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K&N Intake

Nice video, sounds great let us know if you see any gains or loses in MPG.
 



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Sounds awesome! How's the performance? Wish they made one for the ecoboost.
 






They do! K&N, Airaid & Injen make one!
 






K&N really? Thought it was just Airraid and Injen?
 






Nice video, sounds great let us know if you see any gains or loses in MPG.

Will report once I get off this current tank. I don't think with all of the testing and fun that this will be a stellar MPG performance :) But I will be tracking this aspect of the filter quite closely, and I have plenty of data before hand.


K&N really? Thought it was just Airraid and Injen?

I know that you can use the same one made for the SHO, but I know someone posted just the other day that there was an official one for the Sport turbo V6.
 






I am also currently tracking things like Intake Air Temperature to keep an eye on that, as that is the one thing that is supposed to be a drawback with these systems.

Currently, based on the data that I had before I made the switch, it recovers close to ambient temperature pretty quickly, just like the stock air box. It does get up when stopped at stop lights. For instance today, with ambient temperature at lunch time at 70F, cruising at freeway speed at 2300rpm, it hovered right at 73F, but at stop lights it would rise to high 90's. But within a tenth of a mile, it was back to mid to upper 70s. This is pretty consistent with what I saw with the stock airbox. Now when it reaches 110+ here in the summer, that will be the interesting data.
 






No, there is no tune needed.

But your not gaining the all the possible gains from the CAI.
But there are real gains from just the CAI.

I recorded about a 1.3-1.5MPG improvement, over the stock airbox.
Over a 3-4 week time frame, after doing a few test runs to see what ET gains where seen.

Just installed the MagnaFlow cat-back this weekend, but weather's too screwy to do any testing runs.

Both will improve the breathing of the 3.5L n/a, but the most gains would be seen with a tune and running 91/93 octane.
 






I put a K&N filter in my 2011 XLT a couple thousand miles ago. I haven't seen any real MPG increase but I do feel that acceleration is noticeably better. Of course, that's subjective but, to me, there is a difference over the Motorcraft paper filter and it's likely due to slightly increased air flow.

It's worth noting the comments earlier in this thread about not over-oiling the filter after you clean it. A separate issue dirtied my MAF sensor at one point and that is a very unpleasant experience.
 






So after 3100 miles and 3 months, I removed the K&N filter and returned to the stock airbox configuration. The following are my thoughts and opinions.

So why did I take it out. There were actually several reasons:

1. The throttle response was quicker in the 3-4k range, but I don't spend enough time in those rev ranges to actually feel the difference.

2. I have been monitoring the Intake Air Temperature IAT since it has gotten hotter here in Dallas. When the ambient temperature has been around 100deg, the IAT at stop lights and heavy traffic has been 35-40 deg above ambient. Also, even when moving I felt that the return to close to ambient temp was pretty slow. This has all been confirmed in the last few days with the stock box back in. The most I get is 15-20 deg above ambient and it returns in half the time to within 2-3 deg of ambient with the stock configuration.

3. The drone at 2000-2500 rpms really does get on your nerves after a while. I noticed this most when I was on the highway on cruise. When the car begins slow down on a hill, it opens the throttle to increase the rpms before it has to downshift. This got it right in the drone range, and was just annoying.

4. In the extreme heat, it seemed that idling really struggled with the K&N, perhaps it had to do with the high temps, but it seemed to be on the verge of stalling. Also, it had a negative effect on the A/C temperature in the cabin while struggling to maintain idle speed. This could have possibly been fixed with a proper tune, but not many people are doing tunes for the N/A 3.5L motor.

Overall, I think the IAT differences is the main reason I took it out. Oh well, live and learn, I am glad I tried it, but I am also pleased with the decision to remove it.
 






txaggie, thanks for the info! I was just about to pull the trigger on one till I read this.
 






Any MPG info?
 






Any MPG info?

Thanks for reminding me Joe!! I dug out my handy log book. Taking the 3 months before I replaced it and the three months that I had it in, it breaks out like this:

01/20/13 through 4/20/13
3072 miles travelled
13 fillups (between 7 and 17 gals)
18.6 mpg average
21.6 mpg max
17.1 mpg min

4/20/13 through 7/21/13
3081 miles travelled
12 fillups (between 12 and 15 gals)
18.1 mpg average
20.9 mpg max
17.2 mpg min

The types (approx. 25% hwy and 75% city) of miles travelled during those separate times would be essentially the same. SOOOOO, I would say it is no benefit, but not a real detriment either.
 






Interesting info indeed... Thanks for posting your thoughts and results. Very helpful... :thumbsup:
 






MPG numbers with K&N - and why I reverted back to stock air box

I thought I would separate out this thread so it might get some more views, the original post can be found here:

original post with initial impressions of K&N

and here were my reasons for putting the stock air box back in:

So after 3100 miles and 3 months, I removed the K&N filter and returned to the stock airbox configuration. The following are my thoughts and opinions.

