So I was never completely happy with the heat shield on my K&N FIPK CAI. the box really served little purpose, in fact the factory box seemed to be of better design.
so here is what I did to fix it.
1. wrapped top, and two sides facing engine bay with 1/2 foil faced polyiso foam board. I sealed this with foil tape. not pretty, but functional.I also wrapped K&N plastic air pipe with foil tape, its good at reflecting heat. I tested this mod, by running truck on parkway for about 15 miles, measuring temp at throttle body and inside insulated heat shield. It was about 20 degrees cooler at air filter then at throttle body.
2. still not happy with all that hot engine air coming to filter around heat shield, between fender and box, and between overflow tank and box, I took it a step further.
I used 3" foil tape to seal gap between heatshield and fender on top, and sealed gap between heatshield and radiator overflow tank. The I sealed the top from the heatshield to the front of the radiator frame. although this looks pretty redneck, it is almost an air ram. most of the air available to the filter is coming from in front and down low. I just ran my first full tank, and gas mileage went from 13.5mpg to 14.5 mpg. no joke, just sealing all that hot air and forcing cooler air to filter gave me 1 more mpg. Performance feels about same, but mileage improved.
I attached some pics, I know its not pretty, but it works.
so here is what I did to fix it.
1. wrapped top, and two sides facing engine bay with 1/2 foil faced polyiso foam board. I sealed this with foil tape. not pretty, but functional.I also wrapped K&N plastic air pipe with foil tape, its good at reflecting heat. I tested this mod, by running truck on parkway for about 15 miles, measuring temp at throttle body and inside insulated heat shield. It was about 20 degrees cooler at air filter then at throttle body.
2. still not happy with all that hot engine air coming to filter around heat shield, between fender and box, and between overflow tank and box, I took it a step further.
I used 3" foil tape to seal gap between heatshield and fender on top, and sealed gap between heatshield and radiator overflow tank. The I sealed the top from the heatshield to the front of the radiator frame. although this looks pretty redneck, it is almost an air ram. most of the air available to the filter is coming from in front and down low. I just ran my first full tank, and gas mileage went from 13.5mpg to 14.5 mpg. no joke, just sealing all that hot air and forcing cooler air to filter gave me 1 more mpg. Performance feels about same, but mileage improved.
I attached some pics, I know its not pretty, but it works.
