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Does a cold air intake

BruceExploder

Well-Known Member
Joined
November 3, 2018
Messages
312
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City, State
Edmond OK
Year, Model & Trim Level
1999 Eddie Bauer
Does a cold air intake lower power? I just fabricated this and my throttle response went down a bunch it feels like...

IMG_20190323_192422.jpg
 



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The stock air cleaner pulls cooler air from the front unlike open air filter cleaners. That filter is about the same size as the stock one, not much bigger, so as long as you aren't idling a lot or slow in heavy traffic, that will work better than stock. The enclosed air filter will be better in heavy traffic, or whenever the IAT's go up from slower speeds. Watch the IAT's if you can with a scan gauge etc.

Good speed conditions will get you IAT's a few degrees over ambient. I have one in my 98 I monitor IAT's continuously, while at work etc. I see temps at very slow speeds maybe 15-20* over ambient, rarely ever higher.

Try to find a Volant air cleaner, that was the best one made for these 95-01's. It was a 19640 part or similar #, I have that in my 99 4.0 truck. That's a cold air filter system, it pulls air from the OEM headlight area.

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"Cold air" = not air from the engine compartment. An open cone filter element might be goof for air flow, but where that air comes from matters. You do not want to pull in the heated air from under the hood into the engine air intake system, its hot air, not good engine for performance. An open cone filter open to the hot air under the hood is NOT a "CAI", it is a "HOT AIR INTAKE"!
 






The stock air cleaner pulls cooler air from the front unlike open air filter cleaners. That filter is about the same size as the stock one, not much bigger, so as long as you aren't idling a lot or slow in heavy traffic, that will work better than stock. The enclosed air filter will be better in heavy traffic, or whenever the IAT's go up from slower speeds. Watch the IAT's if you can with a scan gauge etc.

Good speed conditions will get you IAT's a few degrees over ambient. I have one in my 98 I monitor IAT's continuously, while at work etc. I see temps at very slow speeds maybe 15-20* over ambient, rarely ever higher.

Try to find a Volant air cleaner, that was the best one made for these 95-01's. It was a 19640 part or similar #, I have that in my 99 4.0 truck. That's a cold air filter system, it pulls air from the OEM headlight area.

View attachment 168667

That's the sucky part of liking these 20 year old cars. Aftermarket isn't made anymore on the good stuff
 






With a stock motor a factor intake is more than sufficient, and will supply colder air and a longer lasting filter. K&N filters (and their knock offs) are worse for your engine than a quality paper filter.
 






With a stock motor a factor intake is more than sufficient, and will supply colder air and a longer lasting filter. K&N filters (and their knock offs) are worse for your engine than a quality paper filter.

Ditto. I finally found an old NOS Amsoil filter, which is obsolete now. Those are great if they make one in a needed size, they can be vacuumed and last 4+ years.

I have one of their universal sized(cone) filters in my Volant air cleaner. The last time I drove that Explorer, the oil reached 9000 miles on it and was still transparent. Then the oil turned black before I checked it again, ... the air filter had fallen off inside the air cleaner. That was over about three weeks time.

The air filter is extremely important.
 






That is not a cold air intake. As stated above, cold air intakes pull air from outside of the engine compartment. What you have would only improve air flow slightly, but pulling hot air from the engine compartment might negate that. Try resetting the PCM and see if that helps.

Is that all you did? Just an intake will only slightly improve performance, if at all.

I have K&N drop in filters on all of my vehicles, even the RV. They are easy to clean, last forever and I have always noticed a slight increase in performance. As long as you don't over oil them, they are great. I have also never had any problems with them causing any issues. This is over hundreds of thousands of miles in a variety of vehicles. I usually clean them once a year in the street vehicles, once every few years or so in the RV and whenever they look really dirty in the Explorer (2-3 times a year), as it is mainly a off road vehicle now. That reminds me.....I should go check.
 






While I agree with most. My intake is exactly like the OP's. And I DO get better throttle response & that was all I was looking for. I understand fully the whole hot air thing but I live in temps at or above 80 & humid 10 months a year.
 






I ran a blower on a Ranger with the stock 4.0 with up to 10lbs boost on the stock air cleaner. Well, I cut a hole in the air cleaner box, one into the fender, pulled cool air from there, and sealed the front hole in the box. I used 3" tubing maybe a bit larger than stock. I also insulated the box and air tubing.

