Factory intake vs. Aftermarket...by the numbers

[jcat]

This has basically become a thread of is it worth the money to me...

In a way yes, but I'd prefer to stay on topic in terms of comparing the aftermarket CAI's a la K&N/S&B/Volant/AFE to just a good quality filter upgrade in the factory airbox.

On the one hand, they do look nice and make some noise and I'm sure there's SOME benefit to the ones that come with cold air scoops. I'll be interested to see if we can get pics of the inside of a stock intake tube and see what's what in there. If it's smooth as I suspect it is, then in theory a better flowing and filtering panel filter SHOULD net you about the same as something like an AFE for example.

I definitely don't intend to come off as saying that modding is pointless...my truck's a friggin lease and I've already modded it some, and plan to tune it too eventually. I'm just wondering if there's another option to prevent wasted money for anyone who's trying to decide between a CAI since they're easy, or maybe using that money for a better panel filter and a TB upgrade if it'll net them the same or better performance. I will say that modding 'just to mod' doesn't make a lot of sense to me...I'd rather the mods serve a purpose for me and provide an advantage/benefit that I didn't have before, but to each their own.

 

[BlownGP]

all well and good, but I did clarify in the first post that the Vararam is sort of a different story only because it's the only one that doesn't borrow it's design from the factory intake tube.

It's probably cuz the factory works best.

I can see how the Vararam could work better, but it's so damn ugly. lol
Looks like a big damn dinner plate sitting on top your motor..

I would buy it if they made a shaker hood and could incorporate aint it.

 

[nolimits76]

I'll be interested to see if we can get pics of the inside of a stock intake tube and see what's what in there. If it's smooth as I suspect it is, then in theory a better flowing and filtering panel filter SHOULD net you about the same as something like an AFE for example.

I installed my Moroso catch can tonight. As part of that process, you have to remove the stock air tube. While doing the install I looked inside and can confirm the ribs are on BOTH the INSIDE AND OUTSIDE! I didn't have my camera or would have snapped a picture for you. FYI, my truck is a 2014 Sport 1500 QC 4x4 if it matters.

I suspect this is why Legmaker introduced the carbon fiber tube. Bigger diameter, smooth inside & outside, better routing/bends going from the stock airbox to the intake and it doesn't heat soak as bad. In other words, I think he removed the weak link.

I definitely don't intend to come off as saying that modding is pointless...my truck's a friggin lease and I've already modded it some, and plan to tune it too eventually. I'm just wondering if there's another option to prevent wasted money for anyone who's trying to decide between a CAI since they're easy, or maybe using that money for a better panel filter and a TB upgrade if it'll net them the same or better performance. I will say that modding 'just to mod' doesn't make a lot of sense to me...I'd rather the mods serve a purpose for me and provide an advantage/benefit that I didn't have before, but to each their own.

At the end of the day a CAI is not going to make or break the performance on your vehicle. As others noted, it does help more as your mod list grows. Some of my Challenger buds w/ superchargers have seen major increases with different intakes. But that is an extreme case.

 

[Ramrt1]

I agree, I reinstalled my factory intake a week ago and my truck runs better, I had the vararam and like the looks, but it sits right on top of the engine, heat soak is bad with temperatures of 104 degrees with 34 percent humidity equals 115 degrees, the stock boxes air is about 12 cooler than the vararams.

 

[SlowRoller]

Isn't it ironic how we refer to these aftermarket intakes as 'cold air' intakes, when several of them draw much warmer air than the OEM system,,,

Certain models should be relabeled as HAI's,,,

 

[bodyman247]

i often thought the same about the HOT AIR INTAKES!

 

[Ramrt1]

Plus I have replaced two lids for the vararam, the screw holes used to secure the filter keep drying out and breaking, sure the fragments have been sucked into my engine.

 

[charonblk07]

Isn't it ironic how we refer to these aftermarket intakes as 'cold air' intakes, when several of them draw much warmer air than the OEM system,,,

Certain models should be relabeled as HAI's,,,

i often thought the same about the HOT AIR INTAKES!

