best air intake

[tybardy]

What is the best intake I can use on my 5.3l 04 hoe? I have been doing a lot of looking and have found a lot of different products, I always want to just go with the K&N intake but i was wondering if there was one that might be better

 

[tnezukon]

Here is a link to a poll that someone did recently. Should give you some ideas and its a starting point. Good luck!!


http://www.tahoeforum.com/showthread.php?t=5675&highlight=intake

 

[clp71220]

What is the best intake I can use on my 5.3l 04 hoe? I have been doing a lot of looking and have found a lot of different products, I always want to just go with the K&N intake but i was wondering if there was one that might be better

Depends on what you are wanting the air intake for? If you are looking for better fuel enconomy then dont bother. Unless you retune the Vehical after the install it will only use more fuel with the cold air intake. If you want fuel economy then try a grill block for hotter air, this will help with detonation because hot air burns more easily. And the hotter air will advance the timing of the engine and will in turn use less fuel.

 

[lilsolo68]

Depends on what you are wanting the air intake for? If you are looking for better fuel enconomy then dont bother. Unless you retune the Vehical after the install it will only use more fuel with the cold air intake. If you want fuel economy then try a grill block for hotter air, this will help with detonation because hot air burns more easily. And the hotter air will advance the timing of the engine and will in turn use less fuel.

i would love to know more about this. is there a website where this has been tested or can you give more info on this because this is the first time ive heard of this.

 

[.justin.]

If you want fuel economy then try a grill block for hotter air, this will help with detonation because hot air burns more easily. And the hotter air will advance the timing of the engine and will in turn use less fuel.

Actually, the opposite is true.

With all things equal, a hotter air charge has a tendency to detonate more easily, which is why ignition timing is reduced; rather significantly if temps are hot enough.

Hotter air is also less dense. So, while the actual mass of air needed to maintain speed (or accelerate) is somewhat comparable to a cooler charge, greater throttle will be needed to take in that mass of air. More throttle will be needed vs a cooler air charge and overall power potential will be reduced.

 

[Polecat]

true, this is why some companies like Procharger, has an intercooler, to cool the air, over hot air.

 

[boostaholic]

Cooler, denser air is always better; and from the logs I've seen my aem has one of the lowest intake air temps and is quick to cool even after consecutive runs at wot.

 

[RenegadeTahoe]

Depends on what you are wanting the air intake for? If you are looking for better fuel enconomy then dont bother. Unless you retune the Vehical after the install it will only use more fuel with the cold air intake. If you want fuel economy then try a grill block for hotter air, this will help with detonation because hot air burns more easily. And the hotter air will advance the timing of the engine and will in turn use less fuel.

Wow, that goes against all laws of physics and engine efficiency.

 

[oomindwarpoo]

Depends on what you are wanting the air intake for? If you are looking for better fuel enconomy then dont bother. Unless you retune the Vehical after the install it will only use more fuel with the cold air intake. If you want fuel economy then try a grill block for hotter air, this will help with detonation because hot air burns more easily. And the hotter air will advance the timing of the engine and will in turn use less fuel.

????????????????? Other way around man, why do you think CAI's make more power than with SRI's..? Short ram intakes get "heat soaked" which decreases power.

 

[Yuke2K]

Depends on what you are wanting the air intake for? If you are looking for better fuel enconomy then dont bother. Unless you retune the Vehical after the install it will only use more fuel with the cold air intake. If you want fuel economy then try a grill block for hotter air, this will help with detonation because hot air burns more easily. And the hotter air will advance the timing of the engine and will in turn use less fuel.

*chokes on drink*

Huh? I'm going to second pretty much everything that's been said here. I've NEVER heard of anyone actually heating the air intake charge to improve fuel economy. This is flawed logic at it's best. Cooler air is denser, denser air makes more power, and if the engine is making more power, it's not working as hard.

For example, take two identical engines running at a constant 3000 revolutions per minute. One engine is sitting in a room heated to 110 degrees, and the other is in a room refrigerated to roughly 40 degrees. Which engine do you think is going to be more efficient? Or make more power?

I know that we aren't talking power as much as fuel economy here, but they sort of go hand in hand. If the engine isn't spending as much energy to draw air in, then that energy is going to be tranferred to putting power out.

Take my buddy's C5 Vette for another example. He's making a ton more power with his 5.7 than I ever will with my 5.3, but he still can average a pretty easy 25mpg on the highway whereas my truck only gets about 18mpg on the highway. Why? Well, first and most obviously is the fact that the coefficient of drag on that car is proabably less than half of my truck. But, more to the point, the engine in his vette is downright loafing at 70mph since it's making so much power - it's not working at all. With my truck, the coefficient of drag is higher AND it's making less power, so the engine is working much much harder to sling all of that weight around. That was probably too long and a little drawn out, but power and economy do often go hand in hand (please don't start talking about top fuel dragsters that make 8000 horsepower and use 20 gallons of fuel in one pass, blah blah blah)

I don't know where you heard this (and really, I'm not trying to be a dick here - especially to a new member), but please don't suggest this to anyone again. It's completely bass-ackwards logic.

 

[tybardy]

This is all very good stuff... unfortunatly... no one really shot me a good answer to my actual question.

I suppose after all I have read on here since i actually posted this thread it kinda comes down to a few options....

AEM
K&N
Volant

there are a few others but these seem to be the top dogs. I am leaning away from K&N these days because of the oil (I have always had K&N too because i love them so much) but I have been swayed by the masses

Now I am stuck between the AEM and the Volant... any ideas people?

 

[tnezukon]

Look at the HP gains on the thread with the poll that I gave you the link to. AEM came out on top and I think K & N is on there also. If you read the whole thread, JennaBear gives a lot of good info. She knows her $hit. I think its the very last page of the thread. Good luck

 

[tybardy]

Look at the HP gains on the thread with the poll that I gave you the link to. AEM came out on top and I think K & N is on there also. If you read the whole thread, JennaBear gives a lot of good info. She knows her $hit. I think its the very last page of the thread. Good luck

Yea I was checking that out last night... What a great bunch of info, I wish they had the Volant in there... I was actually shocked at how well the K&N replacement filter held up to the competition.

because I am looking for an intake that will perform at the lower RPM range and lower speends i think the enclosed setup if more what i need (like the volant)

 

[jaymason.33075]

From all the research I've done this is very true.

 

[Poppasmurf]

Then again, the laws of physics only apply within a band of parameters. I would suggest one think of trying to do hot laps at -35 below zero, now sucking in all that cold air with the equivalent windchill and at high rpm's. Then that cold dense charge hits both the in coming fuel from the injector- how much vapourizing will go on? Then have that cold air hit the nice aluminum head and start sucking heat from it. But then let's really complicate this and add ethanol in the fuel-this raises the octane rating but lowers the energy level. Raising octane slows the rate of burn. How do you tune for this--by doing what the poster that was castigated for- by warming the incoming air. All laws of physics only apply within given parameters-same with the temperature of the incoming air to an engine.