Review: Cold Air Inductions Intake for 2014+ Silverado/Sierra

[okfoz]

Here is the thing about CAI... I have been thinking about this, and maybe I am wrong. But facts are facts, so follow me.

For the most part 3MPG or even 1MPG at 70 mph seems huge... At speed of about 55-70mph most cars use about 40hp and trucks use maybe around 50-60 hp to keep at speed (on flat ground). At this speed your engine should be revving about 2000 RPM as that seems to be what most manufacturers aim for as the most economical/HP blend point in the engine performance. Obviously a better breathing engine would reduce the amount of energy required to suck in the air, as lower restrictions would "free up" HP to save fuel and use it elsewhere... Here is the thing, if you are running your engine at WOT in 2nd gear at 55mph, the amount of reduction of restriction created by a CAI would probably make a difference. When you consider that your engine can breathe in 3x more air at 6000 RPM, I highly suspect that any amount of restriction within a stock CAI at 2000RPM is minimal. It is the difference between rolling an apple and an orange down a hill, there probably is not a measurable difference between the two. But you take that apple and take that orange, when you step on them they react differently...

 

Obviously restrictions in your air intake will cause a power loss, just put your hand over the intake and you can slow or stop your engine, so having a clean air cleaner is important.

 

A few years back I have a friend who was into tuning the LS1 4th Gen Camaros and Firebirds, and he was telling me that when they put the K&N filter on those cars, his 1/4 mile times fell off for some reason. It was counter intuitive to him and everyone else, but he runs a clean stock paper filter and performs better. If I remember, His thought was that although the K&N flowed better, it did not distribute the airflow over the MAF properly for it to get an accurate reading and caused a slight loss in power. It was the only speculation tho...

 

In short, for spirited driving, a CAI helps with performance, but to expect to save money with a gain of even 3mpg, even at $5.00/ Gallon you will sell the vehicle to regain that investment. Do it for the power, don't expect mpg gains... That is my 2 cents.

[mike49024]

Okfoz, I agree with most of this post. To elaborate, the reason you will not see any mpg gains is because, assuming the old intake is more restrictive, it just acts as a throttling device at part throttle. At cruise speeds you engine already has a HUGE restriction that is by design and necessary - the throttle. Without it your engine would make full power.

 

So with less restriction before the throttle plate might cause the throttle plate to be closed slightly more at cruise, in the end it doesn't matter because it's the same amount of air entering the engine. And in a closed loop system the same amount of fuel is used. Even though the throttle is a little more closed, the amount of air and fuel used is the same which results in the same mpg.

 

It's similar to thinking "if I use a bigger throttle body, I will get better mileage because the throttle is closed more at cruise".

 

That is not true. But yes, it can increase power at WOT in some cases, as can a cai.

 

I completely agree with the air filter comment. On my modded ls1 I actually made more power on a dyno with a paper filter doing back to back runs against a k&n.

 

My engineering professors and engine builders that I had talked with had all already told me all this, but I didn't believe it based on all the false information I read in marketing materials and on the Internet. I didn't learn it (and agree with them) until I had tried it for myself. In the same way I don't expect to change people's mind with this post, but as you state, facts are facts.

 

People believe what they want to believe, especially when it involves feeling good about the money they spent/plan to spend.

[mtbadbob]

I would say that the air filter difference is due too less restrictions from a cheaper paper filter. K&N may filter better, but it's restricting air flow because of it. Also, if anyone oils their filter, they are insane. Oil attracts dirt & those two combined restrict air flow. I also learned air flow characteristics while dyno-ing my motorcycle. I gained 1.25 hp & about 1 ft lb tq. without my airbox under the same conditions.

[okfoz]

The K&N is supposed to be less restrictive, they have those little displays at the local auto parts store where you can turn on a fan and see the differences on how high the ball floats. So K&N filters are less restrictive, but the question remained to why it was not necessarily a benefit.

[Thomcat]

 

And you never will if you measure it accurately. No stock engine made in the last 30 years is limited in any way by the amount of available air. If they were, then the manufacturers would very very easily slap on a more porous air cleaner or some other forced air system and magically "gain 3 mpg" and "gain 10 hp" and "gain 10 ft/lbs", etc. CAI's are a proven crock, for the most part.

I also disbelieved the skeptics when they claimed my Schwinn wouldn't gain another 3% footpower when I clothes pinned baseball cards to the fork to get a cool noise from the wheel spokes and magically made it go faster, but at the time I would swear it made it go faster!

 

Wasn't until my '69 Camaro 302 R/S that I learned the difference between power based noise and noise for the sake of noise. A CAI gives you the latter by chucking out the OEM induction system's noise quieting Helmholtz resonator air box. The last reusable air filter I had that required oil was the oil bath filter assembly atop the 210 in my '53 Bel Air, but then again it used a 1bbl carb instead of a modern induction system equipped with quieting Helmholtz resonators and a paper element designed to prevent crap -including microfine oil vapor discharged from a reusable filter element - from screwing up the downstream MAF sensor. And $400 plus any money saved on cleaning or replacing MAF sensors if you over-oil, can buy enough air filters to last over a million miles - the quiet is free.

