Cold air intake box

[flowergirl1978]

hi, will Ford still honour the vehicle warranty if I replace the stock air filter with a cold air intake box?

Thanks

 

[peterk9]

hi, will Ford still honour the vehicle warranty if I replace the stock air filter with a cold air intake box?

Thanks

If you have an issue with a part that needs to be replaced and they trace the problem back to the CAI as the cause then that replacement part and repair costs will not be covered. If the failure of the part is not related to the 'intake' then there should not be an issue. From reading various posts in the CAI threads, it seems all the intake does is create a little more sound and nothing else.

Peter

 

[JR123]

"should" is the key word. Every dealer is different. Some work hard to find reasons, some could care less. Most of the time the questionable performance "gains" are not worth the debate during the short warranty. How much warranty do you have left bumper to bumper? Once you get into power train it's less of a deal since the intake isn't covered anyway. Is there an issue you think the intake is going to help with?

 

[613GT500]

I didn't check for the EX, but Ford Racing also carries their own line of CAIs and having that installed will not void warranty.

 

[MikB]

Did you say...Cold Air Intake Box? I bought a K&N CAI assembly about a year ago and in the time I've had it installed, I couldn't help noticing how half azzed engineered it was. Mainly the exposed air filter to the engine bay. I thought, how could K&N call this CAI? Anyway, I have remedied my situation by cobbling together a seat of the pants engineered, cold air intake box (from the mind of Mikey) to enclose the air filter from the elements of the engine bay. I will be installing it today. Later, in this post, I will present pictures of my cobbled creation for your edification. My materials used was a sheet of stainless steel 'backsplash' acquired from Lowe's, Dynamat to insulate and deaden sound, flat weather stripping for a good seal in needed places and I used rivets to hold it all together. I used the air filter frame supplied in the K&N kit as the base for assembly. The OEM air intake duct was also utilized.

As promised, here are a few pics of the new CAI box before and after install.

 

[blwnsmoke]

Don't waste your money. Air flow is all electronically controlled now so you will not gain anything unless you tune the vehicle and even then it will not be any type of noticeable gains.

 

[BMan5150]

Nice job on the modified cai. Should help pull slightly lower temp air vs the original Cai design.

 

[MikB]

Nice job on the modified cai. Should help pull slightly lower temp air vs the original Cai design.

Thanks, it was a fun project and it seem to be doing what I set out to accomplish. The noise the K&N system was creating was quite annoying to my ears and so, this box, being insulated, has shut that down to a large degree. Second, the design of the K&N for the Ex is quite poor in my opinion and it still has it's problems that I hope to remedy in the future. Because of the design, the filter bracket is actually bent forward past it's natural shape forcing the filter down. Since there's no sealing off of the filter from the engine compartment from the bracket being pushed forward, there is no seal against the hood when closed. As I said, a poor design. The 'cold air' part doesn't exist as the filter is fully exposed to the heat of the engine compartment. You can see this effect in the last photo as that bracket appears to be shoved into the 'cold box'. The bracket should be flush with the back edge of the cold box. This is due to the tube being too long. However, I took this into consideration before I built the box and made it adjustable to the condition. When I figure out a way to shorten the tube, this condition will disappear, hopefully. As it is, it works fine for now. Being as the filter is now completely sealed from the engine compartment and air is ducted from the outside into the box, it more resembles and operates as a cold air intake now. However, I like many, don't believe a cold air intake does anything for the Ex in regards to performance gains but, it does get colder air now. Having a Livernois 93 tune on it helps in the performance department more.. In a couple of weeks, I'll be taking it down to get dynoed to see what changes have occurred in regards to performance numbers.

 

[MikeCallery]

I put on a K&N cold air intake kit about four years ago and felt that when I was pulling a trailer or at high speeds, I had somewhat better response, but over time, the noise became an irritant. I went as far as purchasing sound-mat material to help absorb the resonation that is created. This weekend, however, getting ready to trade in my car sometime soon, I removed the entire assembly. I like the car's new quiet, big difference.

Anyone looking for a deal on a used four year old kit? LOL

 

[steve04KU]

That homemade CAI box looks too restrictive IMO.

 

[steve04KU]

I put a K&N kit on about 6 months ago. Love it.

 

[MikB]

That homemade CAI box looks too restrictive IMO.

