Hey all,
I was at the local 4X4 store today and he was telling me about the CAI they sell by AEM. My question for you all is, has anyone tried a CAI with a dry filter? He said it gets down to 1 micron filtration, is washable, and won't cause the Mass Air Flow Sensor problems oiled filters tend to cause when they are over oiled. I won't buy the intake from him as his prices are really high ($595 for a leveling kit) but I was intreaged by his sales pitch on the dry filter. Thanks in advance for the help.


John

 

He's right about the CAI but damn what a price for a leveling kit.

 

the aem filter misses much more then factory or the s&b filter....its actually one of the worst on the market in filtering

 

I have a hard time believing that any filter is going to filter down to 1 micron. Aircraft filters only go to 3 microns and they cost thousands (they are oiled similar to K&N btw). Think the guy or the advertisement was blowin smoke. Never cared much for AEM either.

 

I had used an AEM on my last Ranger ('03 S/C 4WD, Jet chip, JBA catback), and was very pleased with the quality and performance. I have now bought one for my F150 too. I bought the second due to my satisfaction with the first one.

 

To follow up with my original post...

I don't have a clue what a micron is but I do have a hard time believe that the stock filters more than aftermarket filters. The only way I could see this is because they don't let **** through the filter, included air for the most part.

 

Not much is going to get through any of the filters. Paper filters restrict almost all particulates, but also restrict airflow. A micron is a unit of measurement that is ridiculously small. As an example, a red blood cell is about ten microns. An oiled filter restricts about the same particulate matter, but lets more air in. The amount of extra crap that gets through an oiled filter is burned off anyhow, but the performance gained through more airflow is noticeable at the pedal. I had to sit through hours off this stuff when we added desert kits to our aircraft. The military uses oiled filters because of the service life and the fact that they can be cleaned and reused. An interesting point is that we ran without filters before. The engines worked better and lasted longer without the filters because they were not sucking in oil, however, it would be bad to run the truck without one.

 

you are referring to fuel and oil filters on aircraft, we, atleast my branch do not use filters on our jet engines...

 

So I'm clear this upgrade I was looking at is an upgrade to the intake not just a filter replacement. The difference is the cone filter in the one I looked at was a dry filter (similar to a shop vac the guy said) instead of an oiled filter. Mr. B are you saying that this system will still restrict airflow and make the CAI upgrade less effective?

Is the mass air flow sensor issue only a problem if you drench the filter in oil or is it really that sensitive to a little too much oil?

 

blackbetty we got the dessert kits for the inlets when we got overseas. Check out the Boing-Vertol website for pics. We are only authorized OCONUS because of a lack of parts, but depending on where you go you may see them. darkstone I am not sure what you are asking me. The guy said it was like a shop vac? That would lead me to think that it is just a regular filter with a fancy pipe. I know that the K & N CAI has the same filter that I have on my truck (which I like a lot), but offers better performance because of the design of the tubing system. I would say that in my experience any CAI is going to boost performance, but I am sold on oiled filters.