i was wondering if a cold air intake is worth buying? i have the 3.0

list some intakes for me and pros and cons

 

No! wait... are you off roading alot? or just pavment pounding?

off road = k&n drop in
mall crawler = cai

 

Stock is a cold air intake. If you want an aftermarket intake get one that is enclosed. An intake alone wont do much anyway.

Search. This has been covered many times.

 

no

 

80% pavement 20% dirt roads and off roadin

 

iether get the volant one that is enclosed or a similar one
or get a k&n drop in and do the airbox mod

 

k&n drop in then. cheaper than a full cai. and it breathes better than oem.

 

no gains over a K&N drop in. Save your money

 

How do you know this? The engine only pulls through as much are as it can handle, unless you are running forced induction or something like that the stock filter will allow more than enough through and you won't have to worry about dirtying up your MAF sensor.

 

The delta P across a K&N panel filter is less than a stock paper filter. That means less pumping losses to move air across it. I'm not drawing any conclusions... just stating what *possible* gains there are with a K&N panel.

For the original question. I vote for a K&N FIPK kit and add a outerwears prefilter **if** you spend time at elevated rpms. (4000+)
If you don't have the engine that high very often.. don't waste yer money.

Rich

 

i did the little air box mod (removing the snorkel) i think i will drop in a k&n just for more air flow

 

Waste of money on a stock engine with a stock tune. Unless you are doing it so it sounds "cool". Listen if you want, but I tune for a living.

 

I know exactly what you mean about the pressure drop across the filter, but the fact is that the stock intakes are really well designed and you shouldnt mess with them if your truck is stock. Some cars have a ridiculous amount baffles and restrictions and changing the intake set-up is worth it. In our case, it just is not worth it. yes your engine has to work less to pull in the intake air, but the difference is negligible.

 

good advice - the ONLY way you will get extra MPG's from an intake is if you are constantly revving the engine so high that the resistance will actually be different, in that case you could save more gas with a lighter foot.

 

I did the air box mod where you remove the silencer because I thought it would sound cool, but I cannot notice any difference in sound, so should I put it back in? Or does it really matter?

 

Doesnt matter

 

I know my "cold" air intake did nothing but pull in loads of engine heat....especially when I was in traffic. I could monitor the temp with my Scangauge. I put the stock set up back in just to see if there was a difference....huge temp drop. I'm going to stick with the factory air box set up. Bought a Fram Airhog stock replacement washable filter for it, and I'll just go with that.

 

Hotter air actually makes for better mileage. However.. the stock tune starts to pull timing at something pretty low like 110F. (I posted a picture on here somewhere showing this) So the open conical filters are best at pure flow. But the tune will pull power because of the underhood heat.

Rich

 

i meant to ask you on my thread...but just thought of it now... Pretty much purchasing an aftermarket intake is just for looks? right?

 

looks and sound. If you had a modified engine (say ported heads) and a better tune you could score some more torque.

 

If you say so.

 

So if I put on a CAI, the cone filter sucking in the hot air from the engine will actually improve fuel economy? Sacrificing some power for fuel economy is worth it to me.

 

When i put my k&n fipk on i noticed a slight difference in throttle response, and during acceleration i also noticed a differece.

 

.

Hot air is less dense. This means there are less air molucules getting into your engine. Your computer uses sensors to try and mix 14.7 parts of air with 1 part of fuel. If you pull in less air you will squirt less fuel. If you have less fuel then you get less power.

best gas mileage tips come from reducing losses..

weight, friction, drag. Every wantabee tuner says "oh my new cold air intake has less friction in the pipes so i'll get better mileage because its easier to suck in air without restricting the engines intake stroke", but in reality there is no restriction on your stock intake system at a whopping cruising 1500-2500 RPM. think about it. If you are cruising for gas mileage then where is your RPM? Low right?

Your engine might actually "feel" less intake resistance when you are on it ***** to the wall at 5,000 rpm with a new intake, but you will get crap mileage at this rpm because your engine is sucking in air so fast - see the logic here?

 

^ Agreed and well put JP.

Just as a FYI, the stock intake back on the rig withan AigHog replacement filter pulls much cooler temps. Just in case anyone was interested. This is proven since you can see the Intake Air temp if you have ScanGauge connected.