hmmm you guys make very good points. You know to be truthful, If I had run into this thread before I bought the K&N...I might have stuck with the stock filter. I'm not kicking myself or anything...just would have had more to base my expensive decision on. Either way..it's on now and the stock filter is in a box in my garage. I'm sticking with my purchase and will look a the dust cover for it.


Thanks for all your input. The K&N stays.

 

Thanks for all the feedback in this thread. I was in the market for an airfilter/intake but after all this I think I will just stick with the stock one and save my money for the Banks kits. As for the Zoodad mod. Anyone have any instructions for this?

 

I hear you, but by in here, do you mean FTE or the Cold Air Intake Systems thread?

I think a lot of folks are interesting in performance enhancements for their trucks or just like to know what other people are doing. In the past, many vehicles have suffered from restrictive intake and exhaust systems. So it seems like a natural thing to look into. However, just because that was true for other vehicles doesn't necessarily make it true for this one.

Seems like the evidence is fairly clear from the test results that have been presented here that the bulk of the aftermarket air intake systems under perform stock in filtration and make little or no improvement in the engine's output.

If you're only keeping your truck for a short period of time and are concerned about a few tenths of a seconds on your 1/4 mile ET, then a less restrictive intake with sub par filtration might be just what you need. If on the other hand you plan on keeping your truck for years and a 100,000+ miles then I'd look much more closely at the filtration performance.

 

in all my years of flow benching and engine building(not alot but more than most) the K&N "style" of filters wins hands down. the stocker on our truck is no more than a fancy engineered version of a paper filter. it works by using fancy folds to get the maximum paper face area in the small space. air passing through the paper is restricted and the dirt cant get through the itty bitty holes. with enuf paper face, the restriction is minimized, but it doesnt take much dirt to make it quite restrictive, because each hole can only stop one piece of dirt and it is then plugged. with layers of cotton gauze with oil, the air has MUCH less restriction, but the filtration is much better (especially over time) because the dirt doesnt plug the filter. the air moves along the cotton threads and kind of "shuffles" side to side around the fibers whereas the dirt cannot "turn" without being caught in the sticky oil. much like the old oil bath intakes on tractors and equipment like air compressors.

i refer to the K&N because thats what people think of when they think of a oiled cotton filter.

the filter in my 550 is from summit. it is a K&N "style" and it was less $$$$ than a replacement donaldson at the time. it slips right into the factory air box and with a piece of screening between the front joint and the zoodad, i challenge anyone to find a better setup.

the filter cost 79 bucks, and ill never have to replace it again. a good cleaning and fresh oil at 15k intervals is all it needs.

the stocker actually plugged up enuf in 3500 miles to pull the minder down in the 50%range and then at 4500 the light came on.

my application does benefit from the added air, as there are times the pedal is on the floor for 10 minutes straight up a mountain.

BTW, next time u have ur stocker off, put ur face to it and try to blow through. then pick up a K&N and do the same. not one of u will put the donaldson back in.

 

BigHoss

Your theory sounds good, but why do the Dyno sheets tell a different story? I use a K&N type filter for racing applications but they are not inter-cooled engines. I would say most oiled filters are bought, installed, and forgotten about by the owner. You know as well as I do running a filter of this type takes more to maintain a good filtration rate. I keep 2 sets in the trailer for the sprint car in case we have a long night and the track is dry.

 

I just spent two hours on a "cold air" system by AFE. It is their stage 2 (newest) design and I can say that the hardware is no improvement over the stock box. In the old days, the stock air intake systems allowed hot air from the under hood environment to enter. The stock Ford product does not. In fact, the AFE product uses the same exact pathway for air and is of lesser quality than the stock box and that is why I put the stock box back in. Now replacing the element may have some benefit, I am not arguing that. But don't waste your money replacing the entire assembly just to get a wet filter. Just go out and buy the replacement element. Unless it is important to have something different looking under your hood.

