Swiss Cheese

[Lazzman]

Cleaned and oiled the K&N from the correct side, cleaned the MAF with the Radio Shack Stuff, truck seems to run great- I can feel and hear different things each increment I push the gas down. The Sensors in the MAF were dirty black, after I blasted them a few times they turned silver.

Hopefully this will work ok. Just a heads up, to those using oil soaked air cleaners- check for deposits on your MAF sensor.

 

[smiley1]

Wow. Black? Your MPG is most likely going to go up... a lot. Never had mine that dirty. LOL.

Glad it seems to be doing well.

 

[Lazzman]

Now the dilemma of buying a Volant intake or putting that money toward an exhaust system. Wonder how much better the volant would be then the drilled air box and K&N?

Great difference though in throttle response and pick-up with the clean MAF. To those who contributed, Thanks for all the help

 

[aldive]

Wonder how much better the volant would be then the drilled air box and K&N?

A lot.

 

[Lazzman]

I guess that helps narrow my decision....

 

[aldive]

Any of the aftermarket intakes such as K & N, Mac, Volant, etc, are much better than doing anything to the stock airbox.

Good luck .......

 

[Skibum1989]

But MAC and K&N are open with no airbox, as opposed to Volant's, which has a closed airbox. So if you're looking for a deep sound to come from your intake at WOT, get an open intake

 

[trucku]

Does the volant airboxes have a conical filter inside of it or a flat filter?

 

[Lazzman]

Yes, after my research on this site and being no newbie to performance products( I've owned 5 performance cars in 15yrs/ investing $35k on Hi-Po parts) I have Found the Volant to be the superior choice for me.

I am not downing the other one's, I just think Volant covered all the bases. The Mac is tough to beat for $145 though but the exposed filter IMHO yields to higher temps and much more frequent cleanings. Recently I washed my engine bay and two week later there was a good amount of dust and dirt back on it. I do mostly highway driving to.

For $235 delivered the Volant #19640 is a killer.....

 

[aldive]

The Mac is tough to beat for $145 though but the exposed filter IMHO yields to higher temps and much more frequent cleanings. [/B]

Please explain what you mean by "yields to higher temps".

Thanks ....

 

[Skibum1989]

$235?!

Wow that is a killer for a volant, my k&n cost me $200 delivered. An open filter really makes little difference in cleaning intervals, K&N reccomends I clean mine every 50,000 miles.

 

[Lazzman]

I have been dealing with K&N filters for ten years and it actually states "Clean every 30 - 50,000mi depending on driving conditions. My personal K&N filter needs to be cleaned every 20,000 or so for optimum performance and I do all highway driving.

It does not really matter what K&N recommends, its the amount of dirt in your filter and how fast it accumulates- read my above post.

Al, I mean that the Mac is an open filter as opposed to the sealed Volant. I know what has been said about under hood temps and what not but as an engineer I know what effects open elements can have as opposed to closed elements. That is just my opinion, but it is what I beleive.

An ideal system is the old Ram Air Style like on a 1970 Hurst olds or 1965 Ford T-Bolt. Pure air from the outside not from engine heat under the hood, purely designed air injection as it was meant to be.

 

[Skibum1989]

perhaps your filter is different than mine. The sticker they gave me reads: "Service filter every 50,000/100,000 miles. Sooner under extreme dusty conditions." But almost all of my driving is stop and go city stuff so I dont get a lot of dust anyways. But like you said, manufacturer reccomendations mean nothing compared to your driving environment.

In your experience, does the volant provide any signifigant temperature protection over the open air elements? or even the stock airbox?

 

[Lazzman]

I am sure our air filters are the same and I know what the sticker says but in real world use I wash mine once or twice a year around 15- 20k and it is quite dirty.

I have not purchased my Volant yet, but it should as the box only has the inlet facing the front of the vehicle. As others have said it should not be that much of a difference particularly in winter months but in summer it can add a good amount of heat. The question is controversial here, but from an engineering standpoint the most direct unobstructed flow of cold air is the ticket, that is why ram air was invented in the 60's and still exists today on lots of Pontiac models.

