I curently have a 2004 lariat f150 with a 5.4 3valve. The truck was built in 2009 in memory of my step dad who passed away. It currently has an afe intake w/a sealed box, bbk throttle body, and the exhaust has been redone from the manifolds back. It has 2 magnaflow cats in place of the factory 4 into 3in exhaust with a magnaflow muffler dumped before the rear axle. Im getting ready to order a tune for the truck since i've recently learned canned tunes are crap. My question lies with the current afe intake. Im not happy with it. For a fews reasons, the looks and there is no intake sound. Im wondering are there benefits or disadvantages to running an open element? I was just thinking if I change the intake i might as well do it when i order the new tunes. It sounds dumb but the two main reasons i ever thought of this was the looks and sound. I am thinking of using another afe setup and selling this one along with my canned tune.

 

Open box will use underhood air instead of external air, which is warmer and will actually hurt performance.

ANY intake on a 5.4 3 valve other than stock or stock with Gotts mod requires a custom tune to avoid running too lean.

 

I run open and I can hear it inside my truck. Glc is right about the heat from the engine except if you run a tube from the bumper to the filter to get outside air. While sitting at a light my trucks intake temp goes up about 20 degrees but while moving about 25mph and up it reads exactly what my girlfriend's truck reads on its thermometer. I have a k&n 77 series intake made for an 04 4.2l f150 heritage so I had to kinda rig it for my 08 4.2l. Adding the tube helped a lot. It's just an auto zone plastic flex tube.

 

It is always best to run an enclosed air box. S&B, Volant, or the more affordable, OEM with Gotts mod. Custom tune is the best way to go with either one, but not necessary with OEM. I recommend staying aftermarket if you want one you can hear.

The only benefit to an open filter intake in my own opinion would be the option to set up a functional Ram Air hood, but that will be another $600+ paint.

 

Wouldn't enclosed be better for ram air setup? All the air getting forced in would have nowhere to go but in....Open filter it will just go around the filter but not necessarily in it.

 

Ram Air? Old news - Very old news ....

Long answer = https://www.f150online.com/forums/ch...-question.html

Short answer = Just Don't. A big waste of time and $$$ for little return. And a big risk if not done correctly.

Millennials Do love their hood scoops, though - even if they don't know WTF they are doing


MGD

 

Years ago, Mike Troyer made a post showing that there was actually little difference in the temperature of the air from an open box compared to a closed box. His explanation as I recall was that on a moving truck, the air under the hood was flowing out and was different by only 2 degrees or so. It should also be noted that the unit he recommended and sold was an open unit.

 

I do know living on a dirt road that open filters get dirty 20x quicker. My gf has her stock air box in her ram with a k&n drop in and I haven't had to clean it in 2 years. My vehicles with the same were at least a year. I moved in my house last may and have had to clean my filters about 6 times. I have 2 so I only have to clean them every other time I need to change them.

 

Timmy, you should take a look down your intake tube - I bet it's pretty dusty. K&N filters only trap the big chunks.

 

I always look and it's still good actually. That's like that story about people with turbos carving out their intakes with dirt. I've never had a problem with dirt getting thru any k&n I've had.

 

I didn't either, Timmy, with my 2005. 135,000 miles, also never had a MAF problem. I did have to clean the throttle body at about 100,000 but I consider that pretty normal.

 

Yeah knock on wood no problems with the MAF either at 90k.

 

I guess if i would have read the information on afe's web site i could have saved space in the forums. They claim bigger power gains with their closed intake systems

 

Don't go by their ratings a lot of people will tell you that you don't get what they claim. My k&n claimed almost 8 I think.

 

I already have their closed intake system. Ive just been curious whether closed or open makes better power. i put my truck back to the stock intake and tune for now. It was running good the past 2 days and now it seems to have slight miss at idle. Someone told me superchip flashpaq can even cause issue going back from their canned tunes to stock. So my friend at ford is going to reflash my computer. If that doesnt fix it i.dont know what could is causing it, unless its the plugs i installed.