I wish I would have discovered A7's before I got all my ERA's...sure, a stock A7 does fall short of an ERA but if you have the tools and ability to drill the cap for side air (after you screw on the cap and mark where your coil will be) then seal the A7 to your Grand/Ali/Bogger/whatever...with an o ring (so it's no longer bottom air), it works every bit as well as an ERA, I agree it's physical size is a consideration, but if you can drill SS and size isn't an issue you can save yourself a wack of cash (and wait time) with no loss in performance...as far as build quality goes, I guess a fair analogy would be comparing a the fit/finish of a $25,000 car to that of a $75,000 car? do you need heated leather seats, a 10 speaker touchscreen GPS/entertainment system and a walnut burl dash to go fast?
Feisty Alice, the A7 is actually SS...you should be able to take it apart and heat tint it...I have several ERA's and I've turned the caps into a Brass colour, blue, purple and black...just depends on how long you swirl it under a propane torch...SS oxidizes with heat and depending on how hot you get it depends on the colour achieved...I haven't actually done an A7 yet (I will this weekend) but with the ERA's...wash your parts really good then wipe them down with alcohol (you don't want any contaminants blotching up an even colour)...string them through a coat hanger and swirl them through the flame of a good hot propane torch to get even heating...as the SS heats it will start turning a muddy yellow, then go to a golden colour, then start getting brassy, then go to a muddy brown, then start to blue, then purple then ultimately a dark dark purpley black, careful not to go to long. when done set it on a cookie sheet to cool slowly (don't quench in water!). The parts stay shiny, just a different colour...and unless you take a power buffer and polishing compound to it, the colour is permanent.
