Spending too much time browsing the L boards lately... anyway, on the NLOC board there was a recent debate about buying a CAI vs. doing the factory air box 'mod' and adding a K&N panel filter--the consensus was that the CAI was better, but only by 2-3 rwhp and it cost $300+. Said you will gain maybe 2-3 rwhp with the filter alone, 10-12 with the filter and box mod, 12-14 with CAI. I thought what the heck and ran down to Autozone and bought a K&N ($39) and whipped out the trusty Makita... 10 minutes later I was done. Remove the lower portion of the stock airbox and cut out the floor of the left side (viewed from the front) of the box--the dropped section... don't mess with the driver's side part. Drop in the filter, stick on the supplied seal to the upper section, and be prepared to be shocked! I gained a full pound of boost on my gauge, the blower whines like a banshee and there is a very noticable SOTP increase in performance. Our trucks must be incredibly choked from the factory... you'll see when you take the air box apart--all the air coming in must come thru a small rubber tube from the fenderwell. I've ran K&N's on nearly every vehicle I've owned for the last 15 years--never seen a performance increase like this. Do it. You won't be disappointed.

 

I guess I just wanted the Ram Air Kit cause it looks cool. I would think in theory you would have to get a little extra at speed since you are having the ability to get fresher air from outside the engine bay.

 

No doubt the CAI is better... but $39 vs $310 ??? For an extra couple of ponies? Maybe after I do everything else... I think the air box mod also pulls in plenty of cool air--the hole is cut in the bottom of the box, which places it more than halfway down in the front of the engine compartment--sucks air from underneath, cool air coming from in front of the truck.

 

No flame intended, but if I wanted an average truck I wouldn't have bought a HD. What I mean is, everything else on the truck is over the top, my opinion was why not?

 

Hey Rob, isn't the filter the same we had in our stock boxes on the Cobras?

 

Tomcat--Nope. The Cobra filter was conical, the HD has a flat panel filter. Mystery Fan--Agreed. I'm over the top on about anything with a motor . Just was thinking that the difference would cover a nice 8 lb pulley or something...

 

Rob,check out my post on BON.

 

Your right about value, the ram air kit doesn't add enough for the money. I just wanted the WOW factor.

 

Rob, just did the airbox mod with the K&N......WOW It's incredible, I have never gotten such a response from a K&N and I have been using them on cars, trucks and bikes for years. The SOTP icrease is awesome. I haven't driven my truck all weekend, only the cobra, and I could still feel the difference. Best $40 I've spent in a long time. So where are you going to get an 8lb pulley? BTW, since you have an accurate gauge, how much boost are you getting?

 

Johnny Lightning Performance has 8 lb pulley for $270. Make sure you get some denso iridium plugs that are a colder range or two, you might want to call them.

I was told by JLP that the 8 lber for the L makes between 5.5 and 6 additional pounds of boost because of the larger upper we have.

If L are running an additional 4 lbs safely we should be able to handle 5.5 to 6 lbs more.

 

What kind of boost are these things making stock. Do you have to get a chip if you go to a bigger pulley?

 

Stock HD are making 6 lbs of boost, the L on the hand makes 8 lbs. Anytime you increase the boost, the PCM needs to be adjusted to take advantage of more boost among other things. Its not as easy as just slapping a pulley on. Increase engine temperature, timing are just two issues that have to be address.

A good tuner can go over everything with you. Since the HD is similar to the L, the learning curve for us is not as steep.

 

Hey mystery, what power mods have you done?

 

Tomcat--My gauge shows 6 lbs or so during the heat of the day, maybe 6.5-7 at best on a good cool night with denser air. It seems to be running about a pound higher since I did the mod . Killer #'s on the Cobra BTW!!! 480+rwhp on a near stock '99 Cobra with exhaust and a Paxton--bad ***! The L guys have told me they can run a 2 lb pulley with no problems, more requires a chip. JLP is the only one I know of building a 8 lber right now... should be perfect for our trucks. Make sure and run Denso IT-22 plugs... and a 160 degree thermostat.

 

slingshot,

How about some pics of the mod so I don't end up back at the dealership buying a new box to start the mod again from scratch

Thanks in advance!!


/tg