Air Intakes?

[jt1500]

ive been browsing around at air intakes and is there really a big difference on them? im looking at the K&N cold air, Volant, and Air Raid. what are your experiences with these or if you have another idea post them up

 

[1998K1500]

I've heard best on K&N air intakes. I've been meaning to put one in my truck actually but don't have the money right now I'm not saying the others are bad but I like K&N's better.

 

[95C1500]

Volant is the way to go. All the other "cold air" intakes suck in the hot engine bay air while the Volant sucks cooler air from the fender.

 

[jt1500]

Volant is the way to go. All the other "cold air" intakes suck in the hot engine bay air while the Volant sucks cooler air from the fender.

thats why i said "air intake" not cold air. there are advantages to a ram air intake over a cold and vise versa. i will probably hit up the k&n.

 

[DroppedAsAChild]

I have a K&N and I am swapping to the Volant. My pops has a volant on our ST and its much nicer then my K&N.The volant has the filter in a box and keeps it away from the elements and keeps it much cleaner and only sucks air from the fender not the rest of the engine compartment. My K&N is always filthy in the summer with all the dust.

 

[chevyman0191]

am running a volant and love it even though not great amount of difference or gains.

 

[SilveradoGuy85]

Volant is the way to go. All the other "cold air" intakes suck in the hot engine bay air while the Volant sucks cooler air from the fender.

My K&N has a heat shield box and is covered all around except the top and towards the fender. It's sealed against the hood though. It may not be sealed against the fender, but even if it was it's not a huge deal since the head in the engine bay will heat the air as it goes to the throttle body. Even the air going through the fender will get somewhat hot, even on a cold day. The only truck performance intake would be a functional hood or takes the air from underneath the bumper straight to the engine, not going through body work.


To the OP, I figure as long as you get a name brand and make sure that you get one with a heat shield box around the filter you should be fine. Don't get a cheap knock off because the filter won't be high performance, it will be a cheap paper filter just in a cone shape. The filter element is what helps suck in the air. Also if the stock air intake from the filter to the engine isn't that restrictive then I would just get a stock drop in filter where it's a stock filter with the high performance filter element. The filter element in the stock drop in filters are the same as the cone filters in a kit. The stock intake on my 98 had 2 open boxes and just looks really restrictive so I got the whole kit. I love my K&N and to me is worth the money with the filter alone since you don't have to change it every 5,000 miles. Normally you can go 100,000 miles on the K&N filter before cleaning. A guy with K&N said as long as you can still see the metal wire on the outside of the filter element then it doesn't need to be cleaned. I can't say about other name brands so I'm not going to talk down to other good name brands.

Performance wise you don't feel any HP gain. The HP gains they will show is at a cold startup. Once you've been driving the air will heat up and will lose HP gain. After a few minutes you'll only gain about 3-4 HP. But, you will feel a better throttle response. This is because the filter element and the intake from the filter to the engine is less restrictive, so it's just sucking in more air quicker. If you have a stock exhaust you probably won't feel any difference. Think about it, if it's getting more air in it has to get more air out. After I put mine on I drove around easy for about 15-20 minutes to let the computer change the air/fuel mixture. After that I felt the difference.

 

[FastOrange]

I have a airaid, didn't do , feels no different then the stock box with a K&N drop in.

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[racer36]

Custom! Just because i like making intakes, getting a new filter and building a box soon

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[jt1500]

My K&N has a heat shield box and is covered all around except the top and towards the fender. It's sealed against the hood though. It may not be sealed against the fender, but even if it was it's not a huge deal since the head in the engine bay will heat the air as it goes to the throttle body. Even the air going through the fender will get somewhat hot, even on a cold day. The only truck performance intake would be a functional hood or takes the air from underneath the bumper straight to the engine, not going through body work.


To the OP, I figure as long as you get a name brand and make sure that you get one with a heat shield box around the filter you should be fine. Don't get a cheap knock off because the filter won't be high performance, it will be a cheap paper filter just in a cone shape. The filter element is what helps suck in the air. Also if the stock air intake from the filter to the engine isn't that restrictive then I would just get a stock drop in filter where it's a stock filter with the high performance filter element. The filter element in the stock drop in filters are the same as the cone filters in a kit. The stock intake on my 98 had 2 open boxes and just looks really restrictive so I got the whole kit. I love my K&N and to me is worth the money with the filter alone since you don't have to change it every 5,000 miles. Normally you can go 100,000 miles on the K&N filter before cleaning. A guy with K&N said as long as you can still see the metal wire on the outside of the filter element then it doesn't need to be cleaned. I can't say about other name brands so I'm not going to talk down to other good name brands.

Performance wise you don't feel any HP gain. The HP gains they will show is at a cold startup. Once you've been driving the air will heat up and will lose HP gain. After a few minutes you'll only gain about 3-4 HP. But, you will feel a better throttle response. This is because the filter element and the intake from the filter to the engine is less restrictive, so it's just sucking in more air quicker. If you have a stock exhaust you probably won't feel any difference. Think about it, if it's getting more air in it has to get more air out. After I put mine on I drove around easy for about 15-20 minutes to let the computer change the air/fuel mixture. After that I felt the difference.

your posted summed it up. i was already leaning towards k&n now im set, thanks. and yes i do have exhaust work done to my truck and a programmer with a k&n drop in atm.