I bought a'95 F350 5.8L a couple weeks ago as a work truck around the house and for 4 wheel drive when it snows... I was wondering about upgrading the air intake with a K&N and noticed there are 2 intakes. Would it be beneficial to replace both, convert 2 into 1, or not bother with it at all? Price per air intake is about $250. Thoughts?

 

The best Cold Air Intake (CAI) is the snorkel from a 300 (4.9) or 460 (7.5) engine. There is nothing to be had from a K&N (Hot) Air intake, other than a lighter wallet. It's a waste.

I bought into that years ago, fortunately only for the filter media. That's a waste. Have to clean it, then re-oil it. And then when re-oiling it, your down waiting for the media to absorb. If your don't, then you run the chance of contaiminating the MAF sensor if you have one (Yours doesn't)....And I did some research and found it allows more trash to pass through...Nah, it wasn't for me.

I'll stick with a good quality OEM filter and change every 12,000 miles or so.
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^^^This^^^

K&N is only good at draining your wallet. An increased airflow isn't going to do you any good without increasing the flow of your exhaust, anyway...

 

Thanks for the advice!
So if I upgraded the exhaust would it then make sense to upgrade the air intake/ cold air intake? Would I be able to add a mass air sensor? Is that even possible or useless unless my engine came with one? I apologize, as you can tell I'm a novice.

 

The stock intake with free flowing filter is plenty adequate, don't do anything fancy there.

Long tubes are king.

You won't benefit from mass air unless you want to change the cam outside the speed density limitations.

 

As previously stated the factory intake is not the bottleneck on these trucks. Swap out the air snorkel that pulls in air from between the hood and radiator support for one that pulls in air from behind the grille. These came on trucks with the 4.9L and 7.5L engines.

The factory torpedo converter is a cork in the exhaust. I replaced mine with a high flow Magnaflow when I swapped on a Bassani Y-pipe to the factory manifolds. I did not convert to long tube headers because of the added cost of them plus custom exhaust work. I was able to use off the shelf pieces for the entire exhaust. It saved me money, time and was a decent cost to benefit ratio IMHO. Others swear by long tube headers, some swear at them. If you can spring for a bit more coin then by all means go all in with long tube headers and custom exhaust.

Your 1995 5.8L engine most likely has a roller cam so a set of 1.7 ratio roller rockers are highly recommended by most on this forum.

You should also bump the factory timing of 10 BTDC to something in the 12-14 range. It takes a few tries to find what works for your truck. IIRC my old 1992 was happy with 12 BTDC and no pinging.

The basic mods will keep you in range for the EFI system to handle and easier on the wallet.

After those basic mods it's going to take more money to add TQ/HP for heads, a bigger cam, better intake, etc. Then the factory EFI system needs to be upgraded.

If you have the E4OD automatic transmission you might consider a Punsiher valvebody. It really firms up the shifts.

 

I have/did essentially this.^^^

JBA SS shorties (now wrapped), 2.5 to single 3 inch out Bassani Y pipe, magna flow cat, 3 chamber magna flow muffler. All stainless save for one hanger & a pair of bolts.

I can drop or install it in about 20 minuets with a cordless impact.

No rattles, no leaks & in the way of nothing.

Sounds decent when I get on it, there's an extra umph that wasn't there stock & I don't **** off the neighbors.

 

this is a huge help, I really appreciate it!

 

I'm purchasing new wheels & tires & shocks....worth it to upgrade/replace leaf springs as well?..it is a 21year old truck...

 

If it isn't broken, don't fix it.

 

Depends on how the truck was treated. When I went to replace replace mine I found out that all the leaves were broken in half- surprised it didn't come apart.

 

Exactly my thoughts last night, but hesitated to write. There's probably something needs actual fixin before fixin what ain't broke.