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Cold Air Intakes worthwhile

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Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 49 boyce Va
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2005-08-04          114352


Greetings All
My son is thinking about spending some of his hard earned summer job money( splitting wood for Dad) on a K&N cold air intake $250 range for his "NEW" 97 awd Blazer. I have seen the ads and done some research but cant decide one way or the other. Anyone have any personal experience with these add ons? They Look to be a good thing but I am always skeptical.:)
Thanks in advance for any input.
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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2005-08-04          114353


My personal experience with oiled foam filtration is that it isn't as nearly effective as a good paper filter changed regularly. It does have better air flow, but at a price. Wouldn't be worth $250 to me. In fact they couldn't pay me $250 to use one. ....


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yooperpete
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1413 Northern Michigan
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2005-08-04          114355


I had one in my F-250 for about 30,000 miles. When it was time to clean it, I went back to paper. I agree with Ken that a paper filter does a better job. Haven't recently checked by mileage but notice no drastic difference in performance. Under heavy acceleration, I think you get a throatier sound out of the KN since more air is passing through. I'd spend my money on something else!

How about one of those boom, boom things that goes in the trunk and sounds like your car is falling apart. I've got one of those things laying around too since my daughter grew-up. I'd sell it for $50.00. ....


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AC5ZO
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 928 Rio Rancho, NM 87144
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2005-08-04          114362


Some of the cold air intakes improve power by removing other restrictions in the intake piping. With a low restriction intake their is not that much difference between properly sized clean filters. So, you have to judge whether the lower restriction intake is worth the money. I don't run them on any of my vehicles, anymore.

I used K$N filters with a foam over filter on my trucks in Baja Mexico. They worked fine. They probably do flow more at first, but they actually filter better when they get some dirt buildup on them. I have gone back to paper filters, also. I think that I just prefer a filter that you can't see through and oiled filters are messy to service.

I run an oiled foam filter on my dirt bike and it is superior in dirt cleaning to the K$N from what I can tell.

Many new trucks pipe the air intake over into the fenderwell or have a cold air inlet anyway. As I said above, the aftermarket intakes claim to reduce the restrictions, but it is not all about filters and cold air. ....


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Chief
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4297 Southwest MiddleTennessee
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2005-08-04          114372


If your son want more air flow. He needs a BHAF. They won't win any beauty contests but they work. Might take a bit of modification but it can be done and for a lot less money. I don't think he will notice much difference as the exhaust needs to be opened up as well. ....


Link:   BHAF

 

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visiter
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2005-08-04          114377


I have a K&N on my 96 Impala LT1. doesn't do any thing for milage or HP. Save the money. The big kick came with LT4 heads! ....


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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2005-08-05          114389


IMHO it's a coin toss at best.

An improved air flow one end of the system means little without doing anything at the other end. You can't ram more in, than the exhaust allows back out.

In my own toy, errr, ummm, I mean truck, a Ford PSD, I did both ends, a K&N at the front, and a 4" mandrel-bent SS exhaust from the manifold back with no muffler, just a resonator. (A little re-programming occured too.)

It does NOT need one of thoise "boom, boom things that goes in the trunk", above about 1,750rpm it stats getting a little throaty, from about 2,750 up to the governor it can best be described, and is by my neighbours, as "jet wash"......

The $250 air cleaner is a waste of his hard earned bucks if all he's going to do to the truck is that. It won't do much for sound, improved gitty-up-go, or mileage.

I'd be willing to bet he'd be a LOT happier with a $250 stereo in his 'new' ride.

Best of luck. ....


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AC5ZO
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 928 Rio Rancho, NM 87144
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2005-08-05          114416


One more thing...
Reducing intake and exhaust restriction makes an engine flow air more efficiently. So, it needs more fuel if you take advantage of the increased air flow. You pay for the improved performance potential up front, and then pay every day that you use that potential. ....


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oneace
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 1490 south central pa
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2005-08-07          114472


I have found that on the larger engines most factory intake set up are rather good as far as air flow. On smaller engine v6 and 4 cyl especially they are more restrictive. I made my own air intakes before and have notice more seat of the pants power. I made mine out of 3" PVC piping. I would never spend $250. ....


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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2005-08-08          114498


AC5ZO raises an interesting point, fuel economy.

Before I started tinkering with my Ford PSD, it pretty consistently got 15 mpg around town, and 18 mpg on the highway, after changing the exhaust, intake box and some re-programming it now gets 18 in town and 21 or 22 on the highway, roughly a 10% increase in economy.

I'm told this is due to increased efficiency resulting from optimizing the performance.

I suspect a lot of mechanical engineers are over-ruled in the design process by stylists, bean-counters and environmental requirements during the design and manufacturing of a vehicle these days.

I don't think 'souping up' a gas job would do the same thing at all.

I have a friend who runs a family trucking business, he maintains VERY meticulous records on his fleets economy, he swears by synthetics and says he has proven that replacing every fluid in a highway tractor will result in a 9 month payback period and about a 7% savings from then on in fuel, and about 20% in maintenance and break-downs.

Best of luck. ....


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AC5ZO
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 928 Rio Rancho, NM 87144
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2005-08-08          114506


Intakes and exhausts on diesels seems to be particularly sensitive to restriction and efficiency. You can see significant gains with efficiency on a diesel and with the expense of fuel these days, it might be worth the money. Diesel fuel usage is related to power delivered by the engine (as with a gasoline engine) but with a gas engine, the increased airflow goes through a fuel metering device that is airflow sensitive with either fuel injection or with carburetion.

You should see a fuel efficiency increase on both engines as long as you don't start using more power. But, if you use that extra efficiency to deliver more power to the ground, then lower fuel milage will result even if an overall efficiency increase is seen. If the extra potential is used to push the driver back into the seat while taking off from stoplights, you might be delighted with the performance and disappointed with the fuel economy. ....


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magnum1990
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 32 Virginia
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2005-08-08          114508


I have a 1987 Dodge Ramcharger with a 5.9 V-8. I have done some extreme modifications to the entire truck. I put on a K&N air filter but didn't see much change in HP, torque, or fuel economy until I opened up the exhaust by installing a free flow catalytic converter, flowmaster 44 muffler and dual stainless steel 3" exhaust. The old advice is true, if you cram more air in, its gotta go somewhere. So, you have to allow for a more freeflowing exhaust. The best increase in HP and fuel economy came when I installed a throttle body spacer. Several aftermarket spacers are available. They are much less expensive that a K&N filter and I beleive they deliver much better results for the money. Good luck. ....


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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2005-08-08          114509


It's kind of like those Visa card commercials.

To see the look on peoples faces when a dually 4x4 that weighs 4 tons eases past them at the lights is, as Mike put it, "delightful" .....

When they see the tandem trailer and 40hp tractor passing them too, that is "priceless", to say the least .....

The improved mileage I (usually) get is entirely dependant on my right foot, and in direct relation to it's position, the farther down my foot goes, the farther down my mileage goes..... but it's worth every drop of recycled dinosaurs.

I have definitely been guilty of leaving the odd jerk 'in a cloud', literally ......

Best of luck. ....


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Iowafun
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 955 Central Iowa
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2005-08-08          114514


Murf, I hear ya! My brother was pretty unhappy when I beat him in a drag race using my F-250 SD diesel. When we got doen, the first thing I asked was if he lost because of spinning the tires due to wet pavement. I said I had to back-pedal the throttle because I kept spinning my tires.

He hadn't spun the tires and wasn't happy that I beat even though I was. He got a different vehicle shortly later... ....


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bnrhuffman
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 107 Falling Waters WV
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2005-08-09          114590


The cold air intake systems arent as much about air flow as they are air density. Cold air is more dense than hot air. Denser air = more power. My experience with oil filters verses paper element is that you wont see any performance benefits with just the addition of a less restrictive filter. You may see some tiny benefits from adding a cold air intake and a little more if you add a less restrictive exhaust.
As was said above, the K&N type filters dont seem to filter as well as a new paper filter but Im undecided if it really makes a difference to the engine if there are almost microscopic dirt particals being ingested. It could be said that these small particles stick to the sides of the cylinders and cause wear over time. I think they just pass right through the engine. What doesnt pass through the engine gets caught in the oil and filtered and flushed when you change the oil. ....


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taheide
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 127 Capron IL
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2005-08-09          114598


Hmm I see Murf has the dreaded smokem if you got em disease:D.

I have a 99 F350 Dually PSD Crewcab with a 5" exhaust and Diablo programmer. Talk about some power!!! Mileage of course has gone up provided I can keep my foot out of it. I get a pretty consistant 15+ MPG as a daily driver, I havent done any long highway driving since I added the programmer, but stock programming with the exhaust is 18+ though the mountains of west virginia and those areas. Diesels are very easy to get more power and economy out of them, but not the gassers. the most you can get out of a gasser without huge expenses and reworking is about 20HP. The cheapest improvement of course is intake and exhaust, but the K&N kit is not the way to do it. For example, take a grand marquis or crown vic. Put on a dual exhaust, free flow mufflers and an airbox and MAF from a Marauder and programming and you will get a huge improvement in performance, and economy wont be hurt unless you keep your foot in it.

As far as what huffman stated, on any engine, ingestion of dirt is NOT good no matter how fine. On a diesel with a turbo, the term dusted comes up a lot, that is when a turbo fails due to the ingestion of dirt, and usually from either a leaking airbox, or a poor filter. The way to tell is to remove the filter and run your fingers around the intake behind the filter. If you get any dirt on your finger, your filter is not working and your engine is ingesting dirt which is not good at all, no matter how fine it is, in fact the finer the dirt, the more damage it can do since it can be suspended in the oil, get past the filter and wind up between bearing surfaces. Oil Filters only filter up to a certain point, and unless you have a bypass filter system install, fine dirt that can get past a K&N, and there will be dirt getting past it until it gets dirty enough, will get into your oil and past your oil filter. K&N Filters are great for racing applications where the engines are torn down regularly and excel in those fields, but for the normal person in daily driving, until that filter gets dirty, it can cause a potential engine problem. Those FIPK are mainly for show, they wont give you anything more than a stock system will. start with the exhaust first, and I dont mean put on a fart can. A good system is either cat back or headers back.
....


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