The wifes getting me an intake for my birthday either a K&N or airaid. I already have the 87 octane performance tune on the truck and love it.. my question is this:

With the intake installed and converting to the 87 Airaid or K&N tune, are those tunes designed to gain a few more horses out of the intake? or is the tune simply meant to keep the truck from running lean? Just curious on the purpose of the tune! thanks

 

If you do an online search for “air filter test” there is a lot of very good information. IMHO, the CAI units are NOT WORTH THE $$! Unless you are talking about a system that was specifically designed for a specific application there are very little hp/tq gains actually achieved in a street use vehicle and there are very few docs that these mfg’s can produce that actually show an increase in hp/tq in the power-band range of a relatively stock street vehicle.

I would avoid oil impregnated filters. While they have their purpose in off-road applications, Ford/GM/Dodge all have “watch-out” bulletins where the oil has contaminated intake sensors. - they even have a training video for the techs on this (flatratetech.com) .

If you look at the flow data, WIX HP filters flow 98+% of K&N and have a much smoother flow post filter plus excellent filtering, for a fraction of the price!

Testand Corporation conducted an ISO standards test on automotive air filters which can be viewed at this link: http://www.dieselbombers.com/chevrol...r-testing.html.

“After only 24 minutes the K&N had accumulated 221gms of dirt but passed 7.0gms. Compared to the AC, the K&N “plugged up” nearly 3 times faster, passed 18 times more dirt and captured 37% less dirt.”

The OE’s have an excellent air intake system. What many view as an issue (is the plastic intake tube with its noise canceling design) actually increases air pressure. It is the same hydraulic concept used by fire fighters creating water supply where psi is low. By having the air cross the path at a 90 degree angle, the pressure is increased proportionally. Fire fighters use what is called a “4-way valve” or “Blake Valve” at the hydrant where the water is cycled through the fire engine (pump) and sent back into the valve crossing the water flow at a 90 degree angle. In this case it also acts as a sound canceling device! At low speeds, this can reduce the flow a tad (which is what most “feel”), but in terms of peak hp/tq, a good high flow filter is all that is needed. You can use a WIX OEM HP replacement filter in the OEM plastic manifold box and either remove the plastic tube and replace it with a piece of pipe/hose, etc or remove the tube completely and replace the tube by building an air ram type intake into the air box manifold (where the pipe use to attach)- make sure ti terminates above the fan shroud to avoid water intake or fan induced pulsations.

 

The provided CAI tunes are developed with a MAF curve that matches the voltage output of those specific CAIs on your truck, based on flow bench and dyno testing.
This leads to stock drivability and no codes while allowing the pcm to properly understand how much airflow is entering the motor.

Thanks

 

So with that being said.. Is the 87 Airaid still a performance tune just with settings to not throw codes with an intake?

Just want to make sure if I did do an intake and did the 87 airaid tune I will still benefit from it. To sum it up.. Is the 87 airaid tune basically just an 87 performance tune with the ability too run an intake with propor settings? Thanks..

 

Yes...
adding the intake would ideally lead to P0171/P0174 codes for too lean bank 1/2, applying a tune with the correct MAF curve for the intake you are running allows it all to work together properly