Air intake

[z3man12]

i have a 1998 Chevy K1500 with a 5.7l and I was wondering what is the best cold air intake for it?

 

[454cid]

The cold air intake from the factory. Most aftermarket cold air intakes are not cold air intakes.

 

[94burbk1500]

454 is correct, the factory intake pulls air from the fender, that's about as cold as it's gonna get. Most car guys I know refer to the aftermarket setups as hot air intakes or SEMA intakes. They look cool to some, but they are trash.

 

[kennythewelder]

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CIAs for these trucks are a waste of money. A high flow filter is all you need, if you spen time @WOT. If not then the factory paper filter is fine. Cold air from the fender is about as good as it gets without doing things like cuting a hole in your hood. The factory fender air intake is feed from the grill area around the passengers headlight. It flows more air than the engine can pull. I installed a high flow filter, and removed the Vortec box. Capped that with a plastic ***** can lid. This gives a straighter air flow.

 

[df2x4]

Agreed with 454 and 94burb. I actually swapped back to a factory intake from a K&N FIPK on my red truck because the IATs were through the roof with the open box K&N. Factory intake pulls much cooler air.

If you absolutely have to have an aftermarket intake for some reason, the only one that might actually be an improvement is a Volant. They maintain a sealed box design that draws cool air from the hole in the fender just like the factory setup.

 

[df2x4]

Also a note in regards to Kenny's post... If you're going to run an aftermarket filter I would not recommend anything oiled gauze (like K&N). It's really easy for them to leech oil into the intake tubing and foul your MAF sensor. Not to mention they typically don't filter the air very well.

Personally I stick to the ACDelco high capacity paper filters, for the K47 optioned trucks.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

VOLANT hands down is better performing than the GM intake. Noticeable difference installing it on both the 350 with LT1 cam in my brothers 1999 suburban and again when I installed it on the 305 Vortec in my 1999 Tahoe. The Suburban wet from 91-92 KPA at WOT to 98 KAP at WOT and the cammed 305 saw similar gains. Both saw 15-20 gm/sec more airflow through the MAF above 3,500 rpm.

I wouldn't get too hung up on IATs. IATs are through the roof with both the a closed sealed box and an open intake when it is hot outside and you spend any time at all idling in traffic. When you start to move and have the throttle open both systems will drop at a near equal rate. At 60 mph you will not see 5-10*F difference between the two and both will stay 20-30*F above ambient temps.

There is also NOTHING wrong with an oil'd gauze filter. I have had better luck with them not coming apart than the paper filters. In rainy weather I have had two separate instances of the paper filters getting completely soaked with water and coming apart. I have driven K&N, Airaid & Volant oil'd filters for hundreds of thousands of miles collectively on multiple vehicles and not once had an issue with an oil'd down MAF.

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[someotherguy]

There is also NOTHING wrong with an oil'd gauze filter. I have had better luck with them not coming apart than the paper filters. In rainy weather I have had two separate instances of the paper filters getting completely soaked with water and coming apart.

Quit giving your trucks submarine lessons?

I doubt it rains more in DFW than it does in Houston, and I've never had a paper filter failure because it got wet. In fact the only time I ever got any air filter wet was when I drove my Unimog into water over the hood and didn't have a fording kit installed. It sputtered a little but made it through...

Richard

 

[454cid]

Does anyone make a dry washable filter anymore? I've got a synthetic Fram that I've been using, but it's long discontinued. I think I've washed it maybe once. Apparently, I don't drive through dirty enough conditions to get it really dirty. I've thought about getting a new paper filter just because.

Maybe I should just wash it... I've still got my original AC Delco filter from 1999 to run in the meantime That's what I used to do when I had a K&N, and I'd wash it, and need to let it dry.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Quit giving your trucks submarine lessons?

I doubt it rains more in DFW than it does in Houston, and I've never had a paper filter failure because it got wet. In fact the only time I ever got any air filter wet was when I drove my Unimog into water over the hood and didn't have a fording kit installed. It sputtered a little but made it through...

Richard

First one was the Express van. It intakes air from the gap between the grille and hood via a scoop attached to the front of the air cleaner housing. The paper filter collapsed after driving roughly 800 miles non stop in the rain. Ohio, Kentucky, across Tennessee and into Texas all in the middle of a winter storm. The second one I had collapse was the drivers side filter in my M56S. It pulled air from above the condenser via a ram air intake setup. Drove roughly 450 miles continuously in the rain and suddenly the engine stumbled, went into limp mode and the SES ight came on. Filter had come apart so badly the filter wedged itself into the factory non screened MAF housing shorting the MAF out. Happens to be the only MAF sensor I have ever had to replace.