I have a 2004 f150 heritageXL with the 4.6, i have been looking for a CAI for my truck and i am wondering what the difference is between the K&N 57 series and 77 series. Also i was wondering if anyone has installed the AFE Stage 2 CAI on their 97-03 f150. If you have installed any of these, have any opinions or any knowledge on these CAI's it is appreciated.

-Fred

 

One is plastic (better) and the other is metal (worse). Both choices are overpriced and perform poorly.

Look into S&B, Volant, or create your own via Gotts Intake Mod.

 

i really wish people would put a little more thought into things before holding them as a maxim and subsequently doling out incorrect information.

from a performance standpoint, the material a CAI is made out of makes zero difference to how well it performs. a substance (air) must dwell for a certain amount of time at a given temperature before ambient heat transfer can take place. the air molecules, as they travel from filter to throttle body, dwell within the intake tube for an extremely small amount of time. they just don't stay in the intake long enough for any meaningful amount of heat transfer to take place.

if a company is in the business of selling intakes and the material an intake is made out of made any kind of real difference, don't you think they would know this, and choose the material that produced the most power? after all, that is the point of an aftermarket intake and increasing power is what all these manufacturers claim. it boils down to manufacturing costs. the AF1 3.5" intake is widely purported to be the best performing intake that you could buy, yet it is (shockingly) made of metal. who'd a thunk it?

 

Isn't a CAI is useless without a proper tuner/scanner to maximize its true benefits?

 

Useless, no.

To maximize it to its true potential, yes.

 

I have dual exhust and a K&N air filter, what could I expect from a CAI without a tuner?

 

Deeper exhaust note, barely noticeable power increase.

 

I get my information from K&N's own site. They say that the plastic tube gets 1 more horsepower than the metal one. If you've got a problem with me referring to their own site, I suggest you bitch at them instead of me.

 

today i got a K&N drop in and i think im going to do the gotts. i think im going to get a PHP Gryphon, i am assuming i will get custom tunes etc. does anyone know how much the custom tunes, programmer itself and the dash mount wouyld cost

 

hahaha. you're repeating information from a company that's trying to sell something? of course they'll say that. fwiw, that's a pretty ridiculous claim. 1hp can be gained or lost by tons of different variables on back to back dyno runs.

 

Well then why don't you go buy both intake tubes and dyno test both of them under the exact same conditions if you've got a problem with their own results.

Sounds to me like you bought the metal intake then found out it doesn't perform as well as the plastic intake.

And about the 3.5 inch AF1 intake being the best, I'll give you one guess why it's the best, and it's not because it's made of metal.

 

and where exactly did i say it was the best because it's made of metal? i said it's been purported to be the best AND it's made of metal.

that said, the 3.5 is quite a bit larger than the majority of other intakes which allows more air volume to be delivered to the engine at any given time. that coupled with the huge filter with the inverted dome inlet allows for a greater amount of air to be delivered. pretty much exactly what a large displacement engine needs.

 

you two better chill out...

 

take a look in the how to's for the gotts mod, it'll perform just as well as the two you mentioned and cost you about $10...

 

There difference between metal intake tubes performance and plastic tubes is simple and a well known factor and as stated above the plastic proves better.
Heres why:
The plastic resists heat in the engine bay which in return keeps the air going into the intake cooler.
The metal gets hotter which in return makes air going into the intake hotter and then the cold air intake is more of a warm to hot air intake. The race performance shop near me that builds track cars have significant proven dynos behind this thought as well. Plus its pretty much easy for anyone to figure out.