Author Topic: Is there a best? (Read 2397 times)

mEYEscndfvrtluv · « **on:** September 08, 2006, 12:25:37 PM »

I've seen all brands of cold air intakes;is there a best one for HP and gas mileage?thinking of adding one to go with a ram air hood. any suggestions on a brand?-Jeff

KY_BOB · « **Reply #1 on:** September 08, 2006, 12:49:21 PM »

Jeff, I've read posts on everything out there and have heard that each of them is the best at one time or another.

IMO, there is no unbiased data on it.

I have seen some before and after dyno runs on the ProCold that were pretty impressive but it is the most susceptible to water.

FWIW, I have the stock air box with a K&N drop in and the homemade cold air mod (a 4" hole cut into the bottom of it). Of course the rest of my intake tract is specific to the supercharger.

mEYEscndfvrtluv · « **Reply #2 on:** September 08, 2006, 01:45:52 PM »

thx for your input! :drink:

bluedevil · « **Reply #3 on:** September 08, 2006, 05:48:52 PM »

I have a FIPK K&N intake with a not-so-home made tube. This a 4" x32" extendable hose(vacuum hose) from the lower valance and behind the headlights to the intake. Does it help? I dont know.

mEYEscndfvrtluv · « **Reply #4 on:** September 09, 2006, 11:11:52 AM »

sounds like its all very subjective and no real clear winner!

codysown · « **Reply #5 on:** September 11, 2006, 02:44:22 AM »

There has been some talk on some of the other forums that you can gain a little horsepower, but your mileage will take a hit. By the time you spend $300 on an intake, $500 on an exhaust, and another $450 on a programmer to take advantage of it all, you might as well have some head work done for better flow. I had my mind set on getting a AEM Brute force as it has the Dry Flow technology, however after reports of it dropping the gas miles 1.5 to 2 mpg, I decided against it. I found a high flow paper element that seems to work fairly decent, At $15 each I can deal with changing it out every 10k or so.

Cody

TNAV · « **Reply #6 on:** September 24, 2006, 08:58:37 AM »

Quote from: myscndfvrtride on September 08, 2006, 12:25:37 PM

I've seen all brands of cold air intakes;is there a best one for HP and gas mileage?thinking of adding one to go with a ram air hood. any suggestions on a brand?-Jeff

My .02
CAI's will help in the upper RPM band (usually 4800 and up) is where the dyno's usually show the CAI adds HP, however most of us won't constantly drive in that RPM range to notice the additional HP.
If you read most posts concerning CAI's the majority of folks post about the sound that they here under accelration with the open element CAI's (K&N, AEM, etc.) last I checked sound does not equate to HP

The stock system flows more cool air than is necessary to support the 5.3 and 8.1 engines.
Take the money you would spend on a CAI and get yourself a PCM Tune :thumb:

woof · « **Reply #7 on:** September 24, 2006, 03:21:19 PM »

I noticed a slight mpg increase after I installed the procold. The combined exhaust, CAI, Superchips and gearing did make a dramatic difference (but I can't name a singe item which was mostly responsible). I had a similar topic over on denalitrucks.com and no one stood up and provided a clear answer as to which CAI is better, they actually recommended "outlaw". The good news is, these can be exchanged easilly...

mEYEscndfvrtluv · « **Reply #8 on:** September 24, 2006, 06:15:12 PM »

thx for all the opinions! i think i will just cut a hole in the oem top and attach it to my hood! thx-Jeff

justJR · « **Reply #9 on:** February 01, 2007, 07:38:31 AM »

I realize that this is kind of an old post but I retained most of the stock parts on my truck and did before and after dynos and came up with some suprising results. I also cot a hole in the bottom of my factory air box and ran a hose from under the front cladding by the driving light on the right side and added a K&N drop in filter as well as a cheesy little Cyclone power charger thing that simply inserted in the factory air intake and pulled a 27 horsepower difference with the Gibson cat-back system added as well.
On top of the HP increase, I now get about 19mpg in the city and 21 on the freeway! I can afford to cruise around now!

Whoo-Hoo!!!

bluedevil · « **Reply #10 on:** February 01, 2007, 03:54:42 PM »

Quote from: justJR on February 01, 2007, 07:38:31 AM

I realize that this is kind of an old post but I retained most of the stock parts on my truck and did before and after dynos and came up with some suprising results. I also cot a hole in the bottom of my factory air box and ran a hose from under the front cladding by the driving light on the right side and added a K&N drop in filter as well as a cheesy little Cyclone power charger thing that simply inserted in the factory air intake and pulled a 27 horsepower difference with the Gibson cat-back system added as well.
On top of the HP increase, I now get about 19mpg in the city and 21 on the freeway! I can afford to cruise around now! Whoo-Hoo!!!

I did something similar to yours. I ran a vacuum hose from the filter down to the lower valance. No Dyno sheets.

justJR · « **Reply #11 on:** February 02, 2007, 07:40:37 AM »

Ahh, I got lucky. My dad runs the Chevy dealership in Longmont, colorado and they have a dyno there so I get factory trained mechanics to work on my truck and access to cool toys!

Sunburst05 · « **Reply #12 on:** February 02, 2007, 11:42:49 AM »

Quote from: justJR on February 01, 2007, 07:38:31 AM

I realize that this is kind of an old post but I retained most of the stock parts on my truck and did before and after dynos and came up with some suprising results. I also cot a hole in the bottom of my factory air box and ran a hose from under the front cladding by the driving light on the right side and added a K&N drop in filter as well as a cheesy little Cyclone power charger thing that simply inserted in the factory air intake and pulled a 27 horsepower difference with the Gibson cat-back system added as well.
On top of the HP increase, I now get about 19mpg in the city and 21 on the freeway! I can afford to cruise around now! Whoo-Hoo!!!

Can you post some pics of this?

justJR · « **Reply #13 on:** February 02, 2007, 12:21:02 PM »

Camera is at the office today. I'll shoot a couple of photos tomorrow. It doesn't look like much more than the stocker with an extra hose under the air box but it works great!

Sunburst05 · « **Reply #14 on:** February 02, 2007, 12:35:03 PM »

That would be great,

justJR · « **Reply #15 on:** February 06, 2007, 02:09:59 PM »

Okay, here's the pics. Like I said she looks like a stocker, but it seems to be a good combo for the money. The results are really exactly what I was looking for.

bluedevil · « **Reply #16 on:** February 06, 2007, 04:06:49 PM »

We want to see the the hose under the airbox

justJR · « **Reply #17 on:** February 06, 2007, 06:21:35 PM »

Cool, then come lay in the slush! I just got my driveway cleaned off, so give it a day or so to dry off a bit. We are building a new garage so it's just a concrete slab in the snow and ice right now.

bluedevil · « **Reply #18 on:** February 06, 2007, 06:55:12 PM »

Quote from: justJR on February 06, 2007, 06:21:35 PM

Cool, then come lay in the slush! I just got my driveway cleaned off, so give it a day or so to dry off a bit. We are building a new garage so it's just a concrete slab in the snow and ice right now.

Take your time. Ill snap pics of mine when it gets warmer.

justJR · « **Reply #19 on:** February 06, 2007, 07:05:22 PM »

Cool, i'm always nosy about athers setups!

Main One · « **Reply #20 on:** February 10, 2007, 09:08:56 PM »

It's been less than a year since I was looking at buying an intake, and I'd like to share some things I learned at that time.

AIRAID was the only source I found that sold a different intake depending upon whether or not your truck year came with electric radiator fans. The mechanical fan shroud is quite obtrusive, and requires a sharper bend in front of the throttle body, which means if you have efans, AIRAID gives an advantage that the others didn't. Since I had upgraded to efans, I bought an intake tube that was for an 05 truck for my 03.

AIRAID was also the only source that would separately sell airboxes and intake tubes. I bought just the tube, and am using the stock box.