Why can you remove the air box when you put a K&N

[phatcap]

i think most people do it as a status symbol ("look how much i paid for my intake setup") and because it "looks cooler" than the stock airbox. it doesn't give you better performance, it might actually hurt performance since you're drawing in warmer air.

 

[Army]

I removed the intake "horn" from inside the wheel well on my '96 when I put in the K&N. Remounting the air box in its normal place, allowed much more air through the larger sidewall hole than the very restricted horn diameter.

The computer took less than 5 minutes to figure it out, and it has run great since. Better mileage, better gitty-up, and emissions still tests on the bottom end of the spectrum.

 

[bluebombersfan]

intake horn?

Not sure I get you, I got the 96 model aswell but I can't figure out what you said but it sounds interesting.
If I can remember There were two pieces the airbox housing that goes over the filter then after that a air hose that goes down the fender, is that what you mean by intake horn?

 

[RangerFabWorks]

ok, removing the air filter box is more common with turbo cars. most guys do it to hear the turbo and get the whoosh sound when shifting. heres the pros and cons to the box or the intake ram. filter box pros- less dirt entering intake. cooler air from fender well or where ever mounted. cons- massive restriction do to pipe size. intake resonators, and filter area. intake ram pros- more filter surface area. bigger size pipes. much smoother flow. more cfm in intake pipes. cons- increase heat in intake. more water entering intake. personally, the intake ram is the way to go because of the increase of flow which helps your engine breathe better. take you air box off and rev it under a load and you will notice the engine is louder and making a sucking noise. that noise is the extra air you engine is sucking in. so that is why us guys remove our filter boxes. they just dont flow as well as a intake ram or even just replacing it with a cone filter. but the only way to get the real benefits of the extra air entering in is the reset your ecm. this will make it forget the previous air to fuel ratios and now account for the extra air entering in. without resetting the ecm, your just pissing in the wind

 

[Southern3.0]

Theres really no restriction in the air box, and you gotta think the 4.0 uses the same air box as 4 banger, so the air box on our trucks can support at least 200 hp and be fine.

 

[bluebombersfan]

Well the problem is if K&N really works which I believe it does were talking about possible gain of maybe 2% more hp which would really be impossible to detect,
I remember when I installed it in my old 1990 Accord, I could hear loud suction noises if I slammed the gas down, I also noticed the engine was louder especially at higher RPM I loved it.
Unfortunetly when I installed a K&N in my 96 Ranger it sounded exactly the same for some reason. The size of the K&N cone filter was about the same for both vehicles so I'm not sure why it didn't really have any effect on my Ranger.

 

[99RangerBoss]

i installed some cheapo CAI from ebay in my old 99 last spring and i didn't find a big increase except for that awesome sound, but none of this supposed CAI are really CAI their short ram intakes and the difference is that CAI sucks air in from down low like on ricers where the air really is cooler and short ram takes the warm engine bay air, short ram just has better throttle response.

 

[bluebombersfan]

You make a good point, K&N calls it a cold air intake but like you said its more of a short ram air intake with bigger air pipes.

 

[rustyr182]

i had a cold air intake on my truck for 2 years i finally took it off and put the stock box on and i gain probably 10 horsepower back bolt on performance parts are a joke unless you have a performance vehicle dont waste you money on crap

 

[powerwagon]

wuts the electronic dohickey on the sid of my 88 2.3 air box? is it the maf?