Anyone go for a cold air intake yet?

[TheGhost]

An intercooler will not rob the car of power, unless it is improperly sized (thus creating a large pressure drop across the core). Installing one without a tune still provides the vehicle with a better reduction in IAT's than a potentially heat soaked stock unit. A heat soaked stock unit will actually cause the ECU to pull timing and reduce power because it cannot cool the air enough.

The benefit of tuning with a larger/more efficient intercooler is you can then advance the ECU timing to get more power because your delta (the difference in temps across the hot and cold side of the intercooler) is larger due to the better cooling. Advancing the timing increases the power, thus reducing the delta. An effective tune will do so while still maintaining enough of a delta so that the larger intercooler doesn't get heat soaked as well.

In short: without a tune you get lower IAT's, smaller chance of power reduction and a larger delta. With a tune, you get a smaller delta but an increase in power.

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[Oden502]

An intercooler will not rob the car of power, unless it is improperly sized (thus creating a large pressure drop across the core). Installing one without a tune still provides the vehicle with a better reduction in IAT's than a potentially heat soaked stock unit. A heat soaked stock unit will actually cause the ECU to pull timing and reduce power because it cannot cool the air enough.

The benefit of tuning with a larger/more efficient intercooler is you can then advance the ECU timing to get more power because your delta (the difference in temps across the hot and cold side of the intercooler) is larger due to the better cooling. Advancing the timing increases the power, thus reducing the delta. An effective tune will do so while still maintaining enough of a delta so that the larger intercooler doesn't get heat soaked as well.

In short: without a tune you get lower IAT's, smaller chance of power reduction and a larger delta. With a tune, you get a smaller delta but an increase in power.

Thank you. That is helpful. But what I understood from my friend who fix mega intercooler that he lost some HP and TRQ. He dyno before and after and he lost around 25 hp and 32 TRQ.

 

[ctandc]

I am an engineer with Toyota, and cold air intakes are mostly marketing garbage. Improved airflow isn't really a thing since its still getting turbulent as it goes in and out of the turbos.

Most naturally aspirated vehicles also won't benefit from smoother airflow since they take a hard right angle going into the cylinders anyways. In older cars it helped because they had mass air flow sensors, so it "tricked" the sensor into thinking there was more air going into the engine, leaning it out a little, and making very slightly more power.

Modern engines (anything after roughly 2005) use an Intake Air Temperature sensor to modify the fuel mixture based on air density and the vacuum pressure inside of the manifold.

TLDR: cold air intakes don't do anything for improved gas mileage or power in modern engines. They do sound different, and whether that is good or bad is up to you.

I agree with the vast majority of what you posted. The exception I would mention, is the case when you're adding more airflow to higher performance engines IN CONJUNCTION with a custom / dyno tune - especially in the case of vehicles that have inefficient factory airboxes / induction setups. I'll agree this very unlikely to be the case with Broncos as it stands now.

So yeah, if the sound and look are worth it - go for it.

I would like to say, from experience when I had ready access to a dyno, I DID notice VERY slight power improvements using higher airflow OEM filter replacements. In one example, we installed a "Cold Air" intake - a very popular model on a very popular car / engine combo and compared it with just an aftermarket dry air filter replacement. The aftermarket "Cold Air" intake made less power than the filter replacement only.

I will note that I don't buy DRY, aftermarket air filter replacements for power increase. I buy them because they usually flow better than OEM and they don't have to be constantly replaced and GOOD ones can be cleaned easily.

 

[jcgcbns22]

ROUSH cold air intake and exhaust done concurrently. JCG

 

[NM_21Bronco]

I just installed a KN air intake. Is there a market for the OEM air intake or are they considered garbage once you take them out? Hate to throw out the old one if someone could use it

 

[Razorback]

Lol yeah maybe that dual catch can is available maybe in three years. Their products take forever to release. They should spend less time on blog posts/ pictures and more time on actually releasing products. If I get a CAI I'll go with k&n

I've had their dual catch can for a few months now. Still deciding on which air intake (Mishimoto or K&N) and intercooler to go with before Whipple tune. Even at stock boost capturing oil on PCV side and on the CCV side.

 

[PghBronco]

I've had their dual catch can for a few months now. Still deciding on which air intake (Mishimoto or K&N) and intercooler to go with before Whipple tune. Even at stock boost capturing oil on PCV side and on the CCV side.

Personally I like k&n. But I'm also found of matching companies. Run all mishimoto then when the charge pipes come out grab those also

 

[LSU Jonno]

I always wonder if these CAI increase mpg and HP so easily, why don’t the manufacturers make them standard equipment? Sure would be a selling point to claim additional mpg and HP at a negligible cost. BTW, if you do opt to go with a CAI don‘t go with one that claims it doesn’t require a tune. These units always throw codes after install.

Because they don't filter as well, so your engine runs dirtier.

 

[Cl1ckst3r]

Personally I like k&n. But I'm also found of matching companies. Run all mishimoto then when the charge pipes come out grab those also

I just installed the K&N on my 2.3. It definitely feels like there is more low end torque turbo seems to spool more quickly. You can hear all the wonderful turbo noises now!

Yes, you are getting a larger air filter but I think the intake tube is the biggest benefit. When comparing the K&N intake tube to stock--you can see how restrictive the stock intake tube is. Looks like Mishimoto has not released their intake yet, but I am sure their product will provide a less restrictive intake tube. Roush vs. AFe vs. K&N vs. Mishimoto. Roush is slightly cheaper but no intake tube. For performance/MPG benefits, I'd go with one of the others.

