Do It Yourself Intake Modification for 1997-2003 F-150

tarajerame · #1 03-05-2009, 07:09 AM

Do you feel your truck needs more air?
Are you not willing to pay $250 or more for a “cold” air intake for your ‘97-‘03 F-150?
Are you afraid of “cold air” intakes sucking in too much hot air from your engine bay?
Do you think drilling or cutting up your factory air filter assembly looks too tacky?
Are you afraid of permanent modifications to your truck?
Do you already have an aftermarket drop in filter?
Do you want to keep running paper filters?
Do you prefer the look of your factory intake?

If you answered YES to any of the questions above; then look no farther than this simple easy modification to your factory intake that will be 100% reversible at anytime if you are ever unhappy with the results.

NOTE: Something to Consider: at the time this was written up Troyer Performance (TP a great source in F-150 performance and custom tuning) has data logged and has dyno tested all of the aftermarket intakes available for the F150 and has thoroughly documented the results. TP has found that the stock intake runs the second coolest only beaten by the Airforce-1 which TP lists for $239 on thier website. With this modification you are getting a lot colder air into your engine than most of the aftermarket intake kits on the market today. It could potentially be colder as well but we wont know for certain until someone data logs the IAT with both intakes.

Tools and items needed to complete this modification:

1 - Straight screwdriver
2 - Sander, dremel tool, file, grinder or some kind of sanding device
3 - A 3-inch pipe flexible coupling (preferably black) inside diameter will be around 3 ½ inches to accommodate the outside diameter of the PCV pipe.
4 - a 3 inch diameter PCV pipe (black is preferred but color doesn’t really matter)
5 - 2 hose clamps (the pipe coupler should come with 2)
6 - 8mm wrench or socket
* Now you are ready to begin. First things first go lift your hood and look where your factory inlet tube meets your drivers’ side fender. Yes this tube right here:

This is the cause of your trucks lack of performance at higher RPMs because this factory piece is literally choking your truck. Look at the tape measure and see for yourself.

As you can see this is why the factory piece has less than a 2-inch diameter inlet tube and you are about to give your truck a true 3-inch diameter inlet tube that doesn’t suck in hot air from the engine compartment. This intake modification still draws in ambient air temperature thru the fender well just like the factory designed.

1. Start by disconnecting your negative battery cable (to reset your computers strategy for the extra air coming soon from the modified intake) needs a 8mm wrench or socket.

2. Undo this clamp right here with a straight screwdriver:

Remove your entire air filter housing assembly (the large “bucket” where you change air filter all the way to the fender snorkel. (The snorkel will just pull out of the inlet hole)
*On my truck the Previous Owner has bent the metal clasp so I had to remove the entire assembly as I have to have the whole housing out of the truck in order to close it properly*

OR

Just take your air box apart like you are changing air filters and just remove the piece that goes into the fender

3. Use a straight screw driver to undo the snorkel cone:

There are 2 points inside the tube just press the ends with a screwdriver and they release

4. Cut off a 4-5 inch section of pipe:

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tarajerame · #2 03-05-2009, 07:09 AM

5. Use a sander or file to make the round pipe oblong since the hole in the fender is 3 ½ inches wide by 3 and 1/16 inches tall and the outside pipe diameter is 3 ½ inches and you will need to force the pipe at least 2 inches into the fender hole.

6. Once your pipe will fit into the hole nice and snug attach the PCV pipe to the air filter housing via the 3-inch pipe flexible coupler. Like this

7. Insert the PCV pipe into the fender hole, Now that that is done reinstall the air filter assembly by slipping the soft coupling over the open end of the air filter housing and tighten down the last clamp after you push the legs into their carrying holes. And re install the tube going to the throttle body. There you are all done. Your truck will enjoy the increased ambient air (especially when passing) your finished product will look similar to this: As you can see no matter what color PCV pipe you use it will not be visible once you put your intake back together

this vehicle has piece of white pipe

and this vehicle used a piece of black pipe

8. Don’t forget to reconnect your battery before you try to restart your truck and enjoy.

Final thoughts. Remember you can go back to stock at anytime but I don’t think you will want to. This works for both 5.4 and 4.6 liter 2 valve engines (and the 4.2 V-6 truck's) in both the '97-'03 and '04-newer pickups and SUV's (some early model vehicles have to upgrade to a newer air box in order to have the removable snorkel)

Also if you remove the silencer from the intake tube your throttle response will also be improved; but you may experience some unwanted noise.