They're proper name is Short Ram Intake and work on the theory that once you're moving at speed your under hood temps drop dramatically to near ambient which is almost true. Yes, idle temps are much higher but when you remove the restriction of all that shielding and sealed boxes you have better flow into the intake. The best example of this is the LMI Hammer. Characteristics of the SRI is that they have much better flow at higher RPM but the low RPM hot air hurts the bottom end torque.

Only a few companies can truly call their intakes a CAI and it needs to be sealed from the engine bay with a direct port to air coming from before the radiator and outside of the engine bay. Characteristics of these designs is they have a lower flow rate at high RPM but run cooler temps at lower RPM which means more low rpm torque but limited power in the higher RPM band.

The long and short of it is pick which intake you want for the type of driving you expect to do. Personally I prefer short ram intakes over CAIs because I do more highway driving and top speed runs compared to towing or drag racing. When I'm serious about running my truck hard I pull my filter off the supercharger head unit and run a mesh covered bellmouth, zero filtration but absolute best intake flow you can get.

 

[Sir John]

3) A Green (the brand name) or S&B panel filter in your stock intake housing, with a DIY ram-air tube into the bottom of the filter box may be as good as any aftermarket offering thanks to the stock box drawing air from the quater panel. I spent almost $500 on my S&B setup and would love to go back in time and save $400+ of that on the above setup.

This is what i did. I used the Green Performance filter in my setup.

 

[Nutshell]

AFE dry panel. 99.2% efficiency with a very good synthetic media. Probably one of the best choices when it comes to filtration

 

[Casper]

This really is more of a 'has anyone done it' or a 'does anyone have the ability to do it' post regarding intakes.

As I see it, the top 5 intakes for our trucks in no particular order are:

1.) K&N
2.) Vararam
3.) S&B
4.) AFE
5.) LMI

Now, aside from the vararam, the others all follow the same basic form...same basic tube design, open element filter in some type of enclosure sealed against the under hood heat in one way or another. As a matter of fact, the AFE intake actually attaches it's heat shield to the lower half of the factory airbox.

Building on that, from conventional knowledge we know that plastic parts tend to be much more resistant to heat soak than metal parts.

I'm curious to see if anyone either has already flow tested the factory intake and an aftermarket one, or if anyone has the capability to do so, to see whether or not there's a dramatic difference in airflow capability. We're not talking dyno numbers or butt dyno impressions, we're talking actual CFM.

The more I look at these aftermarket setups and compare them to the factory intake, the more it seems to me that you'd end up with the same result by going with a good panel filter in the factory intake vs replacing the whole thing.

About the only exception I can forsee is the S&B with the scoop helping to bring the IAT down a bit. However, for the same $400 that intake costs, a tuner is a much better investment.

What might be really interesting would be to buy just the S&B Scoop, and find a way to integrate it into the factory airbox.

So, does anyone have the ability to test these things or maybe know someone who does?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Significant misconception on your part. K&N, AFE and LMI are all open filters--just kind of rest against underside of hood and suck air from inside the engine bay--not too swift. S&B (and Volant) are fully enclosed and use the OEM right fender suction. S&B also has a low end suction or extended tube to get more outside cooler air.

You can argue all day if a CAI does anything (and believe me the search function should turn up pages of that discussion), but you can't lump Vararam or S&B in with the open top crap CAIs.

 

[SlowRoller]

So, in summary, no, there has not been any testing done as defined by the OP.

(The 4th Gen Vararam still reminds me of an Elizabethon collar,,, LOL!)

 

[N1ck]

i was running a K&N intake which sat right at the top of the engine bay, wasn't really thrilled with it at all but I got a smokin' deal on it, took it off and sold it locally for more than I paid for it.

Just bought this el cheapo eBay kit that runs down toward the fog light, curious to give it a shot.