I can assure you, it is not. It has improved the already good throttle response (provided by the Livernois tune), IMO. It also has plenty of room for cold air to circulate all around the air filter without the heat of the engine compartment contaminating it like that of the original design. After all, that's the idea of a cold air system, isn't it?

 

[Napalm]

Don't waste your money. Air flow is all electronically controlled now so you will not gain anything unless you tune the vehicle and even then it will not be any type of noticeable gains.

not entirely true - by reducing the restrictions and allowing it less resistance you reduce drag on the airpump IE the intake stoke.

then - the car while programed - does adjustments to the map - so overtime it will adjust to the better flow.

Finally if the intake air is actually colder (and this part is a touch tricky) then you move down the air fuel map with more dense air and get more out of it.


however - yes you do get more benefit from a change like that - if you then readjust the computer parameters.

 

[Nasty]

Don't waste your money. Air flow is all electronically controlled now so you will not gain anything unless you tune the vehicle and even then it will not be any type of noticeable gains.

Exactly right, beat me to it. If the MAF housing / tuning doesn't change than there's going to be no gain.

 

[MikB]

I have no evidence to prove one way or the other that a CAI on a 3.5L N/A engine in a Explorer will have any gains. When looking a the K&N design on its own, I would say, it's a waste. My initial reason and what is still the main reason for my installing one of these was to open up the area around the transmission for easier access around that area and it also looks better than the stock set up. As I've said previously, it bothered me that the K&N was so poorly designed for a CAI that adding a cold box would/could only improve it to at least resemble a CAI. I believe I was successful with what I did. I believe adding the K&N only succeeded in generating a loud, obnoxious noise under heavy throttle, even medium throttle. By adding the cold box, the obnoxiousness has been neutralized. It has a much more pleasant noise under those conditions now.

When I get the Ex dynoed in a couple of weeks, I'll have an idea for at least what the tune did. But, the numbers are probably going to be lower than what's advertised do to the type of dyno the Ex will be strapped to. The dyno used will show power under road conditions. The power numbers normally claimed by manufacturers or tuners are generally not tested in the same way as they are going for the maximum numbers they can advertise. But, none of us drive our vehicles on a dyno and so, doesn't it make more sense to get close to true numbers if simulated road conditions can be utilized? That's how I'm getting my Ex dynoed. They build and race cars where I'm going and so, they need to dyno their cars under road conditions. I've used these folks before when I would get my Mustangs dynoed.

As a reference, the Ex with the 3.5L N/A engine generally has about 213 whp and about 218 wtq. That's a parasitic loss of about 25% in hp from the advertised 290bhp. Torque loss is about 20%. Livernois claims gains of 31 whp and 44 wtq with the 93 tune for this engine. I expect my numbers won't be close to those gains due to 1. We have 92 octane gas here and 2. A different dyno used. If I had to guess, I would say that my numbers would be about 10hp/tq. lower when all is said and done, maybe more. As it is, I'm much happier now with the tune on my Ex than before. Much more responsive making the Ex feel like a lighter vehicle. When I get it dynoed, I'll know why.

 

[JAPeterson]

I put a K&N kit on about 6 months ago. Love it.

If you have the dual turbos I would watch it real close. K&N has a very bad rep on diesel engines of letting dirt through the filter media when the turbos start sucking air.

 

[MikB]

If you have the dual turbos I would watch it real close. K&N has a very bad rep on diesel engines of letting dirt through the filter media when the turbos start sucking air.

Having seen the video that you may be referring to, I can only imagine under what conditions that diesel was subjected to. I have been using K&N systems on my cars and trucks for 20 plus years and have never had that sort of situation happen. Never a problem with them.

 

[JAPeterson]

They work quite fine on a non turbo situation but when you start pulling air through the filter with the tubos is when the problem occurs.

Also 99% of the K&N owners out there have no idea of how to clean and re-oil them properly which causes problem on the MAF sensors.

 

[MikB]

Also 99% of the K&N owners out there have no idea of how to clean and re-oil them properly which causes problem on the MAF sensors.

Agreed.

 

[Napalm]

I know plenty of people with turbo'd or supercharged cars that also use the K&N or Green filter system and they have no issues. Hell I ran a SC car with a K&N for over 80K miles with NO issues and and no sand/dirt nast in my oil pan either.

but you know I didn't just sand dunes either.