In the last year I have heard people put down the airaid for our trucks, and I didn't really understand the reason why. So I decided to do a couple of very cheap and simple experiments. I had heard that some people thought the factory airbox could support more cfm's than the airaid. So the first test I did was simply, kept the stock airbox on when I got it back from doing the i/c recall. I put back on my #4 pulley, 90 mm mass air, and diablo chip. I took it out for a drive and the most boost that I could get was a hair over 10#. I went strait home and switched it out for the airaid. Within 10 minutes I was back on the road. I made a couple of runs and pulled close to 13#. I know that the filter makes a difference but I feel that the airaid helps it alot by shielding it from the engine heat and certainly doesn't hurt it any from lack of air. For the second experiment I went to Radio Shack and bought a $15 in/out thermometer. I taped the sensor to the filter and put the display in the truck of course. Attatched is a pic of it. The temp. to the left is inside the truck and the one to the right is at the filter. I let the truck warm up until the temp at the filter was 70 degrees. I then took it for a drive. Within a minute or so the temp at the filter was ambiant which was 32-34 degrees according to the factory thermometer. I drove around for about 20 minutes in stop and go, and on I-40. It never varied more than 1 degree except for at stoplights where it was never above 8 degrees. This tells me that the box actually does do a good job of shielding the filter from engine heat vs. just having a open element filter. I'm sure the "cold air" kits from the tuners do a good job when on the open road but I'm kinda suspect of how well they do the few minutes sitting in a staging lane, doing a burnout, and lineing up at the lights. I'm in no way saying their products don't work. I know they do because I use them. I'm just posting this because I thought it was cool, and figured others may want to try it on their intakes. Also to let people w/ Airaids know that they are not junk, and that they actually seem to work. I'm going to try this again when it warms up just to make sure.

 

Here is a shot of the sensor on the filter. I would like to put it inside the filter but I'm a little worried that it might get sucked into the engine.

 

Pretty cool experiment. For what it is worth I installed Airaids filter kits on my Fathers Chevy and Brother Wrangler. The throttle body spacer is a waste. IMO, more of a ricer componant for looks than function.

 

mbrown: Your right when you say that a air box shields the filter from the hot engine. thats why we will have our New Air Box available in about 10 days. they have to go to the powder coaters next. here's a photo of them after getting welded..JL

 

Thats sweet Johnny. Too bad you didn't have them 4 months ago when I bought your chip, pulley, and 90mm mass air. I had to go to my machine shop and get them to resize the hole from 80mm to 90mm and weld a flange just like the one you got so that the filter would go on. Then I had to redrill the sensor hole because the 90mm covered the old one. Maybe you could cut me a deal on one of yours due to the severe pain and anguish that I had to go through to make the Airaid work. Btw, are you having them powder coated to match the color of the truck? I just installed the 1/2" line mod valve that you sold me, and I love it.

 

I hear ya! They will be powdercoated Gloss Black unless you would want them in a different color. just let me know and maybe we can get a different color for you.....JL

 

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JL,
Will they work with anyones cold air set up such as psp?
also would be interested in a blue one! Looks great!!

 

Thats what I figured about the open filter vs. one that is blocked from the heat. I just wish you would have dyno'ed the Airaid at the same time. I'm going back to the dyno soon and I plan on testing my modified Airaid to the stocker. Hopefully I'll be able to test before and after hp and tq with the JL powercooler. Either way I'm going to definately tap into the coolant line and test temps before and after the cooler.

 

JL How much will they cost...and what options do we have for color or an embossed or etched JL Logo or something on it? Just giving you some ideas to promote your stuff, if ya hadn't already thought of that..

 

Dang I thought the box I built looked big that thing is huge

check out the pics of my home made jobbie

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...threadid=62850