Air Intake Kits ....

[MN_Burbon]

Anybody replaced the stock air intake box with one of these "vortex" kits? You take out the box behind the battery and put in a cone oiled filter with a tube to a circular feed that replaces the Air cleaner?

I have one that I am going to try and put in tonight, just wondered if it was as functional as it appears to be pretty. ;-)

[Steve]

never heard a good word about those. Try it and see if you want. What exactly are you installing, btw?

[MN_Burbon]

Its a Generic Version of this....

http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?Prod=57-3026, there is also another piece they don't show that replaces the stock air filter.

[ellis]

Be careful with some of these generic cone filters. Some may even impede the performance of your engine. Cold Air Intakes helps your engine breathe better for air/fuel mixture. Does the vortex have a heat shield around it, like the K&N? The heat shield helps to keep the intake from sucking in the warm engine air. Warm/hot engine air is not as dense as cold air, therefore you have less air, which means you will get less fuel for combustion. Some of these cone filters might be worst then the stock filters for air flow also. IMO K&N has some of the best air filters out there.

I have a Volant CAI installed and haven't had any problems.
http://www.volantperformance.com/3dkls/iddb/Pictures/15974.jpg

[Steve]

That's totally different than what I was thinking about. I'd be interested in hearing what your results are.

[MN_Burbon]

OK, its done (just the air intake that is). Tough to say whether it made a difference or not. Ran it a little tonight and seems to run as good as ever.

After looking at the OEM setup this HAS to be an improvement from what was there for air flow. Although after reading Ellis's post I am going to put a "heat shield" around it to isolate the draw to cold air only. Thanks for the pointer.

If anybody wants to check it out here are the pics
http://hjalmervik.com/suburban/air_1.jpg (air_2.jpg, air_3.jpg and Air_4.jpg -->notice the CAP A on ONLY the last one) didn't notice that till it was too late to fix it.

[ellis]

MN_Burbon, looks good...you might want to put a plug on the hole you have there (air_3.jpg). Looks like the hole might be for an air flow sensor. Wouldn't want to get any particles or debris into your intake maifold...that could get ugly.

[MN_Burbon]

I was going to check into that today. Wasn't sure what that was for. Thanks Ellis.

[TrailLeadr]

That's not too encouraging that you couldn't see a difference with it on. Maybe you'll see a difference in mileage.

Definately plug that hole.

[MN_Burbon]

Its really hard to say if there is a difference or not, It's running really well right now and I am trying to be objective and not "see things that aren't there" so to speak. While there is not an obvious characteristic change, if I had to say better or worse at this point I'd say better. I stll have to add the heat shield. Either way it was in my opionion $35.00 well spent on Ebay ;-)

[TrailLeadr]

Not a bad price at all. I would say it's worth the shot!
Keep us posted on any improvements

[MN_Burbon]

ok after nearly a week with this intake on and considerable attention to performance while driving. There is definately an improvement in the consistancy of acceleration and overall "smoothness" in that area. I have the whole plugged now and a temp heat shield in place. definately worth $35 in my opinion.

[Dieselburb]

MN_Burbon, for a real noticeable difference upgrade to a performance exhaust to go with the air intake kit. The less restiction the engine has on it the better it will perform and give better fuel economy(lead foot pending). The factory intake and exhaust set-up is way to restrictive, anything you can do to improve it is defenitly worthwhile.
Ron :D

[MN_Burbon]

That is already on the list I am due for a new exhaust just trying to decide what to go with and how to pay for it.

[Steve]

MN_Burbon. Any work on the new exhaust?

[97bigredburban]

wanna see pics of the cai if possible.....i've also been looking at doing this mod also. but i think im gonna go with k&n.

[Steve]

K&N seems to be very popular. I'd like to see what types of results peope are getting in a real world situation.

[84fiero123]

just a note to your filter set up.
back in the early 70's my dad used to flip the air cleaner top upside down to open up more of the filter eliment to the open air in the engine compartment, granted it was right over the engine, but it did allow more air flow,and it did make the old 4 bl sound nice and if my memory serves me,(not so good anymore) it did give a hp and milage increase. depending on how heavey your foot was.
has anyone ever put a snorkle set up on there burb, like the one on the burb in dante's peek? if you want more air and cooler air i would think that would be the way to go. also better for high water crossings. a lot of the mud runners and off roaders up here use then.
just a suggestion

I used to flip the cover of the air cleaner over on my impala. It was a pretty substancial improvement until the engine got hot, then it was sucking hot air in. It sounded really mean too. So I can't say that I had any kind of fuel consumption improvement. Since I was always heavy on the throttle, just so I could hear the roar of the engine. ahh the good ole days, when gas was under $1.00/gal Now I drive like a granny....nothing against granny's.

