Is installing a cold air intake and adding a performance chip to your truck worth the money?








1996 Ford Bronco, 351

 

In my opinion I wouldnt do a performace chip unless your going to spend 500$+ on a good one. I would def go with installing a cold air intake though

 

Complete waste of money on both counts.. regardless how much money you spend.

 

Only what you spent on it.

CAI's are only as effective as they actually seal out under-hood air. Too many conventional CAI's DON'T. Much research has been done on this topic. While there are CAI's that work well, thermally insulating the OEM air filter box and intake plumbing has actually shown to be one of the most effective methods of reducing intake air temps for the money. There are folks who may argue this point and thats fine, you can certainly spend a bunch of money on some aftermarket kit but when the research shows that simply insulating the OEM setup works better, I wonder why anyone would.

As for performance chips, again, you can spend all the money... but given that the Bronco (and indeed the F-series line in general) gain more from a less restrictive exhaust and better overall air management, the performance gains can be achieved by actually pinpointing those areas without throwing expensive electronic gadgets into the mix that may improve performance but will leave the problem areas still inhibiting the overall gains.

 

Here is what I did in August.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...xperiment.html

I am still running the air inlet tube from a F-350.
If I use cruise while towing I think it uses more gas but seldom downshifts from OD at 65 mph on the hills. I am extremely pleased with my 5.8. My general observation is the 5.0 owners often improve the exhaust. The 5.8 owners seldom ask for more performance if there are no codes, recent tune up, recent oxygen sensor and vacuum lines have been replaced. I also have a repaired PCM.

 

There is alot of great advice here. I jsut wanted to add along with B4HNTN that you need to make sure that you're 5.8 is running in tip top shape before you start looking at adding things. A good exhaust set-up and tune up witha timing bump will go a long way. You will feel more power from that then a $400 plastic tube and cone filter.

 

He is running Mass air OBD-II system on that 96 bronco. this setup is far more adaptive to a performance chip the our previous OBD-I systems running SD. I would first of course like mentioned upgrade exhaust, intake if money allows and possibly a cam swap.

what info we need is how many miles your motor has on it. how its used, is the bronco lifted and if so what size tires are you running. all this plays a factor in what will give best bang for your buck.

 

oh she runs real good, only one problem, when it gets to be below freezing after a cold start a somewhat loud high pitch humming noise comes from under the hood. i believe its the alternator but i dont really know
and when you say tune up you mean change the plug wires and plugs?