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Air Intake Kits ....

6291 Views 28 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  L0sts0ul
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. ;-)
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never heard a good word about those. Try it and see if you want. What exactly are you installing, btw?
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.
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.
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That's totally different than what I was thinking about. I'd be interested in hearing what your results are.
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.
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.
I was going to check into that today. Wasn't sure what that was for. Thanks Ellis.
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.
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 ;-)
Not a bad price at all. I would say it's worth the shot!
Keep us posted on any improvements
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.
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
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.
MN_Burbon. Any work on the new exhaust?
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.
K&N seems to be very popular. I'd like to see what types of results peope are getting in a real world situation.
filter

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
G
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.
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!"
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