[Delta Hotel]

I would say that the air filter difference is due too less restrictions from a cheaper paper filter. K&N may filter better, but it's restricting air flow because of it. Also, if anyone oils their filter, they are insane. Oil attracts dirt & those two combined restrict air flow. I also learned air flow characteristics while dyno-ing my motorcycle. I gained 1.25 hp & about 1 ft lb tq. without my airbox under the same conditions.

 

MTBadBob,

 

THAT is precisely how a gauze (K&N style) filter works.

 

Without the oil, the dirt, especially fine dirt, would pass clear thru the fabric and very little would be caught by the filter.

 

Paper (dry) filters similar to OEM, trap more fine small microns sized grit, but are more restrictive as a result.

They rely on a tighter filter mesh for filtering.

 

No, I do not work for K&N.

 

[Dnt]

I installed the Cold Air Inductions CAI on my 2016 6.2 the sound at anything over 1/2 throttle combined with GM Borla exhaust is pure sweet music. I cannot vouch for which change from the stock setup upped the mpg but here is a pic of over a 400 mile drive where you can see that something is up! Only other things are a bedcover and I am running a Hypertech but it is ONLY being used to turn off AFM below 55 mph I do usually run 93 octane. I guess I could swap everything back and do an experiment just to satisfy everyone's curiosity???? NAH FORGET THAT I like the truck exactly the way it is LOL

[Nargg]

 

We beat Amazon by a good amount

http://shop.mrtmotorsports.net/airaid/airaid-modular-intake-tube/200985/i-2039786.aspx

 

Impressive, wish I'd bought from you.

 

Just as a side note, I removed my tube. I found an annoying droning sound occurred at certain highway conditions. I'd prefer the droning from a new muffler system. The droning from this tube was annoying. Other than louder engine noises, I found very little other improvements overall. Seems to me that some good engineering shop could make a tube with a slight amount of baffling to improve sound even more and still get better results. Kind of between the GM baffle tube and a straight tube design. Oh well.

[MRTMotorsports]

 

Impressive, wish I'd bought from you.

 

Just as a side note, I removed my tube. I found an annoying droning sound occurred at certain highway conditions. I'd prefer the droning from a new muffler system. The droning from this tube was annoying. Other than louder engine noises, I found very little other improvements overall. Seems to me that some good engineering shop could make a tube with a slight amount of baffling to improve sound even more and still get better results. Kind of between the GM baffle tube and a straight tube design. Oh well.

 

 

I know the sound, its worse during towing! On rides we are trying to add power to but keep quite, such as the Escalades or Yukons we wrap the tubes in Thermo-Tec. Its like Dynamat for the engine bay. Keeps the heat out, kills the drone and vibrations.

 

I installed the Cold Air Inductions CAI on my 2016 6.2 the sound at anything over 1/2 throttle combined with GM Borla exhaust is pure sweet music. I cannot vouch for which change from the stock setup upped the mpg but here is a pic of over a 400 mile drive where you can see that something is up! Only other things are a bedcover and I am running a Hypertech but it is ONLY being used to turn off AFM below 55 mph I do usually run 93 octane. I guess I could swap everything back and do an experiment just to satisfy everyone's curiosity???? NAH FORGET THAT I like the truck exactly the way it is LOL

IMG_2880.JPGIMG_2881.JPGIMG_2882.JPG

 

 

 

Damn, 25mpg is quite impressive. I wish my truck made that (I get like 12)

[dasimmon]

All great info. Love this place

[MRTMotorsports]

All great info. Love this place

 

Agreed! We love it here.

[Morpheus]

What I know about CAI is that what you are gaining is by making a less restrictive and streamlined air flow from your air box to the throttle body. A lot of people make a mistake in buying CAI by just having a cone filter with no blocking medium from the heat that's accumulated under the hood. The intake in the original post looks decent. Whether or not their claims are true, you will get a 2-3 degree reduction in the air coming in and a direct flow to the motor with that intake just looking at the insulation and set up with the air box. My only complaint would be the metal tube. I would prefer plastic just based on a better resistance to heat transfer as opposed to metal. On my old truck, I had an Air Raid tube and got the mesh filter and it was awesome. I think for the $$, the Air RAID is the Best Buy. There should be no reason to spend $450 on a CAI in my opinion though. If you break it down per gains received, you're wasting your money. Air raid is the way to go in my opinion. You can modify your current air box by insulating it if you like but your main gains are from the direct flow to your engine.

[mike67naz]

Question on the CAI setup. Are the vacuum hoses on the coupler fixed or removable? I ask because I am running a catch can and will not be attaching directly to the motor. 2016 5.3L.

[Cold Air Inductions]

 

I installed the Cold Air Inductions CAI on my 2016 6.2 the sound at anything over 1/2 throttle combined with GM Borla exhaust is pure sweet music. I cannot vouch for which change from the stock setup upped the mpg but here is a pic of over a 400 mile drive where you can see that something is up! Only other things are a bedcover and I am running a Hypertech but it is ONLY being used to turn off AFM below 55 mph I do usually run 93 octane. I guess I could swap everything back and do an experiment just to satisfy everyone's curiosity???? NAH FORGET THAT I like the truck exactly the way it is LOL

IMG_2880.JPGIMG_2881.JPGIMG_2882.JPG

 

Glad to hear that you like our system! Thank You!!

[Erion109]

Anyone give this a shot on the 4.3?