I was talking with someone I met over the weekend who is a mechanic for Ford about installing an intake kit on my 08 F150 5.4L, and what his recommendation would be. He stated that, because of the design of the stock breather assembly on the Ford trucks - that the air is already pulled from the wheel well and dumped directly onto the filter/manifold, adding a CAI would not really justify the cost. He stated that using a higher-flow drop-in filter, such as K&N, would basically do the same thing for me as a complete CAI, as any increase in performance due to installing a CAI would be minimal...as they are basically the same design as the stock intake (except for filter being on other end of tube assembly).

After looking at the stock setup, what he is saying makes sense, but i would like some additional feedback. I don't care about the sound from a CAI, I am only interested in performance - mostly MPG - improvements from spending $300-400 for a CAI. Any constructive feedback would be appreciated.

 

i did the Gotts intake mod on both my 07s. It still allows air to come in from the fender wells. Total cost was under $10.00 versus $300.00 + for a CAI. I did notice a seat of my pants difference in preformance and about 0.5 mpg increase. Save your money and look into the Gotts mod.

 

just read about this mod - while i just installed a whipple, i was curious do you have to worry about peices of plasted pvc flaking into the intake, i guess you wouldn't because its before the air filter...what ya think?

 

What's a "whipple"?

 

A whipple is a brand of Supercharger.

 

nah the filter would definitely catch any pieces of pvc. id say gotts mod + high flow filter is at least as good as a CAI. most CAI's take in the engine bay air anyway dont they? they may have slightly higher airflow but i just dont get how engine bay air could be considered colder air than air from the fender well.

 

the greatest brand of s/c's there is!!! cant wait to go whipple!!

 

I can tell you i noticed a diffrence after installing mine. so it does make a diffrence.

 

usafirefird, what did you switch from? was it completely stock before you got the CAI or did you have an aftermarket filter/gotts mod/etc?

 

it was stock before the CAI was put on