I just bought and installed the K&N Gen II FIPK system on my 97 F150 w/ 4.6L The first thing I noticed is how far from the side wall the filter sits. It stops about 6 inches shy of the side. I don't know much about the dynamics of it, but from what I understand, the cooler the air going through, the better the performance. I live in Las Vegas, so the inside of my beer fridge is even hot. Is this a problem? ( not the beer fridge, the air intake)

 

it is not a problem it is just how thet were made, i made a custome heat sheild/cold air intake for my k&n intake out of a sheet of stainless steel and some window gasket, so it chanells cooler air and sheilds it from the engine heat

 

You could definitely attach a heat shield, it should help some.

 

What/where did you attach the heat shield to in your engine compartment?
I noticed my FIPK actually has burned spots from contacting some wiring in the engine compartment. I cut about three inches off of the K&N tube hoping that would solve the problem but the filter is still barely touching the wiring and I'm worried it could get burnt again.

 

I e-mailed K&N several years back about a FIPK heat shield. They told me: Some of their FIPKs had one and others didn't. It was a balance between air intake temperature and blocking air flow. It was thoroughly engineered and if it needed one, it would have one.

 

i will take some photos of it and post them tomarow or the next day

 

Thanks for the responses, I guess I intalled it correctly then and the next thing I need to decide is if I should fashion some type of heat shield. Those of you that have, did you really notice much difference? I also wonder if it would matter much in the climate I live in. I mean would it really keep any heat out? or just cause more of air flow restriction.

 

I live in Texas and my 5.4L Expy with a G2 FIPK hesitates badly in the summer months...slow off the line but once the air starts moving through the engine compartment things improve...I'd really like to see a pic of any custom heat shields.

 

Every 10 degrees is 1% loss in performance, underhood temps can easily get to 130 degrees above ambient. Read that as a 13% loss.

 

sorry wont be able to take the photos of the heat sheild till this weekend i will post them on saterday,
[img]https://www.f150online.com/galleries/thumbs/4481-6554-98515-thumb.jpg[/img

 

JMHO, I think a hot beer fridge would be a problem.

 

I have similar problem. As I drive the filter side of my FIPK II droops. The filter then bounces on the electrical connectors under it and drips filter oil all over them. The rotates my elbow up to the hood and twists the boot attaching the tube onto the throttlebody. A couple of weeks ago I went off-roading and twisted it so bad that I broke the boot and the intake popped off of the throttlebody. If it wasn't hose clamped to the only bracket I would have lost it.

I called K&N and they told me that the intake was fine and I was the only one with a problem and that I might have installed it wrong. So I took it to a welding shop and for $35 had a second bracket made. I attached it to the other stud sticking out of the engine block on the driver's side and the MAF rests on it. The filter is now several inches above the connectors and doesn't move at all.

 

Brian42

I had the same problem as you, my filter was resting on the electrical connectors and starting to rub on the wiring insulation. One day I ended up taking the whole thing apart including all of the clamps and couplings. The tube itself had a fine coating of dust inside of it which really worried me. After cleaning I put everything back together nice and tight. The filter was not resting on the wiring any more. I assume everything loosened up since the first time it was installed and also caused air leaks. So was able to fix two problems at the same time.