Cold Air Intake .

[average-joe]

Removed flex coupling added a K&N replacement filter.

[lumpyf150]

Originally Posted by Power Hungry

My personal opinion... there's little advantage to running a CAI unless you are a rather aggressive driver. The average person would infrequently be in the RPM range where a CAI would actually make a difference. We've seen dyno numbers both with and without a CAI and they are often identical until you hit about 3500 RPM and then they separate to a final difference of about 8 HP.

You're probably better off just getting a good tune and if you really want to improve airflow, remove the snorkel from the fender to the flex coupling on the intake. That'll give you the same benefit without worrying about lean conditions or water-fouling your filter.

Take care.

Bill, I hope this isn't a dumb question but does the same (stock provides enough airflow) hold true for cat-back exhausts? Thanks.

[Power Hungry]

From what I've seen on the dyno, yes. Now, if going to a full dual exhaust with high flow cats, the air demands may change enough to make CAI worthwhile but it's something that we'd need to confirm on a dyno.

[kd4crs]

I'll contribute my personal experience with CAIs on the 04 and 06 F150 with the 5.4L engine. I had the 3in. AF1 on my 04 and it caused horrible drone as well as never ending check engine lights. The AF1 had to go. Next I tried the Outlaw Power intake on my 06 F150 for a couple of months and about 1,000 miles. I had no problems with it other than the intake resonance noise that it produces at certain RPMs. Unfortunately, it makes that noise constantly when towing our travel trailer so it had to go. Nice throttle response and I picked up about 1 MPG. Just couldn't put up with the noise. Some people like the noise, I didn't. Your mileage/results may vary. My personal conclusion is that after market CAIs on the NBS F150 are more trouble than they are worth. The stock intake IS a CAI and it is butt ugly but looks fine with the hood closed. The best modification I have found for it is the DWV intake mod I put together for my 04. It replaces the snorkel tip with a 3.5" piece of black ABS going into the stock fender hole for less restriction. I think Bill and I came up with this idea at about the same time so I can't claim I am the first person to think of it. It does work well and Bill has actually dynoed it and it has a gain of 7 or 8 ponies while still keeping the intake drone quiet. That and an AEM Dryflow replacement filter is what I roll with now.

Man, what a first post! I need a nap.

[Power Hungry]

David,

Glad to have you here! Make yourself at home.

I think you're right... we both probably did the same mod at the same time. I never posted it because at the time I wasn't really big on the forum stuff (at least on the gassers) so you really deserve the credit for the original release of the modification.

The silly thing, as I understand it, is that you kinda got heckled for the original modification but then a year later Gotts came out with the same modification and now that's what everyone refers to it as. Unfortunately, we do too but only because I could find the DWV thread.

If you'd like, get me a write-up of the modification complete with pictures, and we'll put it in the technical section of the FAQs (which will be there soon... ) so people can see it. We'd like to see you get some credit for the modification as well.

Take it easy.

[kd4crs]

Thank you Bill, that is very gracious of you. I will put together a write-up with some pictures and send it to you so you can look it over and make any changes or additions you see fit before posting it. The original thread on another forum caused such a controversy that it turned into a nasty argument and I requested the forum administrator to delete it for the good of the site since it wasn't doing anyone any good. Subsequently, I deleted all pictures and references to it in order to let things calm down. I think you deserve credit for the DWV intake mod, though since you actually dynoed it. Before the original thread went away more than 50 people had tried it and to the best of my knowledge nobody ever got a CEL from it or had any other problems with it.

[lumpyf150]

Originally Posted by kd4crs

Thank you Bill, that is very gracious of you. I will put together a write-up with some pictures and send it to you so you can look it over and make any changes or additions you see fit before posting it. The original thread on another forum caused such a controversy that it turned into a nasty argument and I requested the forum administrator to delete it for the good of the site since it wasn't doing anyone any good. Subsequently, I deleted all pictures and references to it in order to let things calm down. I think you deserve credit for the DWV intake mod, though since you actually dynoed it. Before the original thread went away more than 50 people had tried it and to the best of my knowledge nobody ever got a CEL from it or had any other problems with it.

kd4crs,
I was fortunate enough to see your posting in that other Forum before it was deleted. Did that mod per your instructions a couple years back. Very easy and works well. Thanks.

[lumpyf150]

Originally Posted by Power Hungry

From what I've seen on the dyno, yes. Now, if going to a full dual exhaust with high flow cats, the air demands may change enough to make CAI worthwhile but it's something that we'd need to confirm on a dyno.

Bill,
Thanks. One last question. If stock intake provides enough airflow, does stock exhaust provide enough as well? Any need for a higher flow exhaust if you're running a stock intake? Thanks.

[Power Hungry]

We've seen some benefit to going with a Cat-Back exhaust and the popular choice has been Magnaflow SIDO setups. This setup will usually benefit a little in low and mid RPMs, not to mention it sounds really nice. For some odd reason, Flowmaster mufflers just don't seem to work well in this configuration and have a real "tinny" sound instead of the nice, deep rumble.

As for duals, the thing we've found with full dual exhaust is that it tends to hurt low RPM performance a bit but makes up for it at higher RPMs, especially with high flow cats. However, unless you're really looking for top end performance, we generally recommend avoiding this setup. We've had more than a few customers say that they've actually gone back to the SIDO setup because they didn't like the way the low RPM power felt.

I look at an exhaust change more as a way to change the tone of the exhaust and less as an overall performance modification. There are certainly some gains to be had in each configuration, you just need to decide beforehand what you're looking to achieve with your vehicle.

[lumpyf150]

Originally Posted by Power Hungry

We've seen some benefit to going with a Cat-Back exhaust and the popular choice has been Magnaflow SIDO setups. This setup will usually benefit a little in low and mid RPMs, not to mention it sounds really nice. For some odd reason, Flowmaster mufflers just don't seem to work well in this configuration and have a real "tinny" sound instead of the nice, deep rumble.

As for duals, the thing we've found with full dual exhaust is that it tends to hurt low RPM performance a bit but makes up for it at higher RPMs, especially with high flow cats. However, unless you're really looking for top end performance, we generally recommend avoiding this setup. We've had more than a few customers say that they've actually gone back to the SIDO setup because they didn't like the way the low RPM power felt.

I look at an exhaust change more as a way to change the tone of the exhaust and less as an overall performance modification. There are certainly some gains to be had in each configuration, you just need to decide beforehand what you're looking to achieve with your vehicle.

Thanks, Bill. I'm just looking to get a little more fun and driveability (and maybe a little better MPG) out of my truck vs. blowing people's doors off or ear-drums out. Great "every day" advice!