 

well put

 

ur right, paper does do an unsurpassed job of filtration, usually just as good as oiled cotton. my problem with it is, it does it in a way that is inconducive to flow, whereas the "K&N" doesnt lose its flow nearly as fast.

in one of my "horsepower" books, there was a mention of the lack of "dirt holding" in the paper filter and the engine vibration can actually allow particulate to find a way through. (just one of the authors speculations, but it makes sense to me)

with my filter, the silicon levels have stayed at the same level throughout all the oil tests.....same as the stocker, but i have yet to see that little "filter-minder" thingy even budge since the installation of it. so i am definately sticking to the aftermarket replacement.

im sure if u found a dyno testing of a chipped diesel comparing the two filters, u would see the difference. the 6.0 needs a certain amt of air, and im sure the donaldson can provide that, but up the ante by 30-40%(100-125hp tune) and i doubt it will continue to perform up to par, especially after a few trips down some back roads.

plug ur nose and start up a hill with an armfull of firewod........... i hope noone feels that im picking a fight as im not just didnt see many arguements for the other side and am playing devils advocate

 

I am not trying to pick a fight, bighoss. I just checked your mods and it
appears to me that you are trying to "squeeze" out every ounce of HP and
Torque you have in your beast. For the amount of HP you are producing
you probably need the aftermarket air intake and filter. I wish you well.
But everyday use and in dusty conditions, I take the oem setup. Longivity
is more important to me than climbing a 3 mile, 10% incline in 30 seconds.
Come see me at the 300,000 mile mark , if you make it that far

 

BigHoss

Like I have stated before. If your in a racing application I see your point. Most trucks are normal everyday use. I have seen long term use of a K&N type in trucks. Dirt and oil was evident in the intake tube and inter-cooler. Now, were the owners negligent of service? What purpose does dirt & oil serve in the inter-cooler?

Peak HP at the best over stock and your truck was designed with cold air intake. Check out my 1/4 mile time running 35 inch tall tires and 3:73 gears on a stock filter and 100HP Pred.

 

well, if any 6.0 makes it to 300K i will be impressed. im not concerned in squeezing out more hp as im concerned with the mileage and longevity of my truck. the 75hp setting on the quad makes much less stress on my engine and tranny by staying in OD 99%of the time. the water keeps things a little cooler on a long pull, which is the reason for it. it also helps a bit on the power side. the exhaust is there for lowering of egt's along with the air cleaner.

u are welcome to stay with the stock setup. im not saying it is bad, just pointing out that the K&N filters just as well, but provides my truck with the extra flow it needs (lowering egt's). i wish i had a pyro before i changed them to see the difference.

 

oil in the intercooler is from the PCV. the older the engine gets, the more u will see in there. and if i have to have dirt in my intake, i prefer it to get stuck in the oily intercooler than my rings

anyway, my point was that my little replacement cotton filter does the same job of fitlering as the stocker(my blackstone tests show me this), but the flowmeter doesnt ever drop as did the stocker. and i will save about 1600 bucks by just cleaning mine instead of buying a new donaldson. (500K miles changing the filter at 15K intervals paying 50 bucks a piece for those blue ones)

and i really wish i could get a 1/4 timeslip fpr mine, but the quad doesnt get rid of the limiter, so i can go like crazy to 82mph haha

 

I changed my stock filter at 20K because there was no movement on the filter minder. I pulled out the stock filter and tapped it on the ground intake side down and all sort of grit, dirt, bugs, bird feathers, etc. fell out. ( I later found the dead bird stuck under the bumper) I blew through the new filter and the old filter. I was surprised at the ease of the flow of both. I took my shop vac and put the nozzle up to the outlet side of both. There was no change in pitch of the shop vac. It didn't seem like paper to me. Donaldson gives a pretty good explanation of their filter technology on their site. Plus they make all sorts of filters for contruction and industrial machinery. I think it is the best bang for the buck. IMHO.

 

Need to fix the limiter, no wunder you hardly ever smile .....

 

i sure dont dispute that the stocker is good
and for a stock air filter, it is probably the best one ever installed. i just wanted to state my reasoning for my purchase i did...so i guess im done