BHAF questions.
 

Im thinking about putting a bhaf on my 97 and i have a few questions. Will it increase boost at all? is it safe without gauges? and will it make the turbo whistle any louder?

Sorry about all the newbie questions, its my first diesel.
and i did a search to!

turbo will be louder, egts will be lower and power will be greater:tu:

X2! youll love it:tu:

So it would be safe to run without gauges?

Yes, you only need a pyrometer when you are adding extra fuel. More fuel = more heat = a need to monitor the temperature.

Turbo was louder with my BHAF (which is for sale) and even way louder with my K&N FIPK. The open filter makes it louder and the plastic ducting on the K&N doesn't dampen anything so its even louder then before! I got my K&N from Summit Racing because its a fun drive down there! Its actually a SUMMIT Kit but its exactly the same as the FIPK but without the big K&N sticker (still has K&N logo on plastic turbo to filter pipe too)!
I heard people comment about "setting the BHAF on fire if you don't have a heat shield but I never ever had any issues.

does anybody have a picture of a heat shield for it?
i got mine for 45$ but i need to make a heat sheild

BHAF is a waste of time and money until after you are over 300hp.

Unless of course, you're just doing it for the turbo whistle! :w2:

^^^^ um no.... a BHAF is cheap and easy to do. better air flow is always a good idea

Not if the engine's not using it.

Do you know what the volumetric efficiency of a 5.9 2nd Gen 12v is at any given hp level?

well im gonna have to think about it thanks guys. Anyone have some pics they want to post of their bhaf?

i got one here brand new in the boc still. id sell for cheap. i dont know what shipping costs but id take 20 bucks plus shipping for it. i bought two from napa back about 6 months ago but never used the new one and i bought an S & B so i wont use it.. let me know if you want it.

it wasnt much more than a factory filter, and it sounds sweet:w2::w2::w2::w2:

For some reason the early 2nd Gens had the worst air filters right out of the factory. Even the 1st Gen had a better filter rated at 450CFM, but they put it in a lousy airbox. Best bet would be a good drop-in replacement, keep the stock box for heat shielding:

94-02 5.9L Cummins Drop in AFE air filter : eBay Motors (item 120529476363 end time Mar-12-10 14:11:03 PST)

Nothing against BHAFs, done right of course.

fleetfilter.com sells #42790 BHAF Filters for $44. They ship fast. Almost half off the price the parts stores charge and they usually don't keep them in stock so you have to wait anyway.:tu:

I've ran them on my trucks, and all my friends trucks, even converted my lil bro's LLY Duramax to the #42790 BHAF filter.

I've never ran a heat shield, and have never had a problem. On my last truck I owned it for 3 years and was lightly bombed. Put 60k miles driven nearly everyday, 4 filters in that time period, no heat shield and the filter never came loose from the inlet tube. I've got friends with over 700hp running BHAF's because they've sucked cotton filters through their turbo and are sick and tired of replacing filters AND turbos. The BHAF holds up fine.

The paper BHAF's flow much better than any aftermarket filter out there, I don't care what the sleazy salesman tries to pitch you and I don't care what your friend who got ripped off and is trying to justify his uneducated purchase tells you. You can't beat the #42790 Filter.

Being a former competition turbocharger builder and avid boost enthusiast, I would NEVER put a cotton or oiled filter in front of a turbocharger.

I suppose if not getting the most power availlable from your engine and not being able to drive it in the rain not a problem, than I would tend to believe that. A wet paper filter going into the turbo will do just as much damage as any other.

First off, I dynoed my old bombed 1st gen with 3 different filter systems all within a few minutes of eachother on a Dynojet 248C. This was ONLY to see which filter actually put out the best power and no other tweaks or mods were done between runs. The truck ALWAYS made a consistent 340-345hp at the rear wheels. Stock Filter & Box & Stock Inlet Tube-329hp, Used BHAF & Stock Inlet Tube-344hp, and a friend's AFE & AFE Cold Air Tube- 341hp. So, in my case...a 3hp gain means I made MORE power with a BHAF. Even if it was the other way around, and the AFE made 3 more horsepower, it wouldn't justify the cost difference. You can't feel 3hp from the driver's seat.

