Ford Triton/Modular engine air filter: ranch duty shootout
Hello BITOG! This site has been a great resource to me, and so I feel the time has come for me to repay the community by contributing to the corpus of useful and free information available on the site. Hopefully it will in some way make up for all my badpoasting on the General/Off Topic board.
Today I'm going to do a comparison between two air filters used on the Ford Modular/Triton V8 engine. The filters I will be examining are aftermarket models cross referenced to the Motorcraft FA1632 used on the 4.6L and 5.4L Triton V8 engines found on the Ford F-series trucks from 1997 onwards. The testing will recreate, in laboratory conditions, the tough operating environment of heavy ranch duty, which many of these trucks are called on to perform, day in and day out. I will put forth every effort to make the test rigorous, unbiased, and scientifically sound.
Here are the two contenders side by side:
First up is the offering from FRAM: the ExtraGuard CA8039, which retails for about $25 and is made in the USA.
You may notice a defect in the end of one of the pleats -- it's been damaged and is open. Unfortunately, I didn't check the item in the box before purchasing it. There's a lesson here for all of us.
The FRAM has prominent and abundant glue on the inside, securing the pleats to the cone:
Our second competitor for today is the Pentius UltraFLOW PAB8039, available about $11 online, and made in Korea. The foam base:
The inside of the Pentius. Where the FRAM still has a human touch to it's interior construction, the Pentius appears like it was assembled by a machine:
Let's compare objective measurments and specifications:
Code:
Mfg Mass # of Pleats
------------------------------------
FRAM CA8039: 8.5oz 99
Pentius PAB8039: 8.5oz 86
So the FRAM wins on filter media area.
On to the testing!
To recreate the exact vehicle conditions found in heavy ranch duty, I've elected to use a bottle of a national brand ranch, available in all markets stateside. Said bottle has been in the fridge for quite some time past the expiration date, so rest assured this test will simulate the harsh conditions encountered in real world duty. In addition, this bottle is of peppercorn ranch, among the toughest of the ranches normally encountered. It features prominent black pepper particles in the 1000-1500 micron range, which will be very taxing on the filters in our test.
Ranch specifications, per 8 fl oz:
Energy: 880kcal
Fat: 88g
Sodium (Na): 2080g
Carb: 16g
Each filter will be primed with ~8fl oz of the peppercorn ranch. Filtration activity will be measured at regular time intervals.
Results:
The FRAM of course exhibited a near-immediate critical failure, at the point of the tear in the pleat of the filter media:
To maintain the integrity of the test, the FRAM filter was rotated and testing continued as with an intact filter.
1hr, FRAM:
1hr, Pentius:
After an hour of testing, the Pentius filter is starting to exhibit wavy media. This did not appear to impact the filter's performance.
2hr, FRAM:
2hr, Pentius:
3hr, FRAM:
3hr, Pentius:
Testing was halted after 3 hours as the laboratory staff were becoming increasingly belligerent as the amount of alcohol in their bloodstream increased and the odor of the ranch diffused through the test area.
Final close up, FRAM. Trapped peppercorn partciles are visible:
Final close up, Pentius. No peppercorns or ranch escaped:
Conclusions:
Both filters proved capable at handling the heavy ranch duty. In this case, I don't think Modular V8 engine owners could go wrong with either aftermarket choice, so cost and availability should be the primary factors influencing your purchasing decision. Keep in mind the BITOG air filter change interval credo, "less is more". As the air filter traps more particles, the efficiency increases, enhancing filtration. In the case of this test, after exposure to the tough peppercorn ranch conditions, I am confident that either filter will provide maximum filtration of particulate matter. Once primed with "time on the ranch", either filter will provide superior performance to typical "oiled" performace type filters, as the Xanthan gum matrix left in the ranch residue combined with the soybean oil base provides ideal particulate trapping conditions. K&N may want to take note of this.
If you found this comparison useful, please feel free to repost or link it from any Ford forums you may be members of. Thank you for your time, and enjoy the rest of your April 1st
-LazyPrizm
Hello BITOG! This site has been a great resource to me, and so I feel the time has come for me to repay the community by contributing to the corpus of useful and free information available on the site. Hopefully it will in some way make up for all my badpoasting on the General/Off Topic board.
Today I'm going to do a comparison between two air filters used on the Ford Modular/Triton V8 engine. The filters I will be examining are aftermarket models cross referenced to the Motorcraft FA1632 used on the 4.6L and 5.4L Triton V8 engines found on the Ford F-series trucks from 1997 onwards. The testing will recreate, in laboratory conditions, the tough operating environment of heavy ranch duty, which many of these trucks are called on to perform, day in and day out. I will put forth every effort to make the test rigorous, unbiased, and scientifically sound.
Here are the two contenders side by side:
First up is the offering from FRAM: the ExtraGuard CA8039, which retails for about $25 and is made in the USA.
You may notice a defect in the end of one of the pleats -- it's been damaged and is open. Unfortunