cold air intake and throttle spacer

^Don't mess with THE Chris.

 

Very easy. A few years back, I wasted my money (bought it second hand so it was half price but still) and put one on my '99 Explorer with the 5.0L V8 and it probably took all of a half hour and that's only because I dropped the screwdriver.

 

^True so at least you have something to show for it. Hey, it's all in good fun. Sites like this wouldn't exist if we didn't tinker with our vehicles.

 

Both an extreme waste of money!


The OEM intake it came with is (in most cases) going to be the best - sounds crazy but here's the real deal -

The reasons anyone makes a "cold air intake" are:
1) To sell you something that "looks cool" and makes noise (keywords - sell you something).
2) Because "Fast & Furious" was just such a cool movie and "you gotta be like them, dawg".
3) You'll think your ride is that much better than the next one just like it (they made thousands of em).

Now back to the real deal -

Most "cold air intakes" are misleading to begin with. If the filter is an open element (you can see the filter) and it's under the hood, it is actually a "hot air intake" (in other words - they lie and sell you something). When was the last time you ever felt a cool breeze under the hood of a car/ truck? A true cold air intake has to take in air from an ambient source - aka outside the engine bay. If you want one that bad for the "cool factor", or if your car/ truck doesn't breathe from outside the engine bay, find one that fits that description.

The air that the OEM (the one it came with from the factory, or Original Equipment Manufactured) air intake breathes in is usually from just behind the grille itself, or sometimes from a fenderwell. This "air charge" is actually cold (or ambient temperature air), as hot air will just drop your ignition timing (because of pre-ignition or detonation) as the temperature of the intake air increases, and take all your HP with it.

Let common sense help some on deciding just how good an aftermarket part or system is:
1) Why would the Manufacturer short you on the performance it could have for an extra $100?
2) If you gained MPG with a simple piece of tubing and a "one size fits all" air filter element - wouldn't they do that at the factory that built the vehicle?
3) Who do you think has more money and resources for Research and Development - the company that designed and built the entire vehicle, or the company that made that "cold air intake"?
4) If something you could buy and install yourself would actually add HorsePower and MPG, why would any vehicle manufacturer waste millions designing it the way they did (and lose the edge on the competition)?

Add to that the water protection that a stock OEM air box is designed to provide. Water intrusion is a HUGE concern to prevent damage, and here's the reason, air compresses and water doesn't. If an engine breathes in water, and tries to compress it, it will break in a big way.

Some "cold air intake" kits have a water intrusion valve that is basically a ping-pong ball in a sleeve - good luck trusting an engine to that. I know where they got the R&D on that design, just open up a wet/ dry shopvac and you'll see the same thing. Amazing how brilliant these things are when you dig.

 

surfsupl, seriously, it gets old seeing the same post day after day. I'm not saying a CAI is necessarily a good upgrade on these vehicles, but the gains are there, however small.

That leads into my next point. There is one major flaw in your post: vehicle manufacturers also take the cheapest, safest, and reliable route which does not translate into the best performance. Since Chris has established that there is in fact a gain to be had (5hp/14ftlbs), that really negates your whole argument against the CAI.

 

I've seen this done on track runs.

 

Takes all of 10-15 mins to install. Easiest thing ever. And yeah there's definitely going to be a whistle.