I engineer everything so no variables are present- thus an ideal situation would be to rig up a ram air system or remove the passenger headlight. I will use a 3" flexible PVC tube and do some modification to my fender well via my Skilsaw.

Volant actually makes some ram air hoses and under fender intake scoops for the dodge diesels. Make no mistake there is no substitute for cold dense air.

 

[Skibum1989]

Couldn't agree more, keep us updated on your progress.

 

[aldive]

I have been dealing with K&N filters for ten years and it actually states "Clean every 30 - 50,000mi depending on driving conditions. My personal K&N filter needs to be cleaned every 20,000 or so for optimum performance and I do all highway driving.

It does not really matter what K&N recommends, its the amount of dirt in your filter and how fast it accumulates- read my above post.

Al, I mean that the Mac is an open filter as opposed to the sealed Volant. I know what has been said about under hood temps and what not but as an engineer I know what effects open elements can have as opposed to closed elements. That is just my opinion, but it is what I beleive.

An ideal system is the old Ram Air Style like on a 1970 Hurst olds or 1965 Ford T-Bolt. Pure air from the outside not from engine heat under the hood, purely designed air injection as it was meant to be.

Before you go nits worring about underhood temperature and intake temperature, take an OBD II scanner and monitor your IAT at various speeds, You will see very little difference in amvient temp and IAT when the truck is moving.

Good luck .......

 

[aldive]

Volant actually makes some ram air hoses and under fender intake scoops for the dodge diesels. Make no mistake there is no substitute for cold dense air.

You are never going to get the intake air colder than ambient air.

 

[DCExploder]

perhaps your filter is different than mine. The sticker they gave me reads: "Service filter every 50,000/100,000 miles. Sooner under extreme dusty conditions." But almost all of my driving is stop and go city stuff so I dont get a lot of dust anyways... QUOTE]

My Olds Alero (3.4 V6 OHV) has a swiss cheese box and a K&N filter. I lost a little low end torque but gained throttle response and high end. I had to clean it every 15-20K miles. I had a chrysler van (3.8 V6 SOHC) before that with K&N and stock hoses. No real diffrerence in performance, but did get better mpg. I cleaned it every 30-40K miles. IMO, the air from under the hood is dirtier than the air coming thru the hoses. Both of these vehicles were 80% city driving in DC/MD

 

[Lazzman]

Yes, I guess when the truck is moving under hood air temp is negliable compared to outside temps, you can get the air cooler than ambient Al, drag racers use something called a cool can that is a can filled with ice that the air flows through- Summit racing sells it. When I went to Fun Ford Weekend a while back at the drag strip they had a few really nice Ford Turbo cars running huge dual Turbo's on 4.6 mod engines. Cars were doing the 1/4 in 6.6 sec @215mph. When I looked at them in the pits they had huge aluminum boxes filled with ice with the 3" turbo induction vented through.

I did not mean to cause controversy with this subject. I just wanted to state that in my opinion Volant is the best choice becuase I truly believe it addresses both problems of extra dirt and heat buildup. The Volant sealed box is a great modification of the stock box and you give up nothing. I also stand by my thoughts on fresh air being better than under hood air- The baddest cars ever invented ( Hemi's, GTO's, Buick GSX, Cobra's always had hood scoops incorporated into the air induction to let in the good stuff. IMHO I don't think they were there just for looks.

I will let everyone know how the Volant stacks up to the K&N flat filter and swiss cheese air box- with air horn removed...

 

[aldive]

, you can get the air cooler than ambient Al, drag racers use something called a cool can that is a can filled with ice that the air flows through-

Yes, I used such a device ( homemade ) back in my drag racing days in the 60's.

Not very practical for a non 1/4 mile race car.

My comment was about a street car and on such a vehicle, the intake air temp will be no lower than ambient.