So why did I take it out. There were actually several reasons:

1. The throttle response was quicker in the 3-4k range, but I don't spend enough time in those rev ranges to actually feel the difference.

2. I have been monitoring the Intake Air Temperature IAT since it has gotten hotter here in Dallas. When the ambient temperature has been around 100deg, the IAT at stop lights and heavy traffic has been 35-40 deg above ambient. Also, even when moving I felt that the return to close to ambient temp was pretty slow. This has all been confirmed in the last few days with the stock box back in. The most I get is 15-20 deg above ambient and it returns in half the time to within 2-3 deg of ambient with the stock configuration.

3. The drone at 2000-2500 rpms really does get on your nerves after a while. I noticed this most when I was on the highway on cruise. When the car begins slow down on a hill, it opens the throttle to increase the rpms before it has to downshift. This got it right in the drone range, and was just annoying.

4. In the extreme heat, it seemed that idling really struggled with the K&N, perhaps it had to do with the high temps, but it seemed to be on the verge of stalling. Also, it had a negative effect on the A/C temperature in the cabin while struggling to maintain idle speed. This could have possibly been fixed with a proper tune, but not many people are doing tunes for the N/A 3.5L motor.

Overall, I think the IAT differences is the main reason I took it out. Oh well, live and learn, I am glad I tried it, but I am also pleased with the decision to remove it.

After Joe Dirt asked about mileage, I got out my log book and here is what I found:

Thanks for reminding me Joe!! I dug out my handy log book. Taking the 3 months before I replaced it and the three months that I had it in, it breaks out like this:

01/20/13 through 4/20/13
3072 miles travelled
13 fillups (between 7 and 17 gals)
18.6 mpg average
21.6 mpg max
17.1 mpg min

4/20/13 through 7/21/13
3081 miles travelled
12 fillups (between 12 and 15 gals)
18.1 mpg average
20.9 mpg max
17.2 mpg min

The types (approx. 25% hwy and 75% city) of miles travelled during those separate times would be essentially the same. SOOOOO, I would say it is no benefit, but not a real detriment either.
 






thanks for the info! Helps in the decision process.
 






thanks for the info. wasn't a huge fan of the K&N being open in the engine bay. the engine bay is SO sealed up, even popping the hood 2-3 hours later you still get hit with a wall of heat like you just shut the engine off 2 minutes ago. an enclosed airbox is definitely a must-have mod. Further encourages my decision for an airaid/roush setup.
 






mimics all the years we and members of other forums played with large turbo diesels tuning...

unless you are very, VERY modified and racing at 3k+ rpms all the time, limited benefit and the oiled element MAY lead to maf issues if not maintained perfectly...
 






.
 






So after 3100 miles and 3 months, I removed the K&N filter and returned to the stock airbox configuration. The following are my thoughts and opinions.

So why did I take it out. There were actually several reasons:

1. The throttle response was quicker in the 3-4k range, but I don't spend enough time in those rev ranges to actually feel the difference.

2. I have been monitoring the Intake Air Temperature IAT since it has gotten hotter here in Dallas. When the ambient temperature has been around 100deg, the IAT at stop lights and heavy traffic has been 35-40 deg above ambient. Also, even when moving I felt that the return to close to ambient temp was pretty slow. This has all been confirmed in the last few days with the stock box back in. The most I get is 15-20 deg above ambient and it returns in half the time to within 2-3 deg of ambient with the stock configuration.

3. The drone at 2000-2500 rpms really does get on your nerves after a while. I noticed this most when I was on the highway on cruise. When the car begins slow down on a hill, it opens the throttle to increase the rpms before it has to downshift. This got it right in the drone range, and was just annoying.

4. In the extreme heat, it seemed that idling really struggled with the K&N, perhaps it had to do with the high temps, but it seemed to be on the verge of stalling. Also, it had a negative effect on the A/C temperature in the cabin while struggling to maintain idle speed. This could have possibly been fixed with a proper tune, but not many people are doing tunes for the N/A 3.5L motor.

Overall, I think the IAT differences is the main reason I took it out. Oh well, live and learn, I am glad I tried it, but I am also pleased with the decision to remove it.

Im looking to take my INJEN out too. The drone at 2000-2500 is bad but it almost seems like it also lacks power in that RPM range compared to stock.

INJEN tech support wants me to take some video of the drone and send it to them so I may see what they say first.

I remember before I bought it one of the Engineers on the Explorer program told me not to waste my money. Guess I should have listened.
 



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Yup, live and learn. :)

The good news is that it is reversible!!
 






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