I guess you guys know a little more about air intakes than I do. So here's a few questions for you. Will an air intake like an Air-Raid, K&N FIPK, or Volant, etc... help with the power of my 4.2 v6? Will it hurt the low-end torque? Or help it? I know I need a Superchip, but I can't afford premium gas because of college and paying bills. So tell me, what will an air intake do for me? And which one should I get?

 

I've had both airaid and mac.

I perfer the mac over the two. Nicer looking, bigger filter...

You'll gain more low end pickup and better up top pickup. I averaged a loss of .15 in the 1/4 with mine.

The mac is metal tubing and it does get hot but in my opinion out performs the airaid.

Plus the mac can be had for $140! Great deal!

 

That is a good question, but (for me at least) is a difficult one to answer.

Look really hard at your factory intake tract. The MAF and air filter are sealed in a closed container, exposed only to fresh cold air from the fender well. A good design, albiet not the best looking around, but extremely functional. Are there gains to be had? Sure. But really there are only two major areas of inefficiency. . .the paper filter, and the wrinkled rubber piece by the throttle body. The rest of the stock intake tract works pretty darn good.

I installed a gage that monitors the temperature of my intake air stream. After I modded my intake, which left the air filter exposed to underhood air, the temperature showed on average about 140-150 degrees in normal driving during the day or night. I remodded the intake tract covering the filter in an enclosed cylinder and now draw air in through the opening in the firewall (like the O.E. set-up), and the temperature of the air drawn in dropped to about 95-105 during the day and down as low as 75 degrees at night!! I couldn't believe it made that much of a difference! If what Nitrous Oxide Systems reasearch claims is true about 1 hp per degree of temp drop, then the advantages of cold air induction are certainly worth the work!!!

My advice- put a K&N or other low pressure drop filter in place of the stock piece, then replace the wrinkled section of your stock rubber intake hose with 2.5" I.D. tubing and go down the road with more hp and torque reaping the benefits of cold air induction and a smoother intake tract. If you MUST buy an aftermarket piece, then I recommend one that doesn't significantly increase the size of the tubing of the intake tract, and one that utilizes cold air induction (like the Volant piece). It's pricey, but looks good and works. Avoid the open air filter type.


Hope this info helps. . .

 

hey wrongdayj:

I'll make a deal with you... I'll ship you my Mac to test out for a week or two and you ship it back... Then you compare the results to your intake.

 

Hey Talley,

I'd take you up on that, but I've already tested the MAC, the AIRAID, and the Volant and the Pacesetter units using a three variable study (avg HP/Torque vs. Velocity vs. Inlet Temp.) and while not as pretty as the aftermarket pieces, the O.E. piece with a K&N and a 2.5" I.D. section replacing the wrinkled area of the rubber inlet made all but the Volant look pretty bad. I was skeptical, too, because I like MAC products and when I had it on, it sounded WAY better than any of the others. . .and on the top I would have bet money that it would have dogged all the others. But the data didn't pan out.

Plus, I just read something about the MAC intake sound having such a calming, soothing effect. . .that people who have their intake on actually get drowsy behind the wheel and may even fall asleep and crash into things!


Later,

J

BTW- I have a serious question about your clutch.
How many miles did you get out of your Centerforce? I always had problems with chatter and low milage with Centerforce. Just wondering if you did too.

Hasta!

 

That's messed up there bud... NOT GOOD!

btw, Stock clutch lasted me till 12,460... put the stage 1 in then... i'm at 32,867 miles.

10,000 of those 12,460 were all city w/ lots of racing (kid with new 5spd toy )

I've got 15,000 highway miles since then on the centerforce.

The clutch has gone through a 6 second clutch smoke and a long 25 second clutch smoke and is still kickin! (not my fault ) actually maybe... i let my bud drive!

Any documentation?

 

Thanks Talley and WrongdayJ. I believe I'll just get a K&N drop-in filter and keep my stock cold-air induction. I see no need in paying big bucks for hot air. Oh, thanks for the info Wrongday J. It makes sense.

 

I still got all my original intake tubing along with the fully un cut airbox...

next time i'm at the track I will test the two... 3 runs with mac, 3 runs with setup like wrongday's. I'll average the runs and find out which made me go faster

Only real documentation!

 

My advice- put a K&N or other low pressure drop filter in place of the stock piece, then replace the wrinkled section of your stock rubber intake hose with 2.5" I.D. tubing and go down the road with more hp and torque reaping the benefits of cold air induction and a smoother intake tract. If you MUST buy an aftermarket piece, then I recommend one that doesn't significantly increase the size of the tubing of the intake tract, and one that utilizes cold air induction (like the Volant piece). It's pricey, but looks good and works. Avoid the open air filter type.


