I received my AFE kit yesterday and installed it. This is a very easy install...took me about 30 minutes. The kit is very well made, imo. You can tell a lot of time was put into the development of the kit.
Things I like:
HUGE inverted top filter. I calculated the sq area at around 179 sq in....more than enough for a 341 cu in motor....even with a SC. This filter is good for over 1000 cfm. The inlet boot is 4 3/8" i.d. Base = 8.5", Top=6.25", Length = 6.25". Inverted top inlet accounts for about 25 sq in of the 179 total sq area. The pleats are wide and deep, and AFE uses an oil that is more MAF-friendly than the K&N, supposedly. Unlike the K&N oil, it contains no sticky surfacant, which is what can cause the oil to stick MAFs, and possibly cause failures. I believe the owner of AFE worked for K&N for some time, according to an aquaintance.
Inlet tube tapers from filter inlet at 102 mm to 80 mm at mid-pipe, to 75mm at TB inlet. This should give better velocity than a tube with consistent i.d. throughout.
Kit incorporates a factory style reso chamber which in testing from AFE, and my own research on the web, has shown an increase in low-end torque. It also does some noise cancellation as well.
Exit tube from heat shield is flange-bolted, so no leakage. Also, the shield re-uses the factory rubber isolators for mounting which helps with noise isolation from vibration. It also re-uses the oe box upper mount hole by the ABS unit.
Heat shield has a lid, which helps keep most of the engine heat out, and helps with noise.
TB inlet tube fits (barely) with the Airaid TBS....no cutting of tube or boot required. I have maybe 1/8" of clearance to radiator.
Better performance than my Volant. Butt-o-mometer says more power throughout the power band. My scan tool verified this. I ran three 0 - 80 runs with the Volant. Max MAF reading was 26 lbs/min (356 cfm) at 5400 rpm. Installed the AFE and ran same test, again, three runs. Max MAF reading was 31.08 lbs/min (425 cfm), a difference of 70 cfm.
Don't like:
Not a true CAI like Volant or factory box. So, increased cfm may be offset somewhat by higher IAT's. Need to do some testing to see how much it is affected.
Slight vibration at 2800 rpm....haven't had time to check problem. I don't think it's gonna be a big deal, though.
Pics:
__________________
'04 Smoke XE CC, 4X4 w/ Preferred Package. Born on 9/16/04
Performance Mods:
aFe Magnum Force Stage II Intake
Flowmaster/Borla XS American Thunder *Hybrid* Exhaust System w/ MF dual tips
Rear Cat Delete--Replaced w/ Dynomax Bullet Resos
Mobile One everywhere except tranny
Airaid TB Spacer
TB Coolant Shut-Off
Active Tuning Grounding Kit Int/Ext Mods:
SE Pwr Mirror Upgrade
Factory Step Rails
17" OR Wheels
SE Sunvisors Upgrade
20% Window Tint
THANK YOU ROCKY! Looks like this is the intake I am going to go with. Now to save up for a few weeks and Ill place my order. Do I have the green light? lol Cheers- Chris
THANK YOU ROCKY! Looks like this is the intake I am going to go with. Now to save up for a few weeks and Ill place my order. Do I have the green light? lol Cheers- Chris
I think you'll be happy with it! I still need to spend some time with this kit installed before I can officially sign off on it....but short-term impressions are good!
Performancediesel.com out of Houston... they had it for $299/shipped. Their site lists it for $316 now, though. Call Brian direct (great guy), see if he'll honor the $299 price. I think got_titan found it at sparkplugs.com for $295 plus shipping.
Very nice!! The cone filter appears to have more surface area than the Volant.
The Volant has 120 sq in of surface area, which will flow about 720 cfm, so should be more than adequate. A 341 (5.6L) cu in motor will flow a max of 592 cfm @ 6K rpm, and that's at 100% VE, which of course is much more than our motors pull.
More surface area will allow for a longer period before the media loads up. I may get the pre-filter ($35...ouch!) for it if my silicon levels come back high on my next oil analysis. Also, with the combination of the inverted top in close proximity to the fender opening, and the radiused "velocity stack" inside the filter exit, the motor shouldn't have to work as hard to pull the air it needs.
does having an aftermarket CAI give you any exra MPG?
I doubt it, anything that claims more HP certainly cannot give you more MPG. I just install a AEM intake, saw worst milage yet (but it was my fault, trying to see what the thing can do)
__________________ Titan/Armada Part Numbers
AEM intake, Banks exhaust, Up Rev tuned. Detroit Truetrac
305.5 WHP, 370.4 ft/lbs tq
Wow Rocky, nice work. Seriously thinkin about trashing the K&N and shellin out for the aFe. The only thing going for it is that it's slightly better than stock and the polished tube looks cool, but who cares, it's under the hood. BTW, what sort of work do you do? Sounds like you definitely have some fluid flow experience. Are you some sort of engineer(mechanical, automotive, miracle worker...)?
...Sounds like you definitely have some fluid flow experience.....
I had some too today after my burrito
But seriously, glad to see someone take the plung on the afe. I'm really likin this one compared to the others I've seen. My reason is it just seems more thoroughly thought out, with the flang on the heat shield and the resonator box to the inverted filter. Just seems more complete compared to the other kits. Could all be just for show but I'm a convinced.
__________________
KMC ROCKSTARS 18X9 0 OFFSET 5.5" OF BACKSPACING
TIRES NITTO TERRA GRAPPLER 325/60/18
2" LEVELING KIT WITH PINCHWELD MOD.
Last edited by dragonhead08 : 09-22-2005 at 01:35 PM.
I'll be happy to offer my opinion by the end of the weekend. I should have mine received and installed by then... I'll have my 9 and 7 year old daughter "helpers" so they may slow me down a bit.
Of course it will be more of a plain jane butt-o-meter evaluation. The last time I analyzed oil was when I made some fried chicken that tasted funky
Thanks for the detailed info Rockymt!!!
I have a buddy that is a fluid dynamics engineer for a NASCAR Team. You and he could have a conversation over a beer that would make me fall over with my eyes rolling back in my head from buffer overflows
__________________
'05 Loaded LE, off road, big tow, preferred package, utilitrack, overhead racks, captains chairs, DVD for my girls and Nav for my girlfriend
09-21-2005, 03:47 PM
Linear Mode
