Box or Cone Filters?

[Wambliokiye]

Any thoughts on what air intake to use? I have herd air box, cone, duel filters and then I hear stock is the best. I know what I want but is it best for the truck. The 6.2L is what I am packin! Lol. I just wanted to do a straight tube with a big cone filter! I have always had the 454 suburbans and it was just the filter. So any info appreciated.

 

[kbuskill]

Dyno tests seem to show the rubber accordion style hose between the air box and TB to be the biggest problem as it causes turbulence.

Mine is only a 5.3L but I am running a K&N drop in filter and the Airaid MIT which smooths out the flow.

I also opened up the fender opening behind the air box. It may not be needed but it certainly can't hurt.
Here is a before shot of the air box.

And an after.

And the inner fender, showing where to cut.


Some people prefer a dry filter over the K&N which requires oil. Either one is good as long as you don't over oil the K&N as it can cause problems with your MAF sensor.

Factory air box is best IMO because it is already a "cold air intake" because it pulls air from the wheel well rather than the hot air you get with a open element/cone style filter under the hood.

 

[Drok]

I basically have the same set up as kbuskill except a different filter and the fender mod.

 

[drakon543]

all aftermarket intakes are basically the same wam as long as its a good brand. the gain differences in the end between brands doesn't matter much as they differ in such small amounts. you can get nice bonuses from upgrading the stock setup like bush and drok but most like the aftermarket for the extra wot growl. if you want the extra growl check out some images of installed intakes and pick one you think looks best to you.

 

[swathdiver]

The cone shaped filter without a way to protect it from ingesting hot engine air, or without a source of fresh outside air, will not be as effective as the enclosed system. So if you had an air scoop and hose delivering air close to the open filter it would be fine and not so susceptible to heat save for idle or low speeds. The stock airbox is plenty big for even a 500 horse motor. I put the K&N back in the box and am running the high capacity OE paper filter.

 

[Wambliokiye]

Ok! I hear ya. I was wanting to do something like this. It has a heat sheild, so what if I ran this and also cut like kbuskill did to the fender so it also gets outside air? Or us this just for show?

 

[drakon543]

dont waste your time with ebay intakes. they dont fit right they break super easily and may or may not even work on your vehicle as intended. you would really just be buying a noise maker for most vehicles. save your time and money and buy a name brand intake.

 

[swathdiver]

Ok! I hear ya. I was wanting to do something like this. It has a heat sheild, so what if I ran this and also cut like kbuskill did to the fender so it also gets outside air? Or us this just for show?
View attachment 201118

That style is fine, just be sure of the quality like James says. Making the hole larger as Ken did to his works too, just watch those puddles or standing water!

 

[iamdub]

Looks like a decent heat shield compared to most eBay intakes. But, I doubt it seals the filter from engine bay heat anywhere near as good as the OEM filter box. I'd still classify that intake to be more for show than effective air filtration.

My vote is stock filter box with Airaid MIT and a quality filter element. A direct OEM replacement filter flows plenty and filters sufficiently. I have an AEM DryFlow and it surely doesn't choke the intake and I was impressed with how clean the tubing was downstream of the filter.

 

[nadthomas]

Understand that most intakes provide very little in actual gains, and are way over priced for what they are. There biggest improvement is sound, although with that said having a nice sound can be very satisfying. Personally I like K&N filters and intakes. I run at least their filters in a stock air box on all of my cars. I had their cold air intake on my GTO and it had the best fit and finish of any CAI I have used. Others are perfectly acceptable, but if you going to spend entire too much for a tube and filter I like something that has an OEM fit and look to it.