Cold Air Intake...
 

Hey All
Extreme newb here....
I have a 2007 F150 with 5.4 Triton

PO had the timing bots replaced but skimped on the phasors... 1800 bucks later that resolved...

I use the truck mainly to haul boat and motorcycles for 300 miles one way.

I scored a K&N series 77 CAI on fleabay for 80 bucks... unfortunately no heat shield... implant to try and make one out of the garbage pail as BMWbig6 illustrated here.

My question is
Would it further help with mpg if a ram air hood was fitted to the vehicle?
If yes...do I need to buy an hood fornthe or is there another way...

As I said ... I am extreme newb...
I thank you for reading
F

Sorry to be the one to tell you but you just screwed off 80 bucks. The stock air box is FAR better than the K&N crap that sucks hot air from under the hood. Unless you have a modded engine, the after market air boxes are worthless.......except to the guy that's 80 bucks richer.

A K&N filter in stock air box with Gotts Mod would be better I think. Just a Gotts Mod or similar with paper filter is good on near stock 5.4. as it reduces restriction, but still draws cooler air from under left fender area.

I saw Gotts mod after I made the purchase. I have not installed the K&N..Since i have it is it bettet than Gotts?

Most mechanics do not recommend oiled K&N filters due to the possiblity of the oil passing through and getting the mass air flow sensor dirty. The primary purpose of a CAI is to make noise.

Thanks for the info.
So CAI with true duals will NOT help for towing and mpg? I can live with some noise
Thanks for reading
F

You won't see any meaningful improvement in mileage or performance from a filter or Gotts mod. The true duals also don't add anything meaningful as the major restriction for most F-150s (07-08 not as much) is the exhaust manifolds themselves. Even then, if you are running a stock engine it's pretty much pointless. If you want to truly get a performance improvement, you'd need to install a tuner which can be optimized for your truck.

Thanks...
Can you/someone helpful, define and describe this tuner...
I am fairly handy, having built my Shovelhead and SB Chevy...
Have yet to venture into the ecm world...
Again thanks for info and help

https://www.f150online.com/forums/ch...rogramming-34/

https://5startuning.com/

https://www.morepowertuning.com/

You've got a bike. You think the 90 degree elbow and a forward facing cone filter from K&N is any better than the OEM Harley Screaming Eagle air filter? K&N has great marketing, with dyno charts. Only you are driving in the real world, not in a controlled environment, where they are dyno testing with the hood up & a huge fan blowing cold air right into the exposed cone filter.

I've never had a sensor fouled by filter oil. That can happen when there's too much oil. But it doesn't happen to everybody.

With a ScanGauge reading the intake air temperature, OEM air boxes will have a higher temperature reading. Results will vary with intakes. On most vehicles, they work best when you are driving at freeway speeds. In theory, the faster you are going, the more cold air you will get. The factory air box draws air from a hole located behind the fender. Very good design, engineered to minimize foreign objects from being sucked into the airstream. You are less likely to get bugs, hummingbirds, leaves, cigarette butts, et cetera. On cars where the air scoop is forward facing, I'm always surprised at what gets sucked into the intake tube & lodged in the filter.

The cold air intake has no box, just a heat shield, which allows the big cone to suck in all the air rushing in from your grille while moving. While idling, expect the intake air temperature to be almost about the same as the OEM airbox configuration.

The real question is whether the intake, as designed, will result in any real world advantages. An intake is only a small piece, to a very big puzzle. Over the years, we've learned that you can throw everything under the hood, at the cost of $$$XXX, and there's a huge difference between dyno numbers and real world advantage. After you re-gear, install a transmission shift kit, add underdrive pulleys, install an electric fan, add a custom tuned exhaust, load a custom tune onto your car's computer.........will you be able to tow more? Not likely. It's not as if your 1/2 ton pickup will now have the capability of an F-250. Are you going to the track with your truck? Make it real. See if you can shave a second or 2, off your 1/4 mile time. You will still be driving a heavy truck, not a sports car, and you are not The Fall Guy. Reality is that none of the money you spend will gain much in the real world.

I got a K&N filter element free in a swap, and I still run a good OEM style paper element in the OEM housing, but I do have a aftermarket version of Gott's Mod like that cost PO $300+ I guess. It was on the truck. It had a red foam filter too, but it is on a shelf with the K&N filter.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...90562ccd3a.jpg


And it "matches" the truck so well. True Flow is the brand.

Hey All,
I am not trying to get the truck to the track...dont want to look like Lee Majors...
Just trying to get more mpg with what I can do.. reasonably...
I thought, perhaps wrongly, that the combo of those 3, tuner+CAI+dual exhaust, will get me there.

I am grateful for you all sharing your experiences.

Tunes may help. Intake and exhaust would have no effect.

Oh yeah, forgot tuner.
Some refer to them as Programers, but they alter the tune in the ecm. I put a Super Chips FlashPaq-1865 in 2010 on mine, and I picked up response and better shifting, less drops out of OD, and even a little more mileage.
Call it a canned tune, tuner, or programmer, I don't care …
… I just know it works well on the 87 octane performance with 6K towing tune …. they (SuperChips) and Mr.Troyer (whom I bought it from over in Covington) claimed 25 hp & 28 ftlbs torque boost with it. The Max Tow setting gets 11 HP & 11 ftlbs he said, but mileage was lower, but it would allow towing at max GVTW. There is another option, but it takes 91 octane.

Well, the issue is that with a tuner ($400+), intake ($100+), and cat-back exhaust ($500+), you are potentially spending $1,000 and could hope to get 1mpg better on fuel. That essentially comes down an extra 20 miles per tank, so basically your fuel range per tank is about 380 initally, and 400 miles after spending $1,000. You dropped your fuel cost per mile driven by $.01 (one penny). So, continuing the math, you'd have to drive about 100K miles to earn back that $1,000 invested before it started "paying for itself". Even if you think you'll get 2mpg better after the improvement, it's still 50K miles before it breaks even. That's a lot of miles to drive in order to make the idea pay off. The fuel savings you'll get aren't worth the cost. So if you want to spend the money just for your own amusement and better throttle response/etc., then fine go ahead. Just don't pretend that the increased fuel mileage is going to make financial sense.