I am thinking of doing a cold air intake (exhaust will be next) and have heard thru various sources that the K&N system is junk. Is that true, and if so, why?

I also did a quick search on E-Bay and there are several various types on there, as if that is a big surprise. But one I seen is just an aluminum tube with a cone filter on the end. Hell, I can build on of them and save about $150. But, is that type of setup dangerous for my motor?

I can imagine as long as there is suffiecient air flow and not too much restriction, there shouldn't be a problem.

Please let me know if I am thinking right on this one and any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

 

Yes you could build one and save yourself a few bucks. That's how it is with everything... I run a tymar setup. You can look it up on riffraff diesels website. Im on my phone so i can't link it for ya. K&n filters aren't that great because most run the drop in style filters and those boxes don't seal great. The tymar system uses a donaldson filter which is a dry filter and its huge. Plenty of airflow with good filtering.

 

Riffraff Diesel: RDP 6637 Filter Kit

All the air you could ever need.

 

That is the price range that I was thinking. I'll look more into this system. What kind of gains did you get with yours?

Those other systems that I was looking at started at $170 and went up. If I was trying to make a show truck out of her it would be worth it, but I rescued her from an oil field worker and just want her to pull like she should and a maybe a little more.

So, the only flaw on the K&N's is the housing set up? There is no issue with the filters themselves pertaining to the PSD?

 

The main issue with the K&N filters was there sealing to the factory box. The filter media is the same type and thickness of AFE, S&B and like.

I dont have the Riffraff intake, however I know many that do. No intake is going to give you anymore HP or TQ. The factory set up flows more then enough for the stock injectors.

Its a building block for more mods, but it will not give you any noticable increase.

 

I do understand how just the intake will not make HP ot TQ,but I do plan on making a few more mods to complete the minimal upgrade.
The reason why I was looking into the cold air if because of the breathability. I do plan on upgrading the down pipe & exhaust and therefore an increase in the air infow couldn't hurt.

I figure the turbo is just like a motorcycle. You can't open the pipes without opening the throat. Without doing both just defeats the purpose of just opening the pipes.

Mainly, I will be doing the few small & cheaper mods, replacing some old & worn out parts, and would love to hear what I can do cheaply to do this. The truck has a hard 250K miles on her and don't want to go too far until I feel comfortable with sticking some good money into her.

The $70 CAI would compliment the exhaust I am going to put on, but if I can do it cheaper by doing home made... Just wanted to insure that doing a home made "straight" pipe with a filter on the end wouldn't hurt the motor.

I do plan on getting a 6 position switch for her too in the future and that will probably be the extent of the mods except for little tinkerings that I can do.

Love all the input, thanks for the responses.

Just curious, what is the fuel pressure supposed to be at the schroeder at idle and above? I was going to check what pressure it is but never got around to it. With this many miles, I do want to see if my FPR is getting weak and needs a BB in it

 

Anywhere from 50-70psi is fine.

 

Like Joe said, 50-70 psi at idle is ideal...

 

I just haven't gotten down to buy a tire gauge (to ruin testing fuel) and that is why I don't know the current pressure.

If the pressure is low, what kind of boost can I expect to get from the BB trick? Keep in mind, if the pressure is good, I don't plan on doing that mod. Last think I wannnt to do is over pressure and damage something

 

With the K&N filters, I just heard the oil for the filters will plug up sensors on the motor. It doesn't make sense due to: Intake thru turbo to compression where one would think it would burn up.

Is this a problem with the early powerstrokes and K&N filter oil?