post, but just wondering. I took my HHR, with CGS and Anti Sway Bar, out for a long drive this afternoon, I made my wife drive my truck, and it was great. I am glad I did both before our trip on Thursday. I recommend doing both. Thanks John

 

Hi John, I think CGS ditched the heat shield idea as it was too hard to get a working unit. Realistically, it would be so close to the filter and engine that any heat would simply be radiated through to the filter. Also, we found during dyno testing that even though the CGS was pulling hot air, it made the most power, hence no real need for a heat shield. The HHR's Ecotec likes to run at hotter temps, and actually makes more power at 192-200 degrees.

Our "new product" is still in the works, in fact, we are waiting for delivery right now. Look for it up on our site any day now...

 

been waiting to start the mods.....it may be a much shorter wait...

 

My wife and I were planning on ordering a CGS intake from SoCal. This past weekend we attended a local car show and noticed an HHR there. Upon inspection, noticed it had a CGS intake. After talkin to the vehicles owner for a bit, he removed it from the engine. OMG I couldn't f'ng beleive it was made of steel, not just steel, tailpipe material. Three peices, two 90 degree elbows and a straight section, all welded together. His was powder coated a silver color, but the powder coater must have been HIGH that day, the inside of the intake was bare steel. When the carbon in the steel begins to, as we know in older cars, RUST. What happens when the rust breaks free? It is then sent right down that ECOTEC we all talk about.
Ok, I may be new at this, this HHR is the first vehicle in my life that does not have a V8 or larger. But steel. Blows my mind!
So I made ours out of 0.063'' aluminum tubing and painted it the color of the automobile. I will have pics tomorrow, when I get to work. I made it just like CGS' same bracket location etc. Although, I did shorten the horizontal length. The one I saw installed the filter seemed cramed against the fender, reaching for the fresh air inlet. So I shortened the length by .250''.
I dont have a problem witht the cost of their product, seems fair. Not for a steel intake tube. I guessing they have $40 in parts and $100 in labor to build one of these intakes. For the same amount, hire a heliarc welder add $20 to the cost of each intake sold. They should have no problem selling one per HHR build by GM.

Just my change for thought...

Thanks guys for hearing me out.

 

First off, CGS's intakes are made from a continuous piece of mandrel bent metal - they are not welded in sections. Second, when was the last time you saw an intake rust out? If you are ingesting that much moisture into your intake tract, I think you will have more serious problems to worry about!

CGS makes their intakes out of the same steel they build aftermarket exhausts out of - and those tubes don't have any history of rusting out. With thousands on the road and no rust complaints (and ther is a LOT of moisture in exhaust systems!), I don't think you'll have much to worry about in an intake application.

The filter is also an oiled gauze type - this means it will always be sending a fine mist of oil down the intake tube (don't believe me? Take one off after running it a few weeks and run your hand inside.), which should preclude any rust from forming.

I can understand you having a different point of view about their intake, but CGS makes intakes by contract for Ford, GM, and Daimler-Chrysler's special build vehicles - and as their ads state; "if the big three trust them - why can't you?"

Regarding cost of build, you left out one vary important factor; research, development and testing. CGS was the first to bring an intake to market for the HHR - and it is a top performer! We worked with AEM six months ago (they had our HHR in 3 times), and ended up scrapping the project - no intake. K&N has been working on theirs for just as long and is just now getting ready to bring an ointake to market - why? Because the HHR's ecotec engine is a whole different animal from what these folks think they know. the flow dynamics and back pressure requirements to make power are sending many designers back to the chalkboards scratching their heads. CGS had teh good fortune to do some prior work for GM on another Ecotec-based vehicle so they had already discovered what was needed to get it to work. That in itself justifies them to sell a $20 piece of steel for whatever they want - and believe me, they are making much more on it than I am! (*BTW: tehy do all their designing, mandrel bending & welding (of MAF sensors & supports), in house.)

Finally, CGS is not THE best intake builder in the world, but currently they do make "the product to beat" when it comes to the HHR. If anyone releases one that outperforms it, you can bet we'll be on board with it. I doubt that will happen anytime soon though....it just works too good!

 

If I have the sport suspension what does the anti-sway bar help with?

 

So what are you running now? Your cardomain site still lists the Airraid and it is in your favorite links..
What did you replace it with and why?