High-Flow air intakes

[lawnduster]

I was in Autozone and saw on the shelve various parts for a "performance high-flow air intake" set up. I was baffled as to how much, if any does the set up enhance performance. It seemed pretty simpl, just a piece of funky hose that will expand and contract to fit into your rig, and an adapter to put a high flow air filter on the hose they make all kinds of adapters to fit onto your car's intake. I was also on the net and found a thing called the Turbonator, another bolt on performance intake part. It too, looked simple it didnt even have a hose on the intake it just had a big hole with a fan looking thing in it that doesnt move it is just meant to redirect air into the normal air filter/intake setup. Does anyone know if these things work. Thanks

 

[DieselPower]

Personally I avoid most "high flow" aftermarket air filter set up's. Most of them (K&N included) use a gauze type filter which does a great job at increasing air flow but almost nothing to stop dirt from entering your engine. You may gain some HP for a while but how much quicker is your engine going to wear out due to all the extra dirt entering the intake and getting into your engine oil? In my book a huge waste of money.

 

[Phils]

As an owner of an underpowered pickup ('91 K2500 5.7L) pulling a 10,000lb fifthwheel, I've looked at EVERYTHING possible to increase power.

Better intake airflow will only help if you spend a lot of time at full throttle, since that's about the only place that your stock system could have much restriction. Heck, take the air filter and box off and see if you notice any more power. You'll notice more noise, as you will with the high-flow systems.

The 'turbonator' has been debunked at so many forums I haven't tried it (under the name 'tornado'). There are forums for YOUR truck (I infrequently check some for my Chevy) and opinions of performance increases can be found there too.

Programmers (for newer vehicles that can benefit from them) DO work. A performance "chip" was all I could get and it does a LITTLE better on power but I must use premium gas. A TBI space helped a LITTLE. Larger diameter exhaust and a new cat helped a LOT. Synthetic oil helps performance a LITTLE (the benefits are for other things like wear and oil change frequency).

Can't remember all the things I've tried right now. My test after each installation is a steep hill near my house. How far up the hill I get before shifting into 1st gear is directly related to any performance change. When my wife noticed a difference, it was a BIG performance change.

Skip the high-flow air intake IMHO.

Me? Next thing is changing out front and rear gear ratios to 4.10 instead of the 3.73s I have now. If I had lots of $$ and didn't like my truck so much, I'd be buying a 3/4T diesel pickup.

Phil

 

[Highbeam]

Holy smokes, 10,000 lbs of fifth wheel behind a TBI 350? That sir even has me topped. My 98 350 makes a healthy handful more horsepower that your 91 and 7000 lbs of trailer (much less wind resistance) is plenty for it.

I concur that the typical aftermarket high flow intakes do more harm than good on any engine. There are a few less common aftermarket high flow intakes which use large paper elements that improve intake flow somewhat as well as the ability of the filter to hold more dirt before becoming restricted. Autozone won't have the good stuff.

I am very happy with the very large OEM paper filter on my GM vortec engine. It's huge and since air flow is regulated by the throttle plate on a gas engine, the only possible time that more airflow would help is full throttle and high RPMs. I have been to 4400 rpm on a grade at full throttle and my intake manifold vacuum gauge read zero which indicates that the air filter is keeping up just fine with air supply.

Is the engine is question a diesel or gas?

 

[N80]

I have a friend with an '05 F-150 he put on one of these high dollar high-flow intakes on and said he did not notice any increase in power but did notice better mileage. I have no way of confirming that.

An auto mag some years back tested the 'turbo' intakes and found them to do nothing for hp, torque or mileage.

My '03 F-150 makes more hp than I need or can use, but MAN the gas mileage stinks. It has never broken 15!

My B-I-L has a long bed, crew cab late '90s F-350 diesel that get over 20 on the highway.

I should have bought an F-250 diesel instead of my 150. Cost would have been similar, mileage a little better and more room in the cab and the bed. Rats.

 

[Highbeam]

My B-I-L has a long bed, crew cab late '90s F-350 diesel that get over 20 on the highway.

I should have bought an F-250 diesel instead of my 150. Cost would have been similar, mileage a little better and more room in the cab and the bed. Rats.

I am still kicking myself for buying a gas powered half ton. The 3/4 or one ton diesel being bigger, safer, heavier, more capable truck offering superior mpg. I don't regret the decision I made at the time but now that my needs have changed I can see the benefit to the diesel.

 

[gordon21]

Those high flow or quick flow units REALLY do work.

They make about $150 flow out of your wallet faster than you you can imagaine. Let's see: high cost, more noise, less filtration, more engine wear. Who wouldn't want tp pay for that privelige???

 

[deerefan]

After having read numerous articles in numerous magazines, I've come to one conclusion...if you drive it everyday, leave it alone. The vehicle was designed to perform w/in certain ramifications. for instance, my 05 Z71 came stock w/ 295 hp and 335tq. That is what the drivetrain was designed to work with. You start tinkering with that and components start malfunctioning. Just my opinion.

 

[Tig]

Back in my motorcycle days I found that nothing gave you more horsepower bang for the buck than K&N filters. But they require cleaning, careful oiling and you had to tune the engine to get the HP. That being said I've never put one on any of my cars. In modern fuel injected vehicles you also risk getting oil on your mass air flow sensor which will cause it to give skewed readings to the computer and thus hurt performance.

deerefan, you are right on with that conclusion. What you think you gained in horse power you probably just lost twice over in reliability.

 

[Ifixcars]

All show and no go in my estimation. I wouldn't waste my time or money on them. I would love to own a piece of K&N though, they sell a $40 dollar air filter, or 200 dollar system and 99.9% of the buyers never check if they get any actual performance gain. Any incremental gain would not be felt by joe average driver. It's just money down the drain. Has anyone seen the sheet metal louvres that are installed in the air inlet? They are supposed to "swirl" the air going into the cylinders! Yeah sure.... If you really want performance, you have to do it the old fashioned way, with machining, porting, cam work, computor relearn, jetting carbs, custom exhaust, turbos, and blowers, etc. Not with gimmicks. That's just my opinion though, if you feel a horsepower increase after replacing your air filter, then that's great.