Going to drill the intake box on my 5.0 got questions

[Zmuzic]

Well I was changing the oil today and got to thinking when I took out the paper filter to put the K&N back in after cleaning it. I was going to yank out the air cleaner box and open (Drill me some holes) it up to let more air in.

But I don't know wether the box pulls out or is it bolted somewhere? I looked and it seems like it just has some kind of tabs holding it in. Two on the bottom and two on the outer side.

I started to yank on the thing but decided maybe I better ask here before I break something...lol. I might just go buy some tubing and redo the whole thing but for now I'm kinda itching to use my Dewalt...lol

Z~

EDIT: Oh yeah its a 2000 5.0 Explorer also I guess its time to buy a manual eh

 

[Zmuzic]

Ahh Never mind I went out there and it pulled right out with a little massaging

Z~

 

[tmsoko]

Next time, shoot some silicon spray on the lower tabs. It slides right out, not massage necessary. I do it when I need to access the belt tensioner.

 

[X~FACTOR]

Why not just get an open air filter like KKM and do away with the whole drilled box thing? Your engine bay would look a lot nicer.

 

[tmsoko]

The open element air filters are generally not a good idea, for several reasons:

1) The open the element to splash and other contaminants, which the box provides a first level of defense against.

2) The engine driven fan can actually pulsate the air under the hood and cause the MAF to read incorrectly.

3) Instead of drawing in cool external air, the air filter is pulling in heated air from the engine compartment. This can cause loss of power in NA vehicles and detonation in forced induction vehicles. I usually get a kick out of the label "cool air induction" on most kits. They are actually hot air inductions, as a cool air induction would pull air from the front of the truck or the wheel opening. I also laugh when I see a supercharged vehicle with an open element in the engine bay. You could get easily 1psi more boost before detonation if you were drawing in cool air.

Sure, the open element will flow more air than a facotry box and in most cases than a drilled box, but the benefits do not outweigh the problems. A properly designed custom air box is the way to go, if you are limited by the stock box.

 

[2001ExpSport]

Originally posted by X~FACTOR
Why not just get an open air filter like KKM and do away with the whole drilled box thing? Your engine bay would look a lot nicer.

Cuz unless you are racing, they suck. No offense....Why do you think I bought your box....LOL Mine runs SO much better without that dang KKM.

I guess it's too late to say not to drill the box then?

 

[huskyfan23]

My open element works a whole lot better than the stocker, except when offroading through puddles.

 

[X~FACTOR]

Originally posted by 2001ExpSport
Cuz unless you are racing, they suck. No offense....Why do you think I bought your box....LOL Mine runs SO much better without that dang KKM.

Because my air box is special. It has been blessed by truck gods.

 

[sean4385]

is an open filter bad when offroading?? my kkm has mud chunks stuck to it (just like everything else in the engine compartment and under my truck) and is really dirty. I didnt think the mud could actually get sucked in there though, thats why it was stuck to the filter....

 

[huskyfan23]

Well it's bad for me, I rerouted my intake, so the filter is an inch away from a huge opening. Last week it sucked up a lot of water and needed to dry out before my X would stop sputtering.

 

[tmsoko]

When you are mudding, where mud gets, water surly is getting there to. Now, a filter will stop mud, but not water. Also, dirty water has fine particles in it, making it abrasive. When you suck in the water, you have two issues:

1) You are pulling in the abrasives and wearing out your cylinders.

2) You could pull in so much water that you hydrolock your engine. This is very possible with an open element, as I have seen it done with boxed elements!

 

[huskyfan23]

When I offroad now I hook up my stock intake, definite noticeable loss in power, but it keeps my engine running. I feel I was pretty lucky with my X when it sucked in all that water. My entire engine was covered in dirty water. I've always said, when that engine needs to come out, a 302 is replacing it.

 

[sean4385]

is there any way to have a kkm with the stock airbox rigged up around it for protection??

 

[Zmuzic]

I didn't realize this thread was so popular I thought I ended it...lol

Well.... Yes I did open up the box. I drilled an approx. 2.5 inch hole right next to where the inlet on the box is already. I think the hole is going to get bigger though...lol I also pulled out the plastic cover behind the passenger headlight. I had the inlet/silencer tube out too but, I couldn't get used to the extra noise versus seat of the pants feel so I put the tube back in and for now the hole is just open. It seems to help a little. I do know one thing for sure. I'm getting better gas mileage.

One thing I noticed was that on the inside of the box (direclty behind the inlet tube) on the bottom of the box it has a radius on it but only half of the bottom is like that. So I'm going to roll a piece of alluminum with the same radius and probably pop rivet it to the bottom and fab a piece of tubing sort of like the inlet tube for the new hole and see how that works.

I was looking for a way to get colder air to the box itself thats why I pulled out the plastic piece behind the headlights. I need to get more time to look into that a little more.

I could easily just go buy a CAI but I like making stuff anyway so thats why I'm starting off with just modding the box. I'm sure I'm not going to plunk the money down for one I'll make it instead and use the money towards a cam or COUGH COUGH headers COUGH JBA or any header company COUGH.

Its a 2x4 so dunking the filter in water isn't going to be an issue getting stuck will though

I took some pics of what I did just need to upload them though.

Z~

 

[2001ExpSport]

Originally posted by X~FACTOR
Because my air box is special. It has been blessed by truck gods.

LOL, you kickass dude. I don't care what the other members say......

 

[Josh]

OK, I was at U Wrench It the other day and I was looking in the engine compartment of a late model Windstar. The Windstar uses a conical air filter like the K&N and others. The filter housing is designed so that the MAS and filter are inside a round plastic cylinder. The air input side of the plastic housing plugs directly into the fender. Since this would not be possible with out moving some stuff around, another tube would be needed and routed to the location of your choice. This would also be a good start for a snorkle set up because it looks like it could be sealed up. I bet I could get the whole deal for about 10 or 15 bucks.

 

[huskyfan23]

The newer Explorers use that too.

 

[Josh]

Dam, and here I thought I just struck Jerryrig gold. LOL

 

[Premier]

I have a '96 and mine has the conical filter and box

 

[2001ExpSport]

The new stangs use the cone filyter too.