I was talking to a boy today that does some high performance building and we got on the subject of CAI systems. I told him that i didnt have much get up and go. So we looked under the hook and decided to take the stock plastic intake hose off. So basically i only had the plastic on the top of the manifold. I have a K&n replacement filter and i went around the block and noticed one heck of a difference. And the roar under the hood is niiice! So my question is if i leave it off and just let it suck air from under the hood what could happen? I would only be city driving with it off, i would put it back on for long trips.

 

i cant really see anything "bad" happening... but, you would be allowing warmer air to enter the intake, rather than the "cooler" air from the fender well. i too wonder how this would affect the performance.

have you considered and edge unit? they help quite a bit with the get up and go as well.

 

Yup, warmer air from the engine compartment will make the performance suffer. I had a K&N CAI on my old 5.4 Expy and it was great in the winter and dogged in the summer. As soon as that engine compartment temperature gets north of 90F you'll notice a difference.

 

if you do not want to leave your intake wide open like this do the GOTTS mod on it-- basically remove the last section of the intake and replace it with a section of 3" pvc- it works wonders too

 

I call them hot air intakes.

The extra noise created by the CAI is what makes people think it creates more power.

I had an FIPK on my 95 with mass air and it just made it get worse fuel economy. The only cool thing about it was the sound. It didn't do anything for performance at all.

 

alright I researched the gotts mod, I put the 3" pvc on it and I'm going to see if there is any difference in mileage and acceleration. I did notice that it doesnt sound like i could suck a squirrel up in it anymore. Are you supossed to cut the plastic off the main hose? Those pieces that goes over top of the fan shroud?

 

no... those pieces your thinking of are there to cut down on the intake noise. the gotts mod simply reduces the restriction at the fender well.

 

Some people do that,well for tuner cars and what not,but nothing bad will happen,i just may boost your performance(not 100% tho)but nothing bad will happen.

 

no ---do not cut the entire intake off. look at the end of the intake where it enters the fender well.. track this back to where it accordions..... there are plastic clips in there that come apart. you only want to replace this last section. should be about 4.5".... you will need to reset you computer after doing this. you should notice better acceleration and a little better mpg. I'm averaging 18.3 in mixed driving with the ac on all the time. The only mods i have is the Gotts and duals. I can not burn the tires but my truck squats and goes from the dead stop. I'm debating putting a programmer on it to see what difference that will make. But at 53 years old i really dont need alot of power any more. I gave all that up when i got rid of my 68 and 69 Roadrunners.LOL. PLus if i want a speed demon i'll go out and get me a Mustang Shelby GT

 

When you say reset the computer what do you mean by that? With a programmer or just reset it with a diagnostic scanner?

 

Disconnect the negative battery cable and then turn the ignition to start. You'll instantly drain all stored energy from the PCM and the reset will be complete.

Reconnect the negative cable and start the truck, You will notice some wierd behavior (transmission especially) for the first 100 miles or so until the PCM learns its parameters to live by. (so run it hard! It does make a difference!, PCM will learn what WOT is and how to feed the engine)

 

we i reset the pcm. The guy at the inspection shop said run it 15 miles in town (stop/Go) then 15 miles highway.