Intake Question

phillipjohnw · Mar 19, 2010

Ok so this might seem like a dumb question but bare with me. So I've been debating on a K&N intake upgrade for my 99 ranger. The kit that they sell is like $250 or something and replaces the entire intake right up to the throttle body. From what I can tell it looks exactly the same as the stock setup minus the airbox. Now in the tech library there is a little article about making an adapter that will fit from the MAS to a K&N cone filter without replacing the entire intake. Is the stock intake that bad that replacing the entire thing is worth the $250 or would I get the same general performance enhancement with just the cone filter and home made adapter?

As always any help is greatly appreciated.

bigcountry · Mar 19, 2010

dont get the cone nor the kit our trucks already have a CAI stock why replace it with another one? you will only get sound if you want a KN just get the regular drop in filter

Original_Ranger84 · Mar 20, 2010

No actually the stock intake is completely optimized for maximum fuel economy and performance with a stock to mild engine. It is actually more of a cold air intake then the cold air intakes you get because it draws air from behind the headlight vs. in the engine bay with a poorly fitted shield.

A drop in filter would work just fine., and if you want the sweet whistle sound you can remove the silencer.

Big Jim M · Mar 20, 2010

Some here, like me, think it is a really big mistake to mess with a perfectly good intake system. Ford spend milions of dollars paying their engineers to design the best overall intake system for our rides. Paying someone for a device they thought of in their garage is a silly idea.
For beginners the K&N filter passes larger particles than any off the shelf filter... Why would you want larger particles of dirt going into your engine?
Secondly if they were worth ANYTHING for more power, why wouldn't NASCAR use them? Nope, NASCAR uses standard filters.
All you will get is more dirt and more NOISE from the intake system...which some think is more power.
Big JIm

Rearanger · Mar 20, 2010

A look at the K&N site shows your truck with the complete K&N intake replacement producing about 5.5hp gain, but there is no dyno chart to see where that HP occurs. The dyno chart for the 2001 with the same intake shows the 5.5 gain at 4700rpm only. So how practical is spending $250 for maybe 5.5hp (test vehicle not yours) in an RPM range you rarely see?

Original_Ranger84 · Mar 20, 2010

Rearanger said:
A look at the K&N site shows your truck with the complete K&N intake replacement producing about 5.5hp gain, but there is no dyno chart to see where that HP occurs. The dyno chart for the 2001 with the same intake shows the 5.5 gain at 4700rpm only. So how practical is spending $250 for maybe 5.5hp (test vehicle not yours) in an RPM range you rarely see?

well with a 3.0L your more likely to see 4,700 rpm's but not to mention the dyno runs a guy did here which showed that he actually lost power with an intake.

moptophead · Mar 20, 2010

K+n ok

Big Jim M said:
Some here, like me, think it is a really big mistake to mess with a perfectly good intake system. Ford spend milions of dollars paying their engineers to design the best overall intake system for our rides. Paying someone for a device they thought of in their garage is a silly idea.
For beginners the K&N filter passes larger particles than any off the shelf filter... Why would you want larger particles of dirt going into your engine?
Secondly if they were worth ANYTHING for more power, why wouldn't NASCAR use them? Nope, NASCAR uses standard filters.
All you will get is more dirt and more NOISE from the intake system...which some think is more power.
Big JIm

Big Jim, you're right about Fords intake design. The best in the world. But a K+N drop in for a DD is a good addition because of the oil and element filtration combined. Granted NASCAR doesn't use them nor would I want my off road to use them under these EXTREME conditions. But like any product, if used as directed, these filters are great. Secret? Don't over oil them.
Happy Rangering!

phillipjohnw · Mar 20, 2010

Thanks for all the help guys. That was my biggest concern that an aftermarket filter was no different or in this case worse than the stock.

bigcountry · Mar 20, 2010

if you do get a drop in KN the biggest mistake people do is just drop them in and go huge mistake they are wraped up in plastic so they cant dry once you open the plastic let them dry over nite and then drop it in that way you wont get oil all over your MAF. im not a fan of them on my last ford that i had i got a KN and i was always cleaning dirt out of the intake tube and TB not what i call fun once a week and i got tired of buying MAF cleaner cause you could see the dirt and oil all over it. and i wasnt going to bring up the dyno run that someone did with a KN i couldnt find the page and some many people have alot to say about how wrong it is. and 4,700rpms yea thats kinda high and IF you only get 5.5hp at 4,700rpms then that would mean you would have to almost redline your truck everyday to just feel those 5.5hp. and to me that aint worth it. and yes they are very high flow filters and you can hear it but like said before me they let in alot of bigger particles and to me my motor is worth alot more than 50bucks and a whistle but thats just me

Original_Ranger84 · Mar 20, 2010

Really? I run my K&N down dirt roads all the time,like the engine bay is literaly covered in dirt but the MAF and intake tube is completely clean not a speck of dirt or oil. the key is to oil it properly.

Big Jim M · Mar 20, 2010

OR84 You may have missed the point he made.. He over oiled and the oil got in the intake and CAUGHT the DIRT that is passing thru your intake! If you go out there and oil down your intake and run her down that dirt road a few times you WILL have dirt in the intake that the oil has stopped from entering YOUR engine.
Big JIm

Original_Ranger84 · Mar 20, 2010

Big Jim M said:
OR84 You may have missed the point he made.. He over oiled and the oil got in the intake and CAUGHT the DIRT that is passing thru your intake! If you go out there and oil down your intake and run her down that dirt road a few times you WILL have dirt in the intake that the oil has stopped from entering YOUR engine.
Big JIm

No i know what he was saying... But if it was oiled properly the dirt wouldn't pass though the intake... otherwise my intake would have atleast a very light coating of dust inside the tube. I don't know the truck I had came with it and it works just fine.

Intake Question

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