Secondly, none of my BHAF's in 2 different trucks (one 1st Gen, one 2nd Gen) have never been wet. Even in a downpour, and with the 2nd Gen stock inner fender air tube thing still in place, no filters ever got wet in 3 years. And in the 1st gen, the BHAF mounted up behind the headlight and it never got wet. I had to pull over at a truckstop in my 1st Gen due to heavy rain where I couldn't see the road. I pulled under the awning at the pumps to stretch my legs and proceeded to check my fluid levels and even wrapped my hand around the filter...nothing. As for the heatshield...I never felt there was a reason for it. Of course, I've never done a dyno comparison to see if it made any difference in power by having a heat shield and not having one. But no filters were ever melted, scorched, or showd any signs of getting too hot.

So...This is only my personal experience, and my personal opinion. I'm looking at it from all angles...price, power increase, durability, longetivity. I've had to rebuild more turbos than I can count...all with traces of blue,red,orange cotton stuck in the impeller nut. I ask them "did you have a K&N or similar filter?" and 90% of the time the answer was YES. I tell them to put a paper element back in it's place when they install the turbo I just built or rebuilt for them, and I don't hear back from them after that...I take that as a good thing, but that's just me.

I don't know if my previous post offended you or something, as it wasn't meant to offend, but meant to inform. It was just my $.02. Opinions are like assholes, don't take my word for anything, tie your rig to a dyno with a few filters and see the difference for yourself, your case may be different.

See ya.

No offense taken. It's just a simple fact that cooler air is more dense, holds more oxygen, makes more power. It's a generally accepted well-known fact, believe it or not.

FWIW, I don't like those K&N and similar type filters either.

It's COMPRESSED and INTERCOOLED air, believe it or not. This changes the typical "well known" principles of the molecular structure of air, including temperature, density, and engine vacuum. It's not worth explaining, so I'm not going to go any further into this. It's just an air filter.

If the BHAF made 344 sucking hot engine air, it might have made 354 sucking cooler air.

Just sayin. :w2:

Cool air doesn't mean anything on turbo apps. The second that air hits the turbo its instantly superheated anyways. The bhaf will yield better mileage and more power and better sound

I see you never took a physics class.... :w2:
Okaaaaaay, then. Good luck with that! :tu:

Physics has NOTHING to do with a turbo thats thousands of degrees. Thats like saying "oh I'm going to sit in an icebath for a few minutes so when I land on the sun my cool body wont get so hot". The second that "cool" air touches the turbo, its superheated to a few thousand degrees. Thats why intercooler efficiency is so important.

If you say so.... :w2:

Aren't you the one who didn't know what a vacuum pump looks like and whether or not his truck had hydroboost? :pca1:
I'll bet the folks at Los Alamos Labs would be interested in that! :s:

ya dont waist yout time with those cheesy BHAF put the money toward a AFE intake system there 100x better

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a few thousand degrees:humm: what the hell are you smokin aluminum melts at 1200 which by the way is what your intercooler is made of last time i checked at aint even close to a thousand let alone a few thousand

Wow dude, I think you really need to chill out - Why do you have to bring up some stuff like that from an entirely different thread that has nothing to do with this one at all? There's no need for that..

Now for my $.02... Yes, you would be correct that cooler air is more dense and therefore holds more oxygen.. bingo, more power potential - however, you haven't even considered the process that the air goes through before it enters the cylinders. And.. I have taken MANY physics classes. Since you seem to be so knowledgeable on the subject of physics, you must know that when air is compressed, it heats up ( :humm: isn't that what the compressor wheel in the turbo does? ) So.. is 10 or 15 degrees in air temperature really going to make THAT much of a horsepower difference? The answer is no. 10 more horsepower? Really? Not happening.

Anyway, thats just my $.02, if you don't like it, well, either get over it or die mad. :c:

Here's your physics lesson 9412Valve, since you evidently forgot what you claim to have learned:

-1 degree "in" + (whatever you care to calculate for compression) = -1 degree "out"

Like the man says, "it's all relative...." :w2:

Let me know if you need to figure out the oxygen density change per degree Fahrenheit.
Thank Gawd it wasn't .03 or .04, it gets tiring correcting all the misinformation floating around here. :argh:

Yes I'm a powerstroke guy. Cummins are a VERY different motor. Of course I know my truck doesn't have hydroboost; thank God! Although I'm a bit shaded as per the relevance of that loaded question.

The bhaf isn't "cheezy".. it's just the poor mans intake setup. And as somebody said earlier, the bhaf yielded MORE power than the afe for 1/5 the price.

