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I have friends who own rice burners and they have drilled holes in their air boxes to gain some performance, and i have seen that they do gain some HP. My question is, would the same thing be true for me and my 1982 I6 powered F150, if i were to drill holes into my metal air filter housing?
No, you'd get less power because you be pulling in hotter air. That air cleaner can flow enough air for an engine half again the size of yours, so don't worry about it being restrictive. Make sure the fresh-air duct is intact all the way thru the core support so you get cool dense outside air.
keep your stock air filter assembly. ford was smart when they came up with that idea. you have a cold air intake, stock. what more can you ask for. i had to put a piece of 1/4 inch square hardware cloth over my opening behind the grille because i couldnt keep birds out of it. they kept on making nests in the tube.
"No, you'd get less power because you be pulling in hotter air."
"ford was smart when they came up with that idea. you have a cold air intake, stock. what more can you ask for."
Ok I might have a no brainer question here but. I have an 84 Econoline 4.9 carberated, 2 years ago some ham and egger switched the carberator with an electronic choke. He took the tube off that forces air into the air cleaner housing and said it wasn't need.
Shouldn't I block off the big hole where the other tube used to collect heat off the exhuast manifold to operate the choke and put the forced cold air tube back on.
Also is that flap in the air cleaner housing needed there if I have an electronic choke now.
I'm sure this is why I get such terrible gas mileage (on the highway noless)
That won't affect your mileage much if any. The heat riser tube (that goes to the ex man) doesn't have anything to do with the choke, other than being active at the same time. It just tries to get warm air when the outside air is too cold to vaporize the gas. It improves cold starting & idling, so if you're not having problems in those areas, don't worry about it. The flap needs to stay to keep it blocked off.
You should replace the cold air intake, though, but don't expect an increase in mileage. For that, you need good general maintenance and repairs, & a tune-up.
Well then, shouldn't the heat riser tube be put back on.
I do have trouble in the winter, example, it starts fine but after driving an hour or two and then letting it sit for an hour or two its very hard starting, also if I let it low idle and go back in the house it will sometimes stall. This is anytime its under around 40 degrees.
I don't understand if these parts where needed when the van came from the factory why are they just (well you don't need that anymore)
The heat riser tube won't help a cool restart problem.
The factory puts those parts on there because they don't know if the truck will be used in the Mojave desert, the Louisiana swamps, or the Alaskan tundra. The heat riser is really only useful (but probably still not necessary) in the far north.
You might have to surf around this site a little to get the picture.
I did a variation on this for Clyde using aluminum drier venting, hvac ducting and another aircleaner base. I modified an air cleaner bottom to accept the 4" tubing, opened a larger hole in the radiator support behind the grille using a galvanized metal forced air floor vent to funnel into the tubing, added a K&N and my 460 has all the cool, higher pressure air it can use. Less than $20 and a few hours of head scratching.