[Steve]

LOL! I make certain that I never give the throttle too much on a take off. If I have to give a little to the 454 I'm thinking, "man, that just cost me like $.75!"

Yeah, I wouldn't do that with the burban. Actually I did it once, and it was damn loud! I'm certain that I would deafen the people on the side of the road. Not to mention it's freaky to see the fuel gauge needle actually move down, as the engine gulps the gas!

[MN_Burbon]

getting ready to select my exhaust now finally anybody have any great suggestions? Maybe I should make this a new topic.......

[curtolson]

getting ready to select my exhaust now finally anybody have any great suggestions? Maybe I should make this a new topic.......Just purchased a Tornando intake system for my 454 TBI in a 1995. They claim creates a vortec. Now my cut off wheel removed the sides 100% on the air fliter housing. I keep only the bottom the top and two wing nuts.
Trashed the plastic expansion air box and tube that flowed into the air filter housing.
This thing is FREE FLOWING. There is a tube under the housing I keep that feeds into the drives side valve cover. Now This thing sounds like a beast when I hit the gas. No dog here boys. K&n air filter Tornado system nice, but I give most credit to sawing off the sides of the steal air filter housing. Cheap hp increase.

[rcracerx]

I put the K&N FIPKII kit on my 454 Burb, went in smooth no troubles. You have to actually remove the factory airbox and assemble the aftermarket one. It certainly is louder when sucking air, I havent towed with it yet so I cant say for sure if it has any performace benefits yet. My kit looked like this

http://i24.ebayimg.com/01/i/02/ee/bb/43_1_b.JPG

As for gas mileage I dont even try to keep track, when it is in the single digits why bother. :) Again I use this truck for towing and not a daily driver.

Rc

[curtolson]

I put the K&N FIPKII kit on my 454 Burb, went in smooth no troubles. You have to actually remove the factory airbox and assemble the aftermarket one. It certainly is louder when sucking air, I havent towed with it yet so I cant say for sure if it has any performace benefits yet. My kit looked like this

http://i24.ebayimg.com/01/i/02/ee/bb/43_1_b.JPG

As for gas mileage I dont even try to keep track, when it is in the single digits why bother. :) Again I use this truck for towing and not a daily driver.

RcNow I am a simple man but if you add the Circumference of the side walls of the stock round filter housing it is a hell of alot more than a after market K&n cool intake kit. Cut the sides off with a cut off tool and then add in a k&n filter. Its much more total surface area for air intake.The K&N mod still has a tube it limits the flow. Saw that stock wall off look at that flow brother. It sounds like an animal when you step on it.

[Steve]

I put the K&N FIPKII kit on my 454 Burb, went in smooth no troubles. You have to actually remove the factory airbox and assemble the aftermarket one. It certainly is louder when sucking air, I havent towed with it yet so I cant say for sure if it has any performace benefits yet. My kit looked like this

http://i24.ebayimg.com/01/i/02/ee/bb/43_1_b.JPG

As for gas mileage I dont even try to keep track, when it is in the single digits why bother. :) Again I use this truck for towing and not a daily driver.

Rc

That's a pretty cool looking kit. Where did you get yours at?

[dwill3015]

I put a K&N FIPK on my wife's 2001 Suburban w/5.3 liter Vortec and MAN what a difference it made. No hesitation from a stop and when the RPM's are up, it has awesome performance!

[Steve]

... oddly enough this is one of the most active and read threads in the entire history of the website! :-) ...

[L0sts0ul]

Hey guys,

my second post YAY.

ok, heres my 2bits.

I have had mixed reactions when I am using cAI. I have found the following always.

CAI mixed with exhaust (I mean good exhaust not a hack and slash with a cherry bomb for noise) you can get a noticable improvement on an INJECTED Motor. Carbs don't really benefit from CAI very much due to obvious timing, and spark retard reasons.

BUT CAI used with TB injection , and FI work awesomely.

with a carb? flip the lid, and get a taller filter, hot or cold? doesn't really matter to a carb, if you can get cold in there, it will give you more horses just due to the fact that the air is denser and it will combust the fuel better, but if you really want to play with it, increase the gaps on your plug just a little bit, if you are playing with CAI on a carb and see what happens, but remember if you live somewhere hot, when the temp rises too high, you wil get pinging, and possibly other problems.

on my 93, 350, I flipped the lid on teh can, left the air sucker in, and just went 3" header back ( here in edmonton we dont' have to have cat converters, so CYA CAT, and just went with single in single out flowmaster.

This worked for me, just in general, I haven't had the ability to measure mileage, but the arse-dyno says a litle bit more even acceleration.

thanks for reading my long post, and see you soon


Soul