I was exaggerating, I'm glad you realized that, but it doesn't matter if you ICE the incoming air on a turbo diesel; the point is, the second that iced air touches the turbo, it's instantly scorching hot. A "cold air intake" doesn't matter as much on a turbo diesel as much as "a big f*cking intake that draws a large volume of air very efficiently".

You don't have to buy the whole intake very time, just a replacement element, and those are less than the BHAF.
Why doesn't it occur to you that air temperature is a significant factor in this "efficiency" you speak of? Or why almost EVERY AUTOMOBILE, TRUCK, MOTORCYCLE, MOPED, BULLDOZER, ATV, etc, etc, etc, you ever see rolls off the assembly line with an enclosed air filter box or compartment of some kind? Ever wonder why companies like AFE, Banks, et al are making boatloads of money selling the things?

Ever wonder about that? :pca1:

Auto manufacturers dont give a rats ass about cool air, they care about fit and finish, being QUIET, looking proffesional and classy, safe (ZERO possibility of sucking up water or likewise) etc. NOT for more power.

If the stock intakes are so great on cars, why did I get a 3-5mpg increase going with a 6637 in my bone stock 7.3 psd 6spd, over the stock element?


Banks and afe and bullydog make money on their products because of media coverage and advertising. It has nothing to do with a quality product or being the "best".. people see the brand name and think power, reliable, and braggard rights.

If your only purpose for an intake is to create more power, then knock yourself out - go for it!

Good luck doing that sucking in hot under-hood air. :w2:

I like my intake to do everything the vehicle manufacturer intended - and more.

Whatever turns your crank, dude. :hellox:
I never said they were great, I just asked if you ever considered why they were there. Some are good, some suck, but they all do two things: provide the most possible efficiency for the flow they do allow in terms of cooling the intake and protecting the intake from FOD, most notably water ingestion.

I suggest you just install the BHAF any way you like and be done with it. :tu:

Rock on brother :rocking:

But I do appreciate your input in my other threads :c:

wow this thread took one heck of a derail ...

You actually read the whole thing after you saw me posting in it? :tttt:

i did read the whole thing ... mainly because I could not beleive you brought physics into a bhaf air filter thread lol.

Just to throw some more wood on the fire, I'll bet you that your airfilter with your chioce of air box will make less power then my intake pipe with no filter on it :D

You would absolutely win that bet. But let's not debate the merits of doing it one way or the other, how much difference it would make, or if it was worth it one way or the other, depending on your goals for the truck. :s:

BTW, here's some pics of my 1st Gen's BHAF. It's a filter commonly used on the NASCAR circuit, WIX 46433, 625CFM:

http://stuff.is-a-geek.net/PhotoAlbu...cs/CTD_212.jpg
http://stuff.is-a-geek.net/PhotoAlbu...cs/CTD_216.jpg
http://stuff.is-a-geek.net/PhotoAlbu...cs/CTD_217.jpg
http://stuff.is-a-geek.net/PhotoAlbu...cs/CTD_218.jpg
http://stuff.is-a-geek.net/PhotoAlbu...ics/CTD_53.jpg
http://stuff.is-a-geek.net/PhotoAlbu...ics/CTD_54.jpg

cooler air going through the turbo would be better bc its more dense and would be even more dense when compressed, air going to a turbo charger is the same concept as going into a naturally aspirated engine

I understand your "theory".. but the fact is, the turbo will superheat the air anyways. It doesn't matter if the "cold air intake" makes the air temps 5 or even 10* cooler. The turbo heats it right up anyways.

I don't know about you, but my turbo runs boost around 5-7psi cruising down the highway. It's not "superheating" anything under those normal conditions. Even under max boost, the air coming out of it to the intercooler is still the same number of degrees cooler relatively speaking, as it was going in + the compression factor as I already explained.

Sorry you don't get it 85_305. :argh:

Why don't you just admit you're wrong for saying intake air temperature doesn't matter, so we can leave this on the dead thread pile and get on with it?

So just because you are only boosting 5-7 psi cruising down the road your turbo isn't hot? Please tell me that isn't what you are trying to say. What pushes the turbo? The EXHAUST. 5-600* cruising-temperature exhaust. 1200+* wot/towing exhaust. Not cool by ANY stretch of the imagination.

Yes, the intercooler cools the intake charge.. hence the name inter+cooler.