I should add that in my first 100 miles I am getting 1MPG increase.

I think my next step will be the K&N charge pipes. Has anyone added charge pipes to their 2.3? I'd be interested in the butt dyno experience. ;-) K&N is claiming 9HP and 11TQ for the charge pipes and they claim 11HP and 10TQ for the intake--which I believe. I wonder if these are additive????

 

[PghBronco]

I just installed the K&N on my 2.3. It definitely feels like there is more low end torque turbo seems to spool more quickly. You can hear all the wonderful turbo noises now!

Yes, you are getting a larger air filter but I think the intake tube is the biggest benefit. When comparing the K&N intake tube to stock--you can see how restrictive the stock intake tube is. Looks like Mishimoto has not released their intake yet, but I am sure their product will provide a less restrictive intake tube. Roush vs. AFe vs. K&N vs. Mishimoto. Roush is slightly cheaper but no intake tube. For performance/MPG benefits, I'd go with one of the others.

I should add that in my first 100 miles I am getting 1MPG increase.

I think my next step will be the K&N charge pipes. Has anyone added charge pipes to their 2.3? I'd be interested in the butt dyno experience. ;-) K&N is claiming 9HP and 11TQ for the charge pipes and they claim 11HP and 10TQ for the intake--which I believe. I wonder if these are additive????

I was thinking charge pipes. I asked a buddy who is more into cars racing and he has this giant diesel ram... Any who. I asked about the pipes and he didn't see any need for them because of the boost on the Bronco. Wouldn't have much benefit? If I were eventually to do this I'd run @Mishimoto pipes. They're still in development at the moment. If you haven't already take a look at their blog about said development.

 

[Lauraleighx3]

I installed my K&N cold air intake a while back right before a road trip. Drove 1200 miles on a road trip with no issues. Then a few days before I was going to be driving home, I got a check engine light with a P04F0 code for EVAP System High Load Purge Line A Performance. I tried once to clear it since it was showing that it was cleared, but it proceeded to come in a day or so later and has been in since.
It looks like all of my Evap lines are connected and tight, but could this be due to something else? I have an oil change scheduled for this week and will have them take a look but figured I'd see if anyone has seen anything following an install of a CAI.

 

[PghBronco]

I watched lethal performance video on the rush intake... I can't flippin belive a bigger filter and lid is around 500 and up.. I don't see how there is any gains oh wait. That roush emblem adds +20HP/TQ

 

[internationlriders]

So I'm into CAIs when they work. I had an AEM one on a Nissan Altima 3.5 about about 7 years ago and it wasn't great, I replaced it with a homemade one with larger tubing and a very large high flow dry filter and it actually made a noticeable difference on initial throttle response and a lot of difference on off the line power, it was easily noticeable with my butt dyno and how easily the car could light up the tires. This car did have headers and a lot of other bolt-ons along with a custom tune though.

Two current cars I have, a Camaro SS and a Mazda MX5 don't gain almost anything from a CAI, maybe a few HP but not at all worth it unless you do forced induction. For example, my Camaro with a CAI and stock NA motor will net around 5-10HP, but with supercharger, the same intake will net an additional 30 wheel HP on top of supercharger gains when used in conjunction. Forced induction engines really like to breath and they breath a lot!

Fast forward to today and I'm always curious about bolt-ons for turbo applications since they usually can free up the most power - because OEM setups are meant to be quiet and environmentally friendly. I've been watching CAIs for the Bronco for a while and nothing caught my eye until yesterday. All the intakes and filters offered till this point have been cosmetic with only the slightest if any performance gains. Yesterday I caught this video shared by the Panda Motorsports team through IG of a Bronco 2.3 with a K&N intake on the dyno. Here is the video:

The dyno results in this video for the 2.3 Bronco show promising results, reduced 0-60 time, and around 25 WHP and 20 TQ gains!

Now if we look to the 2.7 we see great results as well but also very different. Here is the dyno graph I found online showing the 2.7 with just the CAI gains about 17 WHP and 26 TQ! http://kandn.com/dynocharts/63-2619_dyno.pdf

What's interesting is that the 2.3 gains all the power in the top end above 4k RPM while the 2.7 see all the power gain below 4k RPM! This explains why I prefer the 2.7 off road because it has so much more low end grunt without even needing the turbos to spool but nonetheless very neat seeing how the two different powerbands compare.

At this point the only thing holding me back from buying the K&N intake for my 2.7 is because I drive a lot of dusty back roads, from mountain bike shuttling up mountains to getting to the local trails and during summer an OEM dry filter typically lasts me about 5k kms before it's got so much dust it's time to replace. An oil filter would be a mess to deal with in these circumstances while with a dry filter I keep replacements on hand and it's an easy swap.

Hopefully some folks find this info useful and/or interesting.

 

[SLBronco11]

I installed my K&N cold air intake a while back right before a road trip. Drove 1200 miles on a road trip with no issues. Then a few days before I was going to be driving home, I got a check engine light with a P04F0 code for EVAP System High Load Purge Line A Performance. I tried once to clear it since it was showing that it was cleared, but it proceeded to come in a day or so later and has been in since.
It looks like all of my Evap lines are connected and tight, but could this be due to something else? I have an oil change scheduled for this week and will have them take a look but figured I'd see if anyone has seen anything following an install of a CAI.

Hey. I am experiencing the same issue with mine. Did you ever figure out a fix?

 

[Brnzbronc]

Minimal gains if you have the 2.3 maybe 3-5hp 1mpg— if you have the 2.7 there is a little more to gain, intake tubes on those are a bit choked in areas

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