 

[HammerHead]

I like my K&N, added a little rumble to the exhaust tone. No HP gain, just looks good and sounds good. As for the hot air comments, I tested it one day this summer using the T1000 to monitor the intake temps. Driving is was the same as the outside and in traffic (stopped) it only went up a few degrees. But, if I could do it gain I would have gone with something else or left it stock.

 

[Hemi_Express2013]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Significant misconception on your part. K&N, AFE and LMI are all open filters--just kind of rest against underside of hood and suck air from inside the engine bay--not too swift. S&B (and Volant) are fully enclosed and use the OEM right fender suction. S&B also has a low end suction or extended tube to get more outside cooler air.

You can argue all day if a CAI does anything (and believe me the search function should turn up pages of that discussion), but you can't lump Vararam or S&B in with the open top crap CAIs.

Of all the CAI, LM was the easiest to mod to my ram air hood. That tube is like 109mm with the S&B 7" air filter. Have 2 tubes, one with fresh air crankcase tube fitted, one without.

 

[2015HemiSport]

You'd think my reading some of these comments everybody on this page was a professional tuner.

Comments suggesting that the ECM has to "command" air? Are you joking? It's a N/A motor, it can't command air flow. The ECM is a lot smarter than you guys want to give it credit for. it WILL compensate for increased air volume just fine on its own, if it didn't my truck would be running rich as hell living 6k above sea level.

These trucks don't have a MAF, only a MAP... Food for thought.

 

[Tray Burge]

My solution to Gen III Air Grabber That Doesn't Exist

This is what I did. I love the Air Grabber, but they don't make it for my gen III so I grafted one to fit with a custom snorkel air ram scoop I made using the "lost foam" method. It not only looks old school, but it's functional and I have already seen an increase in my gas mileage from just adding the snorkel scoop. It feeds air from the high pressure area in the front of my grill as you can see directly into the air cleaner. It detaches with "mini push latches", real cool, just push the buttons in and the scoop lifts right out and then "snaps" right back into place upon return. I'm going to add a functional hood with scoop later because the Air Grabber has been modified to seal to the bottom of my hood, I had to build the seals up in order for then to reach the hood, but now there's a seal ring around the bottom of the hood where you can see where it's sealing. Feedback is welcomed, suggestions?

 

[RamWagon]

Dude. You did what ive been wanting to do for some months now. Except i was gonna make mine out of aluminum and pretty much make a funnel like you did. Still really sweet looking though. Nice job. I wanna go finish mine now

 

[Tray Burge]

Dude. You did what ive been wanting to do for some months now. Except i was gonna make mine out of aluminum and pretty much make a funnel like you did. Still really sweet looking though. Nice job. I wanna go finish mine now

Yeah, that was my initial idea, too much transferable heat. Plus decided I could get a better fit with fiberglass not to mention it looking a whole lot better. It also takes a lot of on and off fine tuning it until you get the right fit, I just don't think that's going to work with the metal. You wouldn't believe the difference the aluminum tape on the back makes! before the snorkel still got hot, now it's cool to barely warm after running the engine for a while, major difference.

 

[SlowRoller]

This is what I did. I love the Air Grabber, but they don't make it for my gen III so I grafted one to fit with a custom snorkel air ram scoop I made using the "lost foam" method. It not only looks old school, but it's functional and I have already seen an increase in my gas mileage from just adding the snorkel scoop. It feeds air from the high pressure area in the front of my grill as you can see directly into the air cleaner. It detaches with "mini push latches", real cool, just push the buttons in and the scoop lifts right out and then "snaps" right back into place upon return. I'm going to add a functional hood with scoop later because the Air Grabber has been modified to seal to the bottom of my hood, I had to build the seals up in order for then to reach the hood, but now there's a seal ring around the bottom of the hood where you can see where it's sealing. Feedback is welcomed, suggestions?

That's the first 3rd Gen I've seen with a 4th Gen Vararam.

Here is the 3rd Gen Vararam: Hemi Ram Air