Aftermarket Cold Air Intake- worth it?

[PCfordguy]

Been snooping around looking for info on a CAI on a Powerboost- not seeing what I’m looking for so I will just ask everyone. Specifically- is there any payback on the investment from gains in MPG? Mostly concerned with gains on the interstate doing 75-80 mph on road trips? Finally- what’s the brand of choice?

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[KYT]

So weird you ask this, I just watched this dude's video recently. Yes he's talking about diesel trucks because that's what he has, but same logic would apply to gasoline.


tl;dr you already have CAI from Ford, changing it is pointless, unless VERY specific racing needs, shortens engine life for marginal gains at best.
They look neat, and I had one back in my old ricer days. But today? I'm not racing and rebuilding the entire engine every weekend; so why? Meh...
Hey but you do you. If you like the idea, whatever, it's your truck, go for it!

 

[Dakar09]

It made a marginally cooler noise on my 5.0L, but then I put exhaust on and can't hear it now. No real HP gain in seat-of-the-pants dyno that I can tell. And definitely not MPG gain...I love those claims because if you are putting one on (or exhaust) you are by default going to step on the go pedal more to hear or feel the changes and CAN'T get better MPG driving like that.

That said, I'd put one on mine again, lol. The piping looks cleaner than Ford's and I'm sure the air filter element is better (if you go brand name system).

 

[FaaWrenchBndr]

Been snooping around looking for info on a CAI on a Powerboost- not seeing what I’m looking for so I will just ask everyone. Specifically- is there any payback on the investment from gains in MPG? Mostly concerned with gains on the interstate doing 75-80 mph on road trips? Finally- what’s the brand of choice?

So unless you’re gonna tune, the truck there isn't a whole lot of benefit.
The momentum GT would be my pick. I had one installed and recently removed it. I did this because of an oil analysis I had done and I believe the silicon levels are higher than it should be the AFE I was using was the washable dry filter.
I am currently back to the factory set up and I’m gonna run it one oil change interval and retest the oil to see if the silicon levels drop

 

[Porpoise Hork]

In a word...

No.

 

[MLH]

If they are better delivering more HP and MPG why don’t Ford install them or something like them on new vehicles. They would love to give you more power and fuel efficiency.

 

[RLXXI]

Only thing a CAI does is increase engine noise and presents eye candy under the hood, that's it.

 

[PCfordguy]

So weird you ask this, I just watched this dude's video recently. Yes he's talking about diesel trucks because that's what he has, but same logic would apply to gasoline.


tl;dr you already have CAI from Ford, changing it is pointless, unless VERY specific racing needs, shortens engine life for marginal gains at best.
They look neat, and I had one back in my old ricer days. But today? I'm not racing and rebuilding the entire engine every weekend; so why? Meh...
Hey but you do you. If you like the idea, whatever, it's your truck, go for it!

Very informative- glad I asked the community- I’ll pass on a new CAI.

 

[PCfordguy]

Thanks for all the response everyone- definitely going to pass on a aftermarket CAI.

 

[FaaWrenchBndr]

If they are better delivering more HP and MPG why don’t Ford install them or something like them on new vehicles. They would love to give you more power and fuel efficiency.

I don’t think it increased any power levels on mine, but I did regularly see it an increase of one MPG

 

[FaaWrenchBndr]

Only thing a CAI does is increase engine noise and presents eye candy under the hood, that's it.

That’s not necessarily always the case. Not all CAI are created equally. One that provides the turbo noise is not a cold air intake. It is a hot air intake. The momentum GT had absolutely zero increase in noise, did look good

 

[Kritas]

In my experience, a good CAI is worth it IF your engine needs more air. If the engine is (highly) modified, it may be worth it. If it's stock, no. Ford has pretty damn good engineers on the payroll, and the factory intake is going to give a stock engine the air it requires.

The only stuff really worth adding is plastic-y doodads and bits of fake chrome trim. Those will add a few HP cheap. I'm kidding... don't do that.

 

[FaaWrenchBndr]

In my experience, a good CAI is worth it IF your engine needs more air. If the engine is (highly) modified, it may be worth it. If it's stock, no. Ford has pretty damn good engineers on the payroll, and the factory intake is going to give a stock engine the air it requires.

The only stuff really worth adding is plastic-y doodads and bits of fake chrome trim. Those will add a few HP cheap. I'm kidding... don't do that.

oh, so like all the neon pink add-ons, you can buy from Walmart? You don’t think that would be a good look?

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Very informative- glad I asked the community- I’ll pass on a new CAI.

You'd benefit far more from upgrading the turbo inlet pipes and intercooler than a CAI anyway. While these won't technically increase the HP produced they will improve airflow to the turbo and maintain lower intake temps during instances of sustained boost preventing HP loss.

 

[Kritas]

oh, so like all the neon pink add-ons, you can buy from Walmart? You don’t think that would be a good look?

Absolutely! Do you have access to a JC Whitney catalog?

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