I'm buying a 2004 F-150 Supercrew XLT with the 5.4L V8. I will be doing mostly highway driving, but I race motocross and regularly visit dusty tracks. What's the best air intake system for dusty conditions? I've heard the True Air system is good, because it uses the sealed foam system rather than an open paper system such as the K&N. Any advice?

 

If your truck is exposed to that much dirt and dust I'd keep your stock intake and maybe drop in a K&N flat filter. Remember your stock intake gets its air from the fender which may have less dust floating in the air. Just my .02

 

Here are the best SEALED intakes for dusty conditions:
Outlaw Power: www.outlawpower.com/productdetail.php?sc=1486
Banks Power: http://store.bankspower.com/Categori...7-ebad60077871

If you like oilfree filters that filter better than the stock psper filter and will not coat your MAF sensor with oil, I recommend the Outlaw Power. If you like the oiled cotton filters, I recommend the Banks Power.

I cannot recommend "open" filter intake systems for dusty conditions. Open systems include AEM, K&N etc...

 

Hey Guys what about the S&B CAI when it comes to closed Cold air intake...

 

The S&B and Banks Power intakes are good sealed systems if you don't mind the oiled cotton filter. If you want a non-oiled synthetic filter with sealed system, the Outlaw Power or AFE is for you.

 

I think the best way to go would be getting the airaid cold air intake and wrap it with the airaid prefilter. closed intakes will still fine a way to suck up dust...why not just have more filtration?

http://www.airaid.com/400-140-2_ford.asp
http://www.airaid.com/prefilters.asp

 

S&B will work fine.

 

S&B is the best in my opinion.

 

For high dust use in a truck, do not get an intake with a foam filter.

You need a filter that has been ISO tested with PTI Fine dust such as:

Oiled Cotton Filter Intakes: AF1, S&B, K&N

Oil-Free Synthetic Filter Intakes: AEM, AFE, Outlaw Power

 

interesting- for 30 some odd years 2 stroke motocross bikes relied on oiled foam air filters as they keep dust out of the motor- and now you say to avoid them-in 19 years of racing bikes with oiled foam filters i never got dust inside the motor-why would u give this advise?

 

There is nothing wrong with old technology (i.e. oiled foam and oiled cotton filters), it's just that there are many intelligent people on this planet that have caused technology to move forward in the past 19 to 30 years.

Here are a couple reasons that oiled filters such as K&N and Foam filters (UNI and Amsoil) are considered "old" technology.
1. They are oiled - modern vehicles often rely on sensitive MAF sensors for operation.
2. They pass too much dirt through to the engine. See the SPICER REPORT (done with "course PTI dust")

Look specifically at the following graphs in the SPICER REPORT:
"Accumulative Gain"
"Dirt Passed Versus Total Test Time"

 

torqueaholic,
The Spicer tests were done for filters used on diesel trucks (Duramax), not dirt bikes. Do you think that the Spicer results are relevant to openclasspro#11's question regarding dirt bikes filters?

 

Believe me, I ride dirtbikes as well and know the oiled foam filters work well. I also know that with each, they are designed differently for the application. I know I won't be driving through dusty conditions much, but when I pull up to the track or pull away, sometimes the conditions are dusty. Would the S&B still be the best?

 

It appears that we should not compare dirt bike foam filters to truck foam filters. As you mentioned, dirt bike foam filters are different from truck foam filters i.e. number of layers, layer thickness, layer porosity, etc...

For a truck in dusty conditions, I would get a synthetic non-oiled filter intake from the likes of Outlaw Power (enclosed filter) or AEM (exposed filter).

You can easily knock out, blow out or vacuum out the dust with the non-oiled filters.

 

ever heard of true flow?