Hey people, I was thinking of either taking the whole air box off or just taking the top off to get that "wosssh" noise and possibly gain hp. What are your thoughts? Would I get that noise? Would I gain hp or decrease due to warmer air?

 

I played around with my air box on my old 2002 truck and really never noticed any difference besides the noise. You could hear it sucking air on hard acceleration. Personally I don't even think the expensive "Cold Air" kits make a difference that is noticeable. Just my .02 cents.

 

Okay, well im just going to try it out, take off the whole air box. I know you think it doesn't make a difference but, do you think it will increase or decrease hp?

 

It depends on what is done, but from the limited research that I have done it seems like even the items that increase HP only do so at very high RPM's where the average driver really doesn't spend much or any time. Also the average person will not be able to feel a couple horsepower difference. I think 99% of the time the person WANTS there to be a difference so bad (because they just dropped a few hundred dollars) that they convince themselves there is a difference. I had a friend that literally bought just about every quick bolt on there was for his 94 Chevy truck - CAI, Throttle Body & Injector Spacer, MSD, Headers and full exhaust, Edelbrock TBI Intake, and more that I can't think of right now. I drove his truck and it didn't feel any different than my stock 1995 truck. Now it might have if I manually shifted it at 5000 RPM, but who does that. I also did a few mods to my 2002 HD truck trying to get it to tow better...in the end I sold it and bought a big block truck and now I am happy towing.
In your case it sounds like you want to do some experimenting and I am all for that, but just don't set your expectations to high. I did a homemade CAI on my HD and it sounded cool huffing all that air, but it didn't increase the performance any. Good Luck!

 

Well thanks for the input man! I'll make a response on what I think about it, if theirs any difference.

 

I just read over my last response and didn't want to give the impression that I feel there aren't ways to increase HP. Just all the (what I consider) gimmick bolt-on's are just that a gimmick that WILL do what they claim but they leave out the part that you need to rev you engine to 5000 to realize it. I am talking about the CAI, Drop in Filters, TB Spacers, Injector Spacers, Fancy Spark Plugs, and items like the Tornado. To me these are all a waist of money that make these companies millions of dollars. Maybe I am just jealous that I didn't think of them. Just wanted to clarify. Have fun and let us know what you come up with. Maybe you will be the next millionaire!

 

IMO, the main reason for modifying the intake is to smooth out the flow of air, as you do with the exhaust putting mandrel bent piping. Smoothing out the flow of air will increase throttle response. Its all a combonation of things. If you do this, run a cooler t-stat and upgrade the cooling system to some e-fans. Opening the air box will not really give more power. Autozone sells a kit off the shelf for $149. This gives a little more low end. I noticed it takes less throttle to get it goin on a cruise in the city. Trust me, modifying the stock air box does not increase power. My set up is a cone filter and the air only runs 10 degrees warmer under the hood than what it is outside. My proof, my Scan Gauge shows while im driving.

 

Yeah, im thinking of just putting a K&N filter on the stock OEM. Since the stock filter isn't meant to be open to the engine bay. But the K&N is meant to be open to the engine bay and block off dirt, dust, etc.

 

Wouldn't that basically be like having a K&N kit? Cause I also took off the Air Box Silencer (which was just a empty black box that sat on top, connected to the OEM, with the word "Vortec" on it).

 

If you want a CAI... I found 1 on Ebay for like 60 dollars....
I notivced a difference in performance after I had my exhaust done and then put my CAI on. And my MPG increased a bit too... on the highway that is.