Intake- school me

So I have been contemplating a intake for my truck for awhile now. Truck is stock minus exhaust, lift, tires, and superchip. Figured a new intake would be something to look at next to get for the truck. My issue is I don't know much, all I know is eBay ones are apparently junk, and some say our stock intake is perfect.

I was first looking at a S&B intake because I heard amazing things about the company, but doing research they do not make it for my truck. I then read people say keep the stock air box and get the Airraid intake tube. So I thought would buying the Airraid tube plus a better filter for stock box, but is this as good as a complete intake system?

So I'm looking for help and to be taught about what to go for.

Truck is a 02 4.7l

Honestly, intakes are pretty much for looks and sound. I've had one on pretty much every vehicle I've ever owned. Performance wise, they make no noticeable difference. So basically, figure out a budget, and go with the one that you think looks the best, within that budget.

Intakes are intended to feed denser and cooler air to a fuel injected engine.
The more performance add-ons on the engine, the more the intake will help (long tubes, ported throttle body, tuner, blower etc. )

Intakes that suck on air under the hood don't help a lot unless your stock system is really inefficient. The Magnum and Hemi hat arrangements are for ease of assembly and to quiet throttle noise. They cause turbulence and therefore are not very efficient.

Articulated rubber hoses cause turbulence in the flow of air into the throttle body thereby restricting flow..

The factory air box isn't awful in that it does suck in cooler outside air through the right fender, but the volume of flow is limited by the stock paper filter and all that Magnum or Hemi 'Hat" down stream sitting on your intake manifold.

A metal tube will heat the air defeating a lot of the small amount of benefit from an intake, while alternatively a smooth plastic one will provide some limited insulation and improvement over the articulated rubber factory tube.

Common open top Cold Air Intakes (CAI)--not sealed from engine bay and sucking under hood air are really hot air intakes since they suck in hot engine warmed air and do not seal effectively against the underside of the hood (K&N, Airaid, AFE etc.)

So, do I have one? Yes, S&B. Do I think they are worthwhile? Yes, if you can afford it.
Could I have lived with just a better drop in filter and a smooth plastic tube that eliminated all the Magnum/Hemi 'hat' crap? Yeah, probably.

But I'm really happy that I upgraded.

You can make anything fit anything, if you like that model then buy it and then make it your own and make it fit. I was told you couldn't put a Vararam Air Grabber on a 3rd gen, but I did it anyway.

Tray- very nice truck!

Thanks for input guys. I'm debating on either getting the Airraid MIT tube and a better filter for box, OR I found where someone used a 5.7 S&B intake system in his 4.7l with a coupler to make it work so that's a possibility.

Tray Burge said:

You can make anything fit anything, if you like that model then buy it and then make it your own and make it fit. I was told you couldn't put a Vararam Air Grabber on a 3rd gen, but I did it anyway.

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Do you have a write up on how you did this?

EWC88 said:

Tray- very nice truck!

Thanks for input guys. I'm debating on either getting the Airraid MIT tube and a better filter for box, OR I found where someone used a 5.7 S&B intake system in his 4.7l with a coupler to make it work so that's a possibility.

Click to expand...

I have an air raid mit tube if interested

this is what i did to my 02 4.7 with huge gains...

swapped a 07 intake manifold in (08 version is much better but need a tb adapter way too much $ in the end) that alone gained me mph and noticable power off the line. then put in airaid jr kit with dry filter that too made a very noticable difference. then did the airram jetscoop and made a custom 3" tube running from bottom of stock box down to front bumper where i used a veraram bumper scoop from the hemi setup. also coupled with a superchips flashpaq this little 4.7 roasts hemis when i get a chance to play with them out on the roadways.

the 07 manifold swap gave me biggest gains without superchips. i tried the k&n intake which was way too loud then the volant which was the worst sucked all my power away. by far the airaid jr kit that uses the stock filter box is by far the best and i will swear by it. perfect sound and perfect performance.

i am currently looking into fuel injectors to see if that will help in any way mpgs more so than performance.

just keep in mind 02-early 04 ram 4.7 intake manifolds are the worst design across all 4.7 engines in jeep and dodge. starting in 04 they made significant changes to the fact that they match the jeep 4.7 ho one all being standard. I chose 07 for the newest possible and least amount of miles on it. again 08 is the best but requires a throttle body adapter that only one company makes and is way overpriced around 300 making it very difficult to even entertain let alone find a one year range intake manifold.
its all about runner length and there is a site or two with all the info on that. but for a set of felpro manifold gaskets at 20 bucks and used 07 intake off ebay for 60 less than 100 bucks i gained mpgs and performance for sure. couple that with cai setup and that helps. superchips just makes the truck fun to drive. 3.92 gear ratio helps too. intake swap took me about an hour to do.

here are some pics of my truck. to the right of the pass headlight is my airram jet scoop. above my license plate hard to see in this pic is the vararam bumper scoop its behind my lower grille painted silver too.

airaid kit I have

forgot too relocate intake air temp sensor to middle of airaid tube.

pic of manifolds one to right is 07 has the blue gaskets. the runners are way shorter about 2" per.

jc6711 said:

Do you have a write up on how you did this?

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Not really a step by step, but I adapted a 4th gen Vararam to my 3rd gen by making a 90 degree coupling that would go around my AC lines. I first had to relocate the overflow tank. I made the scoop using what's called the "lost foam method". I made a foam template first then covered it packing tape. Then I epoxy coated it and after it cured I fiber glassed it, then melted the foam out with lacquer thinner. It's very strong, yet pliable for engine movement. I painted it and used "Quick Latches" push button type to attach it to the pan, everything can come off, including the base pan in 10min or less. The scoop just unlatches and slips out. Here are the steps in photos.

and...

Might have to look into that intake manifold swap. How difficult is it to do?

Your truck looks nice man! Where in NJ are ya?

PdPuNOme said:

this is what i did to my 02 4.7 with huge gains...

swapped a 07 intake manifold in (08 version is much better but need a tb adapter way too much $ in the end) that alone gained me mph and noticable power off the line. then put in airaid jr kit with dry filter that too made a very noticable difference. then did the airram jetscoop and made a custom 3" tube running from bottom of stock box down to front bumper where i used a veraram bumper scoop from the hemi setup. also coupled with a superchips flashpaq this little 4.7 roasts hemis when i get a chance to play with them out on the roadways.

the 07 manifold swap gave me biggest gains without superchips. i tried the k&n intake which was way too loud then the volant which was the worst sucked all my power away. by far the airaid jr kit that uses the stock filter box is by far the best and i will swear by it. perfect sound and perfect performance.

i am currently looking into fuel injectors to see if that will help in any way mpgs more so than performance.

Click to expand...

I have a '02 4.7l ram 1500 and also wanted to do the Intake Manifold swap with a '07 (Save cash) and was wondering if it was a direct fit?
Any tips on where you bought the '07 manifold from?