Ok WrongdayJ- You sold me I'm going to take my air-raid off and see
if the the seat-o-meter feels any change. Now need to buy k&n filter,
and 2.5" tubing.What do you think about opening the fender intake
a little more? Like to 3-4 in opening?
Paul

 

Don't buy into the hot air story, it is full of hot air.

I have the Summary in a thread in the engine section on FIPK and intake temps. as well as the full logs in AutoTap format.

My K&N FIPK had a 5* temp delta from the IAT point ( via AutoTap software ) to the out side temp.
This is what the truck uses for IAT, and not a added guage ( how ever that is done ? ).

The Cold Air intake is a nice story, and WMS Racing claims that 11* increase is 1 hp lost.
With 5* delta while moving, this is a whopping loss of .45 of a HP ( and where this is at, flywheel or RW is anyones guess ).

The air temp does increase while the truck is at a stand still, but within < 5 min, the intake temp is back to within the 5* mean ( mostly a speed thing, how fast the truck moves ).
Oddly enough, the wheel well is not exactly a fresh air source like a hood type intake. ( functional Cervini or the likes ?? )

Buy the intake you want, and leave the whole hot air vs cold air BS behind. It is just that BS.

Good luck with your choice

 

SSCULLY
Thanks for your input. I know I have better med range with
the air-raid, over what the stock intake had.
Just looking for anything that might give a little more
without big dollar output.
Paul

 

Paul,
Any change to the intake is not going to yield a hp increase, unless you start into the T/B and MAFS type of changes.

These would also need a chip reprogram ( or a chip with the programming in general ).

 

Oh boy, another credibility check.

-The intake air temperature monitor is made by installing a thermocouple in the filter box running to a digital thermometer in the cab. Not really too terribly complex. I tried to get it as close to the MAF as possible to see what the computer is seeing temp wise. Seems like someone who speaks the engineering language can grasp the idea without too much effort.

-I tend to believe the researchers at NOS over the folks at WMS Racing only because temperature and air charge density is a subject they have been industry experts in for quite some time. Not that WMS doesn't know what they're talking about, they are probably quite informed, I just trust NOS's research on this subject a little more.

-If the hot air theory is B.S. and hot air as you say, then I am perplexed as to why Ford (and the other major auto manufacturers for that matter) chose to utilize sealed filter, cool air intake tracts in all their vehicles since about 1987. Perhaps you can explain this to me (and Ford's engineering team) as you seem to know all the cutting edge hi-po tech secrets.

-You are correct about the 5° temp delta though. I have noticed about that when coming to a stop and then resuming speed. It doesn't take 5 min, though, to cool back down- more like 1/8 mile or 30 sec. max.


---J

 

Another credibility check for what ?

Instead of cutting into the intake tube, and putting in an additional thermometer, I just used the IAT from the computer.
This is what the truck uses for chaning the timming, so I guess it is good enough for me.

Ok, if we use NOS's values instead, that would be 5* = 5 HP.
Where the HP is read at, is still a mistery to me, neither say RWHP or flywheel, so the 5 HP could be less yet.

No I cannot explain why Ford does this. a 5* delta from the K&N FIPK is what I have the Autotap logs from. If you'd like to use Ford engerineering as the end all, I guess you should not touch your truck at all then. This logic leads to stock is best, and all those who get better 1/4 ETs and dyno results, I guess are lying, again with your logic of Ford engineering is the best method.

So with your concurrance of a 5* delta ( and a quicker cool down, then what Autotap has using the IAT to time stamp ), all this boils down to a 5HP delta. The closed intake mfgrs make the delta to be a horrific delta, and will cost major HP, 5 HP ( best case RW ) is not all that horrific in my book. So with a best case of 5 RWHP, why is the credibility check needed ?

With your own scientific data of watching the digital thermometer, where is the huge benefit of a closed air intake at ?

 

35°-40° cooler during the day. . .

and up to 70° (or more) cooler at night. . .

I'm not sure I understand the nature of your question. I think that anytime one can draw in air that is 35-70°+ cooler, then that would be a good thing (air density laws being what they are. . .)
It's cool if you don't buy into the air density thing. It's a difficult concept to grasp. I wouldn't go saying that the theory is B.S. or anything (because it isn't).

The thermometer is smaller and simply easier for me to travel around with rather than hooking up the Autotap and trying to read it (smaller characters in the display, plus mine's not backlit)and drive.

I do believe that the O.E. is best, but it's also full of compromises that some are willing to trade for performance. Others who think the factory is full of crap (or hot air) will come to agree in time, too. It usually takes getting their butt kicked in a race to a vehicle that is really conservatively modded for them to realize it though.

---J