Anyone use a True flow brand air filter on their 5.4's? I'm not a HP junkie, so the 5.4 I have is enough for my use. I'm mainly looking for a "better" filter that will give me a new tube to get rid of the snorkel stuff. I would think that the flex hose has to be slowing down air flow. At least it does on home heating systems. So why not have a solid tube on the truck.

But I do like taking the cooler air from the fender, so I'd like to keep that. From what I can find, only True flow does that. In the end, I'm just hoping to gain a bit of mileage with the dual pipes that came with the truck.

 

Anyone tried one of these?

 

I haven't, but my rhetorical response to this is the same as it is for all the claims made by aftermarket air cleaner makers (K&N et al)...if it's so easy to add HP or improve mileage with a part that would cost the mfg. pennies to do themselves...why don't they do it?

 

One thing is noise. From what I understand, all of the aftermarket straight tubes either "woosh" or whistle a bit. Ford has baffles eliminating that. But that restricts air flow. I was just hoping to hear if anyone has one of these and can say if the noise is OK and if it made any difference.

 

I have a friend who put one on his F-350 Super Duty. He used to swear by K&N, now he swears by True Flow. And since every vehicle that he ran a K&N in made it to at least 250k miles (a 2.9L Ranger up to 320k miles!), I think he may be on to something with the brand change. I can't justify the cost though.

 

I'd like to know more about why he swears by K&N. Is he getting more power (really unlikely given the typical driving profile of a 350), or better mileage, or does he just like it?

I've heard countless stories about K&N accelerating engine wear. If your friend managed to prevent that, I'm guessing he was absolutely fastidious about maintenance, not only of the air filter, but oil and other things, too.

 

I have to admit the guy is rather meticulous. At least as far as cleanliness. As far as I know, the only mechanical maintenance type thing he did was keep the oil changed on a regular basis. I believe the reason he always ran a K&N was that he's a penny pincher. Due to the length of time that he usually owns a vehicle, it was cheaper in the long run to buy one K&N that would last the lifetime of the truck. The Ranger that made it to 320k was a work truck. Used and abused by his employees. The ONLY reason it died was because the guy using the truck at the time forgot to fill it with oil. Didn't burn the oil...just hemorrhaged it through the main seals.

As for the driving style of the 350, I would normally agree with you. He NEVER drives any of his vehicles hard...until this one. I think it's something about feeling the turbo kick in that has him addicted. But with that True Flow and a 4" exhaust, he claims to be getting better mileage (although I don't know how much better).