I put a vacuum fitting on the air box ran a line into the cab with a gauge and never saw it suck. I am going to try the same thing with My V8, when/if I ever get the blower on. I have already modified the box and fender to get that cool air.
 






I ran a blower on a Ranger with the stock 4.0 with up to 10lbs boost on the stock air cleaner. Well, I cut a hole in the air cleaner box, one into the fender, pulled cool air from there, and sealed the front hole in the box. I used 3" tubing maybe a bit larger than stock. I also insulated the box and air tubing.

I put a vacuum fitting on the air box ran a line into the cab with a gauge and never saw it suck. I am going to try the same thing with My V8, when/if I ever get the blower on. I have already modified the box and fender to get that cool air.

That's my plan, build a box as big as can fit in the corner, and pull air in from the fender. I already have the big filter, hopefully it's not too big for the space. Maybe I'll cut the floor below the corner, and extend it downward.
 






The stock air cleaner pulls cooler air from the front unlike open air filter cleaners. That filter is about the same size as the stock one, not much bigger, so as long as you aren't idling a lot or slow in heavy traffic, that will work better than stock. The enclosed air filter will be better in heavy traffic, or whenever the IAT's go up from slower speeds. Watch the IAT's if you can with a scan gauge etc.

Good speed conditions will get you IAT's a few degrees over ambient. I have one in my 98 I monitor IAT's continuously, while at work etc. I see temps at very slow speeds maybe 15-20* over ambient, rarely ever higher.

Try to find a Volant air cleaner, that was the best one made for these 95-01's. It was a 19640 part or similar #, I have that in my 99 4.0 truck. That's a cold air filter system, it pulls air from the OEM headlight area.

View attachment 168667

That is a super clean engine bay! :)
 






That was during the reconstruction, I had repainted the whole front clip top and bottom. I hope I can do so well with my 98 Limited eventually.
 






Poking around with my trusty Ryobi IR Thermometer I found that the Upper Rad Hose was transferring heat to the Intake Snorkel - Just as it is in OP's pic & probably every 302 out there - SO>> I'm shortening the Hose where it connects to Rad to get it OFF the Intake Snorkel - I agree OP does not have a CAI setup in that pic, more like a HAI - As Don said above I'm thinking one wd have to go straight down under existing Filter Box like a MKVIII or Town car to find some cool air and/ OR into the Fender area behind the Parking Lites like 5.4 Expys & F150's - At best our existing Filter Box opens to a SMALL 'sheltered" area directly Forward - On my 302ci 2001 Mounty the IAT is NOT in the Snorkel like many cars - It's on driver side behind grill in front of AC condenser - Certainly getting the IAT in a place where it sees the COOLEST ambient temps possible should help performance across the board …. MAYBE even gas Mileage performance ~!

IR THERMOSTAT.jpg


IAT.jpg


SNORKEL.jpg
 






IMG_20190410_164722.jpg


So if I fabricated something that reached into the fenderwell or wherever the coolest air was would it be pointless?
 






I shortened the Upper Rad hose & got it well off my Intake Snorkel.

I moved my Ambient Air Temp Sensor to consistently Cooler location, again my 2001 Mounty has no "real" IAT.

Stock Air Box just sits on a shelf so NO cooler air is under there - Don was right as usual so I went thru Inner Fender Wall into Fender area behind Parking Lite & made new hole in Stock air Box, fitted an Air Box Inlet Horn that kinda "fell" off my 2002 TC during its Air Pump delete & Air Box Mod & reversed the fitment of Stock Airbox Inlet & deleted the Facia piece behind Pass Side headlite for more cool air on that side of Engine Bay.

UPPER RAD HOSE SHORTENED.jpg


SNORKEL CLEARANCE TO UPPER RAD HOSE.jpg


IAT NEW LOCATION.jpg


IAT NEW LOCATION BACKSIDE.jpg


AIRBOX HOLE.jpg


FENDER CAI.jpg


View attachment 169363

FENDER BOTTOM.jpg


FENDER CAI 2.jpg


OLD TC INLET.jpg


REVERSED INLET.jpg


REVERSED INLET 3.jpg


DELETED FACIA.jpg


BEST HOLE SAW.jpg
 






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