Cold air intake..
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Post Fiend
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 8,147
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From: Joppa, Maryland
Cold air intake..
I know this has to have been covered, probably a lot.. but i can't seem to find a thread about it. What do you guys think the best intake system out there is? Any opinions on intake systems welcome.
thanks,
Paul
p.s. please please please don't tell me that they are crap and let more dirt in and you took yours off and your truck went faster afterwords and its too much trouble to clean, i've heard all that plenty of times, i don't want to hear it again. thanks.
thanks,
Paul
p.s. please please please don't tell me that they are crap and let more dirt in and you took yours off and your truck went faster afterwords and its too much trouble to clean, i've heard all that plenty of times, i don't want to hear it again. thanks.
Posting Guru
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,673
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From: Chicago Area
Well, O.K.
If despite all advice, you are determined to spend money on a replacement intake system, try to get one that is as similar to the factory system as possible, but bigger. Look for larger diameter tubing, larger filter area, and larger, sealed cold intake area.
Keep in mind that unless you also open up everything "downstream", this won't increase flow much. Also, because the velocity is now lower in the replaced section, it might actually decrease output at lower RPM's.
P.S. Nice logo. There's one emblem I'd love to remove!
If despite all advice, you are determined to spend money on a replacement intake system, try to get one that is as similar to the factory system as possible, but bigger. Look for larger diameter tubing, larger filter area, and larger, sealed cold intake area.
Keep in mind that unless you also open up everything "downstream", this won't increase flow much. Also, because the velocity is now lower in the replaced section, it might actually decrease output at lower RPM's.
P.S. Nice logo. There's one emblem I'd love to remove!
Last edited by MrBSS; Aug 15, 2005 at 09:51 AM.
Senior User
Joined: Dec 2004
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Make sure its got a good heat shield and all. I dont know if you take your truck off road but if you do youll def want a nice sheild around the filter. K&N is the way to go in my opinion. They got good, complete systems. I dont have one but got many friends who do. They like. I have friend who has AEM intake, he goes offroadin, it has no shield, bad news. I want to hear what your opinion is after you install....
Posting Guru
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 2,107
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From: California Desert
I bought a no-name polished aluminum kit from eBay. No heat shield of course, so I fabricated my own (check gallery). Gives a nice throaty sound, but it also generates a slight whistle at idle (which I hear is true of all aftermarket intakes). I've gotten used to the whistle.
Junior User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 76
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From: North Chicago
I put on a K&N 77 series intake kit on my 99 F150 and it works great. Very simple to do. Took me less than an hour to get it all done. I love it. I put it on with a Magnaflow dual cat-back exhaust at the same time and I've seen an incredible difference in performance.
Senior User
Joined: Jun 2004
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I have a MAC cold air intake...nice setup, looks great, has the heat shield. You can notice a difference in performance mostly at higher rpms, but you might be surprised that you may not get better mpg. In fact you might loose mpg, slightly, something to consider.
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Post Fiend
Joined: Jun 2004
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From: Joppa, Maryland
Why would you lost mpg? more air = more fuel I guess? I think it was MAC that i had on my ranger. I enjoyed the sound when you got on it. I guess I'll go with what has worked for me before. Thanks for all the replies guys, and sorry if i came off as a *****, I just wanted to get the answer i was lookin for.
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Senior User
Joined: Jun 2004
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Captain P4, I personally I have not lost mpg, I stayed about the same, but if you look at other forums on this topic I think you will notice others have mpg. My opinion is that although we may have cold air intakes they prob arent getting the coolest air possible. With our stock setups, or as on my 02 F150 5.4, you will notice there is a tube leading from the fender straight through to the filter etc. With most cold air intakes the filter sits alone in the engine bay where the surrounding air is hot. There really isnt cool air being rammed into the filter etc. as may have been the case with our stock setups. More air does equal better mpg...but cooler air is much better than hot air. Yes we prob do get much more air flow with better flowing filters and a much bigger tube for the air to flow, but we need cool air. This is just my opinion! I am gonna try myself to rig up some flex tube and lead it directly to my filter, hence, equals cooler air!
New User
Joined: May 2005
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I have the "Air Force One" intake system and along with my Flowmaster Exhaust, I've Felt and seen a big difference in throttle response when I need it on the highway during passing. Take off response is better too.
Also, my gas milage has increased. I used to go about a week on a full tank of gas with my routine driving. With the same driving now after the intake and exhaust, I can go at least one or two more days.
I cant say you'll have the same results but I am more than happy with my trucks breathing!
Also, my gas milage has increased. I used to go about a week on a full tank of gas with my routine driving. With the same driving now after the intake and exhaust, I can go at least one or two more days.
I cant say you'll have the same results but I am more than happy with my trucks breathing!
New User
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 19
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From: Algona Iowa
Air Filter
I priced out a K+N air filter for 5.4 yesterday and it was $47.00 and i have seen some cold air intake kits on ebay for the same price, what do you think is better? Is there anyway to open up the stock intake housing to let more air into the motor if i was to just out a k+n into the stock airbox? 
New User
Joined: May 2005
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I've seen people remove the airfilter canister and add a conicle aftermarket rechargeble filter at the mass airflow sensor. You keep everything else stock. It works but there is still restriction at the intake arm. Ive also seen people bore out the lip that is inside the throttle intake which also improves your throttle response. I havn't done this yet but I will in the future when I have time.
Senior User
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 191
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From: San Diego, CA
Don't forget to clean the MAF every other time you clean and reoil the filter or you will lose all of the tiny performance increases and possibly more. The oil on the MAF element makes it send incorrect data to the PCM which in turn sends an incorrect signal to the injectors and now your performance is headed into the toilet. I spent 3 years with an AirRaid & K/N filter. After I went back to stock it runs every bit as good but over time (as you get tired of the hassel of cleaning everything on the aftermarket intake and let it go too long) the stock will outperform the aftermarket intake. The heat shields heat up at low speeds and their extra mass retains the heat longer than the stock intake making them a "hot" air intake longer than a stock intake. At highway speeds after 15 minutes all of the intakes will be running at the same temp so the "cold" part is just hype.