A guy I work with wanted to know if cold-air intakes were available for his 1988 F-150 with a 5.0.

He suggested swapping a throttle body from a mustang onto the truck but wasn't sure if that was possible. His current throttle body has 2 separate ports in the throttle body as opposed to 1 single opening.

 

What are you trying to accomplish??

 

He wants to get rid of his air box and install a cold air intake, similar to the ones you would see with a large chrome tube coming off the throttle body and a cone styled air filter at the other end.

He has no way of mating the tube to his current throttle body since it has two separate ports at the entrance.

 

K&N makes an open filter for the dual tube setup, but I don't know if I'd call it "cold air."

 

The factory intake actually draws air from outside the engine compartment via a little scoop protruding just above or through the grill. The K&N type filters usually draw from inside the engine compartment so in that respect they are a step backwords. In any case there are ZERO gains to be had with any intake modifications on the 5.0 truck motor.

 

I wouldn't say that gains are zero. Some of the inlet plumbing is pretty restrictive. The fresh air inlet on my truck had a smaller area than one of the two throttles.

 

Well, having tested one of my 5.0 trucks with the stock filter and no intake plumbing what so ever(just bare throttle bodies), I didn't see any difference in performance at the dragstrip. There may have been a small difference but I'm thinking a dyno would be needed to see it. In comparison a cat back exhaust on the otherwise stock motor produced a just noticable difference in performance.

 

So in other words he is looking for looks and bragging rights??

 

A simple way to change or improve the air intake is to take the factory air intake that runs from the radiator support to the air box from a 460 V8 equipped F250. No modifications are necessary--the hole in the radiator support is already there on 5.0 equipped trucks and the end that fits into the air box is the same outside diameter as the original 5.0 intake.The intake area is much imprived over the small restricted 5.0 factory intake.

If you have a bug shield on the front of the hood that extends down to between the hood leading idge and the grill--this modification will especially improve performance. The difference can be felt especially at highway speeds and when the air is cold during the winter.

The 460 intake tube almost makes it easier to work on the engine ---it is down low--and runs thru the radiator support wall-- and doesnt run over the top of the radiator support like the factory 5.0 intake. And it cleans up the engine bay area. The only down side is that the intake opening is lower than the factory 5.0 opening--and may be a problem when fording high water offroad.

 

Paul, I don't discredit your findings at all for the newer trucks, however on my truck I did notice a difference in just a drop-in panel filter and removing the ducting upstream of the filter. I know that Ford corrected this after 87, so maybe what I felt only holds true for 87 year trucks.

 

I posted and did some "research" on this too. I found a few guys add some numbers up, and No, you dont gain anything really.

What I did i go to the junkyard and found a ford with a 460 motor. I took the duct off and replaced it from the stock one. It not sucks air from the grille next to the radiator instead of by the hood. I think it sucks cooler air. $5

 

I agree with phoneman91. On my 88 Bronco 302, I swaped air intakes with one I found off a f150 with a 300 I6. Easy mod, and only $3 at a junkyard. Also, the stock 302 intake has, at least on mine, a silencer baffle on the end inside the air box. The one I put on there from 300 I6 motor did not.

Daniel

 

I'm not sure that there are ZERO gains. Probably close to none with a stock 5.0 motor, and not worth the time or money. So I guess for most applications, we are in agreement- The intake is not the bottleneck on stock 5.0 trucks.

With an aggressive cam and upgraded cylinder heads, intake modifications do in fact make a noticable improvement. Especially towing, staying in OD up hills and most importantly - fuel economy. I grabbed 48 miles more on one tank of gas (45 gallon tank) with the airbox install. It was the same 80 mile commute to work, and I was a bit heavier on my throttle playing with the new box.

I got bored a while back and bolted back up my stock system and drove it for a week. Very noticable difference climbing Stevens Pass heading to Seattle. The truck ran warmer, downshifted more up hills, and lost a good bit of top end (>2,500rpm) with the stock setup.

If I was a rich man I would bolt up the stock OEM induction (52mm TB, airbox, and drop in filter) components and run a dyno for you. Then bolt up my induction mods and run another. At $150/hr in town here, thats outside my budget. If someone around has a dyno for me to use in the Seattle or Wenatchee area, I'd be more than obliged to video tape and post both runs.

Just my experience

Mike

 

That's a great example actually illustrating what has to be done to a 5.0 truck motor before the intake tract becomes a bottleneck. Mikes's motor will outflow a 5.0HO, and that motor(the HO) comes stock with more cam and bigger exhaust system than any of the trucks ever did. I know people start out looking for the simple bolt on things that add a little hot rod appearance and sound to a vehicle.. and that's fine, as long as you realize that's about all it will accomlish on an otherwise stock '88 truck motor.

 

Ah..the 88 Truck motor comes with the old firing order I take it?? Not the 1-3-7... 351/HO firing order. Maybe his first logical modification would be to swap out the stock exhaust for long tubes?? Then you could have an exhaust shop weld up a free flowing Y pipe.

For the price of the advertised CAI box setups I've seen online ($200-400), you could pick up a set of longtubes AND a brand new exhaust system for the same price. That would open up the old 5.0 better than a cold air system.