Good but cheep cold air intake

[RonD]

If you can HEAR air being sucked into an engine then there is turbulence, so something is WRONG

 

[cbxer55]

That's bs and you know it. The after market CAI's totally eliminate the thing that would cause the most turbulence, that POS crinkly rubber hose that runs from the MAF to the TB. All the one's I pictured are totally smooth inside, might even say polished.

Air passing through restrictions makes noise. The stock airbox muffles it. Simple as that.

In any event, I change the intake when I buy a vehicle. Been doing that for over 40 years. And nothing anyone says is going to alter that. And every vehicle, including my 3.0 Ranger, runs better than they did before. It's called seat-of-the pants, and mine works.

YMMV

The stock box is EPA mandated so the vehicle can pass a noise emission test in a closed booth. Intakes are noisy. Years ago, I ran an open velocity stack on a four barrel carb. You should have heard that sucker. Man was it loud. Even idling, just one loud evil hiss. Never had any trouble with the engine either. Ran that set-up for years. It was on a Firebird with a cowl hood, and the stack stuck up into the cowl. I had a screen on the back of the cowl to keep large objects from going in. Man, I miss that set-up, the sound was beautiful to behold.

I'm gone for the day. Too nice a day to sit here inside and gab. There is no stupid stay-at-home order in effect here.

 

[RonD]

What causes the noise?

 

[cbxer55]

Air passing through any restriction makes noise. What is a whistle? Air passing through a restriction. The intake on my Ranger whistles, or hisses if you will, just idling. Same with all the vehicles I pictured. ANd when the throttle is opened, it's more of an intake roar. Air being sucked in that the stock airbox, which has baffles, eliminates.

 

[cbxer55]

Bye-bye now.

 

[RonD]

Exactly

 

[Shran]

If you like the noise, then rock the noise. It's not affecting my life. My buddy had his air intake routed into the cab on several of his old mud trucks simply to keep them cleaner, WOW was that loud. It was like sitting inside a shop vac.

Never had those problems with mine. I've never cleaned the MAF on my Ranger, and that intake has been on it since 2002. I clean and re-oil the filters yearly. The Lightning has had that intake since I bought it in 2009. So stop spreading false facts. I use Simple Green to clean the filters and good old K & N oil to oil them. Just don't over oil them. That's the reason that MAFs get oily. Most people have a tendency to think "More is better." It's not in this case. One pass, very lightly applied, good to go.

Why the hostility? You can spend your money however you want to. I had a warm air intake like yours with a cone K&N on my crawler for a while and it would get clogged within one day, maybe 60 miles of dirt roads. I was cleaning it out at camp every night. I replaced it with a factory filter and air box, now I just blow out the paper filter a couple times a year.

I will also point out that your under hood air just cannot be colder than the ambient outside air. Any time you are pulling air from under the hood versus outside the vehicle, it is hotter, and it is well known and accepted that gasoline engines run better and more efficiently as the air temp drops... it is what it is, arguing that pulling air from under the hood is better is equivalent to arguing that the earth is flat.

Speaking as someone who regularly works on other people's vehicles, I can tell you from EXPERIENCE that people who don't know how to change their oil or brake pads are putting K&N filters in their cars and oiling the shit out of them. You are correct that too much oil contaminates the MAF but that's beside the point - the average driver has no need for a K&N nor do they know how to use them correctly, the factory filter is better. You and I might know better but 99.9999% of other drivers simply do not. I have replaced enough filty MAF sensors to know this.

 

[Dirtman]

He managed to mention his lightning 10 times in one thread... new record.

 

[Dirtman]

While I think cold are intakes are about as useful as a sh*t flavored lollipop, I do use K&N drop in filters. If you clean and oil it the way its designed and not soak it like a moron they work well. I dont use them for performance because there is none, i just like popping it out every year washing it and throwing it back in. For $30-40 bucks you get a filter and enough cleaner/oil to last a decade.

I should also mention I don't live in a particularly dusty area or go offroad. When we used K&N style filters on our ATVs back in the day you absolutely had to cover them with a pre filter when you were riding sand trails. If I used my truck offroad the K&N would come off and a motorcraft filter would go on.

 

[8thTon]

The 3.0 is a great engine, but the idea of one needing a 3” intake tube is pretty silly. Sort of like a Cummins needing 2 6”stacks.

There’s a lot of people making money selling silly aftermarket parts to people who are convinced they do something, often in the face of all logic. Makes me chuckle like those “phase matched” Monster Cables used to do back in the day. The snake oil business is strong as ever.

 

[Dirtman]

I don't know if its all about people actually believing these things do anything as much as just buying trendy crap they think looks cool.

I find it hard to believe a human being could actually be so stupid that they think THIS actually makes their truck more powerful...

 

[Uncle Gump]

We ran K&N filters in all our off road buggies. We oiled the filter element and used K&N grease to seal the top and bottom. After filter was in place... we used outerware pre-filters. They would knock down the big stuff so it wouldn't reach the K&N element. We also used UNI-Filters over the K&N's on the drag cars.

 

[RonD]

Hey, don't put the kibosh on my muffler bearing business, these are necessary for MY family's well being, and of course for the proper operation of ANY motor vehicle, they also work on boats, even row boats and kayaks, just FYI

BUY Mufflers Bearings

 

[Curious Hound]

I do believe the factory intake in a 3.0 is restrictive. I replaced mine with smooth tubing and used a later model OEM Ford filter box from a 4.0 and enlarged the opening between that and the hole in the radiator support.

I don’t have any way to measure any difference over the stock intake. So no wild claims here. It just makes sense that it should have improved something. I am happy with what I did.

I do not own a lightning

 

[Dirtman]

I do believe the factory intake in a 3.0 is restrictive. I replaced mine with smooth tubing and used a later model OEM Ford filter box from a 4.0 and enlarged the opening between that and the hole in the radiator support.

I don’t have any way to measure any difference over the stock intake. So no wild claims here. It just makes sense that it should have improved something. I am happy with what I did.

I do not own a lightning

Correct me if I'm wrong, But in theory you would be able to tell if it flows better by looking at the fuel trim numbers. If the new intake actually flowed better then the engine would lean out and you'd see the fuel trim numbers raise ever so slightly to compensate.

But even if you did put a "less restrictive " intake on, that doesn't mean the old one was "too restrictive". If the stock intake can flow 120% of the air the engine can take in and the aftermarket intake can flow 200% of the air the engine can take it... there is no gain because the engine can only use 100%.