Intake mod for 2019 TB 5.3L?

[SquireSCA]

Question...  I did the Airaid JR MIT intake kit, along with my muffler and exhaust flapper delete.

 

I was wondering... The Airaid MIT gives better flow from the airbox to the manifold, and the supplied filter which is a K&N might flow a little more air...

But what about that snorkel that the airbox has to breath through?  Is that a restriction point?

I look at one of my bikes, a Triumph Bonneville Street Cup... The airbox has one of those intake snorkels that are to reduce intake noise, and removing actually produces a bit more power, verified on the dyno...

Anyone do this?  Remove that snorkel, or make a hole in the bottom of the airbox to allow more air in?  On my 2018 Silverado, I pulled the airbox out and on the side facing the inner fender, that it breathes through, I removed the plate that restricted it and forced it to breath through the small hole, and basically tripled the size of the opening and reinstalled it.

 

Worth doing on this newer truck, or just wasting my time?

[SquireSCA]

Was thinking I could drill a hole in the bottom with a simple hole saw... Try it out, if I don't like it I can simply close it back up with a rubber grommet, or take a square of plastic and just epoxy it in place...

[SquireSCA]

Soooo, nobody has tried this or even has any thoughts on it?

[bdsilverado]

I just don't think the 2hp increase is worth ever sucking up the wrong thing like a ton of dust in the summer when going down dirt roads. These trucks arent free. 

[SquireSCA]

21 minutes ago, bdsilverado said:

I just don't think the 2hp increase is worth ever sucking up the wrong thing like a ton of dust in the summer when going down dirt roads. These trucks arent free. 

Probably a good point...  Hmmm...

[wizard4878]

I think you have to think about risk vs reward.   How much hp do you expect to get?  If it's not a fairly large amount,  like 25 or more,  you aren't likely to "feel" the difference anyway. (I assume your not racing it for cash), so is the mod worth the possibility of major issue's down the road.  If you don't plan to keep it more than a year or 2,  then it maybe worth trying...

[SquireSCA]

4 minutes ago, wizard4878 said:

I think you have to think about risk vs reward.   How much hp do you expect to get?  If it's not a fairly large amount,  like 25 or more,  you aren't likely to "feel" the difference anyway. (I assume your not racing it for cash), so is the mod worth the possibility of major issue's down the road.  If you don't plan to keep it more than a year or 2,  then it maybe worth trying...

That's kinda why I was wondering, if someone had done it already and seen whether it made a difference or not...

I don't spend a lot of time tuning and tweaking cars/trucks... Bikes, are my addition...  My slow bike, the Triumph, many of them pick up 3 or 4hp from removing the intake snorkel...  That doesn't sound like much of an increase, but when the motor only starts at 50hp at the wheel, that's actually a significant increase...  Doing the cam, and deleting the cat and tuning it, took us from 50hp to 64hp... and at 7000rpm there is a 20hp increase....

Now, I don't expect a snorkel to add 6-8% in power to a truck motor, but I figured it was worth asking the question...  A lot of time they do heavily restrict intakes for noise reduction, and "uncorking" them, when coupled with things like a better flowing filter, less restrictive intake tube, removing of the muffler and flapper... maybe then the choke point becomes that little tiny opening that leads to the airbox?

[RaisedByWolves]

6 hours ago, SquireSCA said:

That's kinda why I was wondering, if someone had done it already and seen whether it made a difference or not...

I don't spend a lot of time tuning and tweaking cars/trucks... Bikes, are my addition...  My slow bike, the Triumph, many of them pick up 3 or 4hp from removing the intake snorkel...  That doesn't sound like much of an increase, but when the motor only starts at 50hp at the wheel, that's actually a significant increase...  Doing the cam, and deleting the cat and tuning it, took us from 50hp to 64hp... and at 7000rpm there is a 20hp increase....

Now, I don't expect a snorkel to add 6-8% in power to a truck motor, but I figured it was worth asking the question...  A lot of time they do heavily restrict intakes for noise reduction, and "uncorking" them, when coupled with things like a better flowing filter, less restrictive intake tube, removing of the muffler and flapper... maybe then the choke point becomes that little tiny opening that leads to the airbox?

I have a 20 AT4 so our airboxes are on different sides and Im not sure where the intake for your box is.

 

On mine there is an intake under the hood on the top of the radiator cowling that lets it breathe cool air. Putting a hole in the bottom of the airbox would let it take in air from the engine compartment which is going to be hot most likely and heat soak everything.

 

Id say its a tossup as to performance but will lower the fording ability a bit.

Edited January 6, 2020 by RaisedByWolves

[SquireSCA]

33 minutes ago, RaisedByWolves said:

I have a 20 AT4 so our airboxes are on different sides and Im not sure where the intake for your box is.

 

On mine there is an intake under the hood on the top of the radiator cowling that lets it breathe cool air. Putting a hole in the bottom of the airbox would let it take in air from the engine compartment which is going to be hot most likely and heat soak everything.

 

Id say its a tossup as to performance but will lower the fording ability a bit.

Mine is on the driver side, and the intake tube is up top, above the radiator like yours...

I like where it is because it keeps it out of the water, but in looking at that hole, it does look restrictive, and it is, for noise control...

[redwngr]

12 hours ago, SquireSCA said:

That's kinda why I was wondering, if someone had done it already and seen whether it made a difference or not...

I don't spend a lot of time tuning and tweaking cars/trucks... Bikes, are my addition...  My slow bike, the Triumph, many of them pick up 3 or 4hp from removing the intake snorkel...  That doesn't sound like much of an increase, but when the motor only starts at 50hp at the wheel, that's actually a significant increase...  Doing the cam, and deleting the cat and tuning it, took us from 50hp to 64hp... and at 7000rpm there is a 20hp increase....

Now, I don't expect a snorkel to add 6-8% in power to a truck motor, but I figured it was worth asking the question...  A lot of time they do heavily restrict intakes for noise reduction, and "uncorking" them, when coupled with things like a better flowing filter, less restrictive intake tube, removing of the muffler and flapper... maybe then the choke point becomes that little tiny opening that leads to the airbox?

It's also on a 500 lb bike, rather than a 5000 lb truck...

[SquireSCA]

12 hours ago, redwngr said:

It's also on a 500 lb bike, rather than a 5000 lb truck...

Yeah, but let's say it was effective on the truck... 4% is 4%...  It would scale a bit...  But I agree, the chances of it making a 30hp difference are probably small...

Although, American Trucks has posted videos of before and after dyno runs of some of the products, like tunes or Airaid MIT's and if legit, the gains are there, and they seem significant...  I would imagine that with all the crap the gubment demands of truck makers for noise and emissions, there is a lot of restrictions on these things...

That intake up above the radiator, while nice and high and out of the way, does seem kinda small... Hence why I thought maybe opening it up might help...

[RaisedByWolves]

3 hours ago, SquireSCA said:

Yeah, but let's say it was effective on the truck... 4% is 4%...  It would scale a bit...  But I agree, the chances of it making a 30hp difference are probably small...

Although, American Trucks has posted videos of before and after dyno runs of some of the products, like tunes or Airaid MIT's and if legit, the gains are there, and they seem significant...  I would imagine that with all the crap the gubment demands of truck makers for noise and emissions, there is a lot of restrictions on these things...

That intake up above the radiator, while nice and high and out of the way, does seem kinda small... Hence why I thought maybe opening it up might help...

It does seem a bit small and if I do a CAI I might look into it.

 

 I would think something like a pedal commander would get you more useful throttle input for everyday driving.