Air Filters & drilled boxes...

[Frisckey1]

I removed my stock air filter this weekend and put in a K&N filter. WOW what a difference. I didn't notice so much in HP department, as in the Gas savings. I went 111 miles on a 1/4 tank. I usually only get 200 miles to the tank. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't exprerienced it myself.

I hear people talk of drilling their airboxes...would it make even more of a difference in the gas mileage?

 

[daniel cauchon]

Frisck can you tell me whats a KN FILTER ????

 

[410Fortune]

Oh my goodness, you mean there is a car owner onthis earth that still doesnt know what a K&N Filtercharger is?

Use the search feature.....

Yes drilling your airbox will give you even more airflow....

 

[daniel cauchon]

aie aie ! 410 !!! yes I don`t know what`s a K&N FILTER and if you were a goog guy you would tell instead of me going to search for it. Just like I would.

 

[410Fortune]

Your stock filter is paper. Have you ever tried sucking air through paper? Doesnt work very well.

K&N filters use a metal mesh with cotton fibers inside, you spray the cotton with an oil (they comes pre-oiled) and this trapps all the tiny little particles so they dont go into your intake. It flows about 90% more air then a paper filter. They are also washable (you use K&N wash and oil) so they last for the life of your vehicle, they come with a million mile warranty, and they cost right around $50.

If you have a car, truck, motorcycle, tractor, go kart, even those little powered skateboard scooter thingy's, you should be running a K&N filter......

Search for K&N at Lycos and go check them out.......

 

[daniel cauchon]

Thank you very much 410 I will look into this...it`s very interesting trully I didn`t know that. it`s worth the $50.

thank you for your time.

 

[Frisckey1]

Is there such a thing....

as too much air flow? I know that may sound like a silly question to those that already know the answer, but I want to be one of the privilaged knowledgeholders, too!

And, my filter only cost me 36.00 or 37.00
and shipping was free for orders over 50.00 (I think) at http://www.autopartsgiant.com

 

[410Fortune]

Well on a naturally aspirtated 4.0L yes there is such a thing, actually sorta. You can open up your intake all you want the engine will only suck as much air as it needs. You can however get too big on the throttle body.

I imagine that you could do whats called "over intake"it and get a piep too big and a MAS too big, and a throttle body thats too big and this could slow down the incoming air, but with the k&N FiPK kit or the KKN attached to an otherwise stock intake you will be fine.

 

[Jason_25]

410, where did you get that number of 90% better airflow? I've never heard of that before.

 

[410Fortune]

I made it up. However if you stick your lips on a paper filter and suck, I bet you get at least 90% more air when you try the same on a K&N.....

The point is that they make a huge difference, even on stock vehicles, especially here in Colorado where every bit of oxygen you can suck into your intake counts.......

 

[MONMIX]

I have voiced this before and I will continue to do so.
Drilling the air box does have one " draw back " and that is a considerable increase in under hood noise.
Some people like that though.

 

[Frisckey1]

Draw back...

Hmmm, I like to hear the big grippy tires coming down the street...does it sound anything like that, lol?

 

[410Fortune]

Thats the best part of the open element under the hood! the growl it makes at WOT, especially in combination with headers and exhaust!

Instead of simply drilling a few holes inmy airbox I took a different approach. I ditched the stock down pipe and stupid vacuum pre-heater valve assembly. I cut the hole in the radiator support (where your stock truck gets it's fresh air) open to 4" in diameter. I attached a 4" dryer hose to this hole and routed it up to my airbox. Then I opened up the hole in the stock airbox to accept the larger tube. With a K&N drop in panel filter this worked great. I also had the 70mm MAS and 66mm BBK TB, so I ditched the stock intake pipe (1/2 of it) and used a 3" Ford diesel pipe with a 45 degree bend in it and made my own. The metal tube would get a little hot for my liking and it was also a tight fit under the hood.

So I ditched that setup and traded my panel filter to a buddy for a KKM. I found a 95 Aerostar intake tub eat the junk yard (nice round ford rubber unit) but this places my filter and MAS right where the battery sits, behind the pass headlight (cooler air, away from headers) so I moved the battery to where the factory airbox was. Now I have the 4" hose pointed at the KKM, and it works great (best setup so far) so the next step is to fabricate a heat shield that will block the KKM off from the hot air around the engine, I plan to make it from cardboard and then fiberglass, similar to those FIPK kits. I would also like to build a funnel to feed the 4" dryer hose, would sit right behind the grill next to the radiator, I saw some ducting at Home depot that would do this perfectly.........

 

[Frisckey1]

OK Mr. Rigg it...

Geez...What was the point of all of your efforts? How much did you spend and what is the savings? Better performance or more gas mileage or what? Sounds like a lot of work...maybe you just like a lot of noise, lol?!?

 

[410Fortune]

Alot of work? thats just tinkering around.

It didnt cost me anything, I had a K&N 7" cone stuck to my throttle body with my old 2.9L engine and the 4" dryer hose and airbox were already there for this setup.
Then when I converted to a 4.0L I ran the stock 4.0L airbox and used my old K&N panel filter I had for my 2.9L originally. My buddy bought a 93 Explorer and low and behold the previous owner had installed a KKM, he didnt like it so I traded him my 4.0L airbox and panel filter for the KKM. Funny how it all works out.

The amount of air I can suck into my 4.0L is whats important to me. Here in CO when you get high up in the rockies the factory setup can be VERY restrictive (obvious when I blow by 5.9L Cherokee's and Dodge trucks over Vail and Eisenhouer pass with my little 4.0)
the noise is just a benefit, and actually when I build my heat shield it will make it so I cant even hear it anymore.

Getting the coolest air possible and enough to make the engine rev happy is the point of all this work. One of the cheapest mods you can do, lets face it performance modifications are not cheap, thats the price we pay for our hobby........

 

[Frisckey1]

Ahh...I C Said the Blind Man...

And kudos to ANY free mods you can do! I wouldn't have believed that that much difference could come just from airflow....but now I'm a believer

 

[punkbek3886]

hey, i wanna modify my intake so that it is higher than the factory location (for water crossings, etc.), and i think a good way to go about it might be to take out the intake tube from the stock airbox to the radiator, and seal that off. i then plan on cutting a hole in the bottom part of the airbox facing the firewall and use a pipe to bring the intake level up to hood level. i got this idea from a jeep wrangler. what do you guys think? this is for the 4.0 L OHV by the way.

 

[410Fortune]

Anytthing like that is a okay idea, just be aware that the distance your ams air sensor is away from the throttle body is there for a reason,so if you oput the MAS sensor too close or too far away you may screw up the readings.

I'm not so clear about whatyou are saying but there are some grest snorkel and cold air setups posted here:

www.therangerstation.com

 

[punkbek3886]

im not going to change anything between the maf and the throttle body. all the mods i want to make are for the airbox, below the filter. thanks for the link!

 

[punkbek3886]

that site was awesome. i love that guys homemade snorkel. thanks a lot