“Gotts2Bme” and “tarajerame” are both willing to help anyone doing this modification either PM or email either one of us and we will be glad to help you out

Original idea by: Gotts2BMe seconded and submitted by: tarajerame

Original thread link here: The Gotts Intake with pics

original thread photos submitted by Gotts and STOFFER aka (tarajerame)

tarajerame · #3 03-05-2009, 07:31 AM

here are some pics of the gotts intake mod on a new body style truck with a 4.6

*EDIT*

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuickSilver150

If you want to get this done in 10min or less I'd suggest using 3" PVC sewer pipe. It's thin wall requires no grinding and slips easily into the fender hole!!!

cH1rO420 · #4 03-05-2009, 09:15 AM

Thanks Terajame I was waiting for something like this with more pics. Will do this soon.
So all I need is a flexible coupler, 3 inch and those 2 straps that tighten with screw?
I have 3" pipes around here so I won't need to be buying any.

russ10screw · #5 03-05-2009, 12:03 PM

Terajame, thanks for posting this again. I actually did this to my 02 FX4 supercrew. Was pretty straight forward. Honestly, the 2 hardest parts were grinding the pvc just to the right size to fit in the fender hole and then reassembling. They don't give you a whole lot of wiggle room with that air filter assembly. But I do have a question, I have this intake mod and a SIDO exhaust. Is my truck running inefficiently since I don't have a tuner or am I still seeing benefit? If I need to get a tuner, which one do I get that accounts for the Gotts intake? Thanks.

tarajerame · #6 03-05-2009, 12:37 PM

the 3 valve motors require the tuner for the intake mods

I would recomend an Xcal2, Xcal3, gryphon or diablo with custom tunes for you and your truck VS canned tunes even though a tune would not be required to see benefits from this mod (you will see more increase with a tune)

cH1rO420 · #7 03-05-2009, 10:16 PM

So do you recommend this mod to people who only have a tuner.

BlackFord06 · #8 03-05-2009, 10:39 PM

i have a 06 4.6 stock with cherry bomb exhaust.. what are the benifits of your procedure?
should i do it stock?

russ10screw · #9 03-06-2009, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarajerame

the 3 valve motors require the tuner for the intake mods

I would recomend an Xcal2, Xcal3, gryphon or diablo with custom tunes for you and your truck VS canned tunes

Ok, so if I contact Troyer and tell him what I have, he'll take care of it? Thanks again.

tarajerame · #10 03-06-2009, 07:59 AM

yes, this is a good mod and it out performed the K&N 77 series that I had on my truck

cH1r0420 - yes, this is good way to gain some more power

BlackFord06 - you will gain some exhaust volume/note, you will also feel like you have more power all the way across the board.

russ10screw - if you have tunes currently you should be fine but you want you can call Troyers and get your tunes freshened.

this write up has been posted over on f150.net since 2007 and like I said I sold my K&N 77 series intake and ran this for a while (even with 24# injectors) and my truck seemed to like it better expecially in the texas summer heat

my inlet temperatures were always ambient with this mod where with the K&N they were higher

willys5555 · #11 03-06-2009, 07:19 PM

This may be a noob question but...what is the silencer? where is it located at? and how hard is it to remove? I have a loud exhaust so i think any sound in the engine bay wouldnt even be heard, unless it is really that loud? has anyone done a dyno with this intake system on it? if so, what sort of improvements did yall see? Thanks

jbrew · #12 03-06-2009, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willys5555

This may be a noob question but...what is the silencer? where is it located at? and how hard is it to remove? I have a loud exhaust so i think any sound in the engine bay wouldnt even be heard, unless it is really that loud? has anyone done a dyno with this intake system on it? if so, what sort of improvements did yall see? Thanks

The "Silencer" is a 2" internal intake tube and part of the stock tube set up. It's there to reduce induction noises.

Improvement once removed ? - 0 - w/stock set ups.

willys5555 · #13 03-06-2009, 10:05 PM

so you dont get any improvement from removing the silencer?

and does it just pop out of inside of it? Thanks

tarajerame · #14 03-07-2009, 06:33 PM

I left my silencer in but it does choke the intake down to 2 inches in diameter

it can be a challenge to get it out it is not required to remove it but a few people have and i haven't heard anything negative about removing it

jbrew · #15 03-08-2009, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarajerame

I left my silencer in but it does choke the intake down to 2 inches in diameter

it can be a challenge to get it out it is not required to remove it but a few people have and i haven't heard anything negative about removing it

Yea, their a PITA to get out. Their glued well! The trick to get them out with the least amount of damage is to heat the glue. Otherwise you yourself may become un-glued