Are the cheap cold air intake systems on Ebay that much different from more expensive ones like K&N?

 

Depends on who you ask

If I were going to buy an intake Id probably get something like the Airaid.

But theres a certain person here who will tell you they are overpriced blah blah blah *cough* FasterF150 *cough*

whether its really worth the extra cost for the name, who knows. The gain you get from any of them is minimal, so its really just up to you on whether or not you feel comfortable buying a non-brand name product.

 

save your money they do nothing to help power or fuel economy. i fell for it an bought an air aid for my 05 screw 4x4 all it does is let you hear the motor suck air.

 

Who knows really? Ive never seen any dyno numbers from an eBay one to compare to an expensiver (is that a word lol) intake.
But Id rather do some mods to the stock intake, which is exactley what I did. Pull the silencer tube, drop in K&N, bigger tubing running from the airbox to fender, I even put 5 inch dryer ducting from the airdam up to the inner fender. Seemed a LITTLE more peppier (keywords here are 'seemed' and 'little'). But Im sure its just as good as an ebay kit, and it only cost 5 bucks for the tubing from Menards and 35 for the K&N filter.

Might be something else to consider.

 

Bartak1 Can you post some pics and instructions for your mod?

 

air intakes do help a little i bought a mac for about 150 and noticed that the truck is a little quicker and i probaly got .8 mpg increase on the my 97 5.4 but on the other hand on my dads truck i did that cheap air intake system that it talks about in the technical articles (thanks for posting that idea) and that seems to do pretty good if your looking for something cheap. i havent been able to check the mpg or any thou.

 

Dfoxxx, I really only have pics of the tube running from the inner fender to airbox and a pic where you can see the 5 inch stuff thru the airdam opening. I can post them when I get home if youd like. (I have to get regular film put on a CD so I can get them on my comp, no digi camera )

Here is what I did though.
For the tubing running from the inner fender to the airbox, I used a piece of 3 inch flexible dryer vent tubing that was probably 8 inches long unstreched. I had to work it in the inner fender hole pretty good, its a tight fit. IIRC I might have had to even file it out a little. On the airbox side, I had to file out some plastic bumps that keep the stock tubing from coming out. Then I just stuck the end of the airbox over the dryer vent tubing, and kind of flared it out on inside the airbox to keep it from coming out.
For the silencer tube-youl have to detach the black plastic elbow from the throttle body, and the black flexible tubing. Its just clamped to the throttle body and detache the vacum lines. Its GLUED to the black flixible tubing though, and it take some work to get it off. I used screwdrivers. Be carefull not to poke thru the tubing.

Once its off, look in the elbow and you will see the silencer tube. It runs right down the center of the elbow, and its a small tube. You can easily see how it can restrict some air. Take pliers, needle nose pliers, dremel, anything that you can yank it out with. It also take some work to get it out. Once its out clean out the elbow to get dirt and stuff out then put it all back together. To connect the elbow back to the black flexible tubing, you will want to use some silicone around the whole thing so it wont leak air. I put a bic hose clamp around it too for an extra precaution.

I have to go right now but Il post back when i get home about the other tubing.

 

Its late, Im tired, just got home. Ill talk about it more tomarrow.

 

mines 3 years old and still performs and looks new.. make sure u get the ones with the stainless mesh filters... and black hose clamps mine was about 55 bucks they are around 68 now i think

 

I just removed my silencer tube and I love it. So what If I'm just hearing it "Suck Air". If I wanted quiet I'd drive my mothers car.

 

Lol, yeah the sucking sound is pretty cool.

 

that was so perverted lol

 

The custom filters do aid in performance/mileage, no doubt. Now, before everyone hollars "No they don't" answer these questions,"Why is it that every single competition vehicle has them"? "Why does every single article pertaining to increased performance say to throw on a custom fliter & tube"? "Why is it that on every weekend television show about high performnce recommend the VERY FIRST thing to do is add a custom filter and tube?"
Also, adding headers as I did, serves to suck out much more more dead gas/fuel and by adding a tube & high flow filter it helps to an even greater extent.

 

fmdog44

Your right. Modifying the intake does help. The problem is that most of the increase in air flow only helps at full throttle ((wot) or when the engine is under load such as when towing. When looking at the numbers from a dyno test, the increase in hp is normally at the top of the rpm scale. "Seat of the pants dyno's", rely on an increase in torque to actually feel the difference in power. Those that buy the intakes and don't feel the difference are normally those that don't use wot very often. (like me) I break it down this way, if you want to dress up your engine compartment, or do alot of wot(passing on 2 lane roads), or tow a heavy trailer, I would say mod the intake. If only cruising the interstate at legal speeds or dropping the kids off at school, you may want to save your money. With all that said, I can't leave my truck alone. I have modified the intakes on every vehicle I have ever owned. Some mods helped, some didn't. Do I need to mod my new 05? No. But I will. Just haven't decided how!!

 

The "everybody does it" is marketing brain washing.
The TV shows are info-mercials to push the things you see. It works or you would not be saying it here.
Why would you think there are so many air intakes, headers and exhaust parts marketed?
Because you guys buy them and make the companies rich for the little you get for the cost, on a street truck.