I have been think about adding a cold air intake to the truck to boost the power and gas mileage. Has anyone added it to their truck yet and was it worth it. I do a fair amount of heavy equipment towing and could use a boost in MPG. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

K&N is looking for a 2011 6.7 to make a cold air intake kit.
They usually will give a person a free kit for letting them have the truck to measure and test/dyno....

I had been in contact with them but don't want to give up my truck for a week while they test fit it..... not sure where you are located but just throwing it out there.

 

The one that I have been looking at is by AFE, I beleive that they are currently the only company that has one on the market for the 2011 sd

 

Doesn't this do what you want to acheive. It's just further downstream than an actual cold air intake. This is stock on the 6.7. Wouldn't any temperture air be "normalized" to the approximate temperature of the coolant, no matter if its already cool air.




Charge Air Cooler (CAC)
The CAC is located on the left side of
the engine, on top of the fender well.
The CAC is a air-to-coolant heat
exchanger used to reduce the
temperature of the compressed air
from the turbocharger prior to entering
the combustion chambers. Cooler
air is denser (improving volumetric
efficiency), resulting in increased
power

 

Not sure if it works the same. Here is the write up on the AFE cold air intake

"This Stage 2 cold air intake system outflowed the factory intake by 67%. Enclosed in a durable 16 gauge, powder-coated heat shield; this air intake system features a washable/reusable inverted cone conical air filter with Pro5R oiled media that improves airflow for increased horsepower and torque. This intake system also features a heat-insulating molded plastic tube that replaces the stock intake tract and directs increased air flow with improved volumetric efficiency for maximum performance. One-piece heat shield requires little or no assembly and utilizes factory mounting points for easy, no-cutting or drilling installation. The filter is constructed with 100% polyurethane for long life and multiple cleaning cycles."

 

They stated that about the 6.0 and 6.4's also. Only problem was it was at rpm's that most people will never achieve and their filtration wasn't as good. If the 6.7 has a Donaldson filter??, then I would leave well enough alone. JMHO.

 

thanks for the info...I will leave it then.

 

might sound kinda stupid but if the cold air intake systems are better than the stock design and the design of the systems never really change.... just the routing changes to go around the engine and stuff but the concept remains the same.... smooth pipe from intake to place where cold air comes in then usually cone shaped filter.... .why doesn't ford just make it that way to start with? its really not that hard and probably cheaper

 

I'm new to diesel, but I've been a gasser gearhead for quite a few years. I've owned 9 mustangs (including the one in my garage as I type this) and none of them were left 100% stock. I can say with relative certainty that a cold air intake alone will *not* have a noticeable impact on a modern engine. The biggest reason is that nearly every ford built in the last 20-ish years has had a cold air intake on it from the factory. They do not flow quite as well as the aftermarket ones, but they do take in the nice, dense, cold air. With mustangs, the biggest mistake that newbies make is cutting the air inlet tube and putting an open element underneath the hood. This actually *removes* the cold air intake provided by Ford.

The only time you really need one that flows like the one mentioned in this thread is when you have the rest of your air/fuel setup flowing comparable numbers. The air inlet tube you have on your stock motor can/will perform exactly as well as the engine needs it to. you *might* see a 2hp gain and maybe 3 lb/ft of torque (in the most optimal conditions) if you also have a high-flowing exhaust... but that is on a 400hp/800lb engine. Will you notice 0.5% increase? I think not. You will, however, spend good money on that kit

the reason Ford doesn't design it this way is twofold:
1) because it's not an optimal design for an unmodified engine. The factory inlet tube flexes as needed (when the body flexes - unlike the rigid tubes on aftermarket kits) and provides the amount of flow that your engine is calibrated for.
2) because aftermarket products are big business, and Ford recognizes that. Part of the reason they build cars and trucks the way they do is because people just love customizing them.

You *can* upgrade the performance of your car or truck... you just need to take a systemic approach rather than expecting noticeable gains from one piece of equipment that is not complimented properly. Do the exhaust, inlet, sensors, and a tune all at once... you will get results. For me, I think the truck is fine the way it is

 

the sequence of events would be that cold air is drawn in through the air filter, compressed by the turbocharger (and heated in the process) goes thru the charge air cooler to shed some heat (but probably not to the temperature of the coolant since these things are unlikely to be 100% efficient) then into the cylinders. Thus, the colder the intake air, the cooler the air that gets to the cylinder should be, making it denser with more Oxygen to burn more fuel and make more power (oversimplified but probably true). In addition if the intake air is cooler, less heat is shed into the cooling system and less power is expended getting rid of it.

 

The part I don't understand is we've got 400 horse power and 800 pounds of torque AND a brand new truck. I just can't come to terms with modifying the powertrain. I did do the door seal modification and am in the process of putting a thumb drive for more music under the dash, but I don't feel the need for more power. I just pulled the boat over two mountain passes and drove up and down fourwheel drive only roads all weekend to get to our bowhunting camp and I'm very pleased to be getting 19.8 MPG(manual calculation).

 

Most of this is true. But if you put a aftermarket intake on with a temperature gauge in it to compare the different temps, they would be very small, within 2-7 degrees. So if you pay 200-400 bucks for new intake, it will almost never pay off in the work saved on the truck since the stock filter will go much longer without being cleaned or changed.
Plus aftermarket filters flow more air because they DON'T filter the air as good as the stock filter does. So your not really saving money, just adding repairs to come later on.

 

of course, you could just get a better filter for the stock location and have the best of both worlds. That's on my list very soon.