Hey all-
I am new here but have been snooping around for a while. I have the 5.4L F150 and have been doing a lot of research on the different air intake systems out there. Finally, I made a decision on AEM's Brute Force with the Dryflow synthetic filter. AEM has been around forever, my friends religiously run their products on their imports, and for the past couple years they've been doing big things in the truck market.

Anyways, on with the pics of what the UPS brought to my work today! I cant wait to install this baby this week. I plan on doing a full photo install and I'll try to video it if I can! First impressions are good guys! This is a badass kit!


THE BOX


NICE PACKAGING


ALL OF THE CONTENTS


THE INTAKE & FILTER

 

The install went very smooth, it was actually a lot easier than expected. From start to finish it took less than an hour and with only basic tools. Overall, I am very happy that I chose the AEM Brute Force. I feel like the truck must have picked up a lot of power.
AEM claims a gain of 19 horsepower and over 20 ft/lb of torque. The truck sounds great, and the polished pipe looks awesome.

Bottom line is money well spent... I am impressed with the intake and the quality of all the components. Plus I hope this post helps any members that plan on installing this intake on their truck!

So, below I will show you how I went FROM THIS:


TO THIS:


USING THESE TOOLS: Drill, 3/8 & 1/4 Ratchet. 10mm & 8mm socket, Flat-head screwdriver, Sharpie, and T20 torx (AEM supplies torx tool)

 

DISCONNECT NEG BATTERY TERMINAL:


UNPLUG MAF SENSOR:


UNPLUG PCV HOSE:


UNBOLT AIRBOX: (There are four bolts, 2 on driver side and 2 on passenger)

 

UNBOLT INLET: (Only one bolt)


REMOVE BOLT ON FENDER: (Save this bolt)


REMOVE THE STOCK INTAKE ASSEMBLY: (Pull inlet out of fender and pull airbox from throttle body)


REMOVE MAF SENSOR: (Be careful with this sensor, you will need to reuse it!)

 

INSTALL MAF SENSOR ON AEM PIPE: (There is a little arrow pointing the flow direction, mount it properly or your truck will not like it)


INSTALL SMALL BRACKET TO HOLD WIRE HARNESS: (Bolt this bracket to the intake manifold and ziptie wire harness to it)


INSTALL HEATSHIELD SPACERS: (These things are really cool, put the lower piece in, then the upper and bolt it in place)


MARK DRILL POINT AND MAKE SMALL PILOT HOLE FOR HEATSHIELD: (Use sharpie to mark where to drill a small pilot hole for self-tapping screw)

 

BOLT HEATSHIELD IN PLACE:


ADD THIS SMALL BRACKET TO THE HEATSHIELD: (Two bolts and the factory fender bolt hold this on)



ZIPTIE COOLANT HOSE TO THE SMALL BRACKET:

 

ADD PROTECTIVE LINING & SEAL TO HEATSHIELD: (This will protect the pipe and will seal off the filter from hot air)



INSTALL THE 90-DEGREE HOSE ON THROTTLE BODY:


SLIDE UPPER PIPE INTO THE 90 AND ALSO PUT ON THE ADAPTER HOSE:

 

HOOK UP THE PCV HOSE:


CLICK THE MAF SENSOR BACK IN:


INSTALL THE LOWER PIPE: (Slide the pipe into the adapter hose and bolt down the bracket on the pipe, I kept everything loose until it was all mounted.)


INSTALL AIR FILTER: (This is cool because there is no filter oil and you dont have to worry about oiling this filter ever!)

 

THE LAST STEP IS TO INSTALL THE AEM STICKER: (This is the hard part people )


AND YOU ARE DONE! ALL IN ALL IT WAS REALLY EASY!


I hope this helped. Let me know if you guys liked the writeup!

 

Nice write up - thanks!

 

Great write up, thanks!

 

Nice..........

 

Great write-up!!

What year is your truck? I just installed a brute force on my 2004, but the heat shield was different. It didn't have the small upper bracket. and the lower bracket lined up with a hole already in the truck - no drilling needed.

 

Nice set of instructions. You should get paid for your effort...

 

ya, mine is the same as yours. i think the 2004 is even easier. no drilling at all. everything lines up and bolts on.

one thing i did different with mine though was a flipped all the hose tighteners (cant remember what exactly theyre called) to the bottom. made it a little bit more difficult to tighten it all up, but leaves it looking a lot cleaner with only the metal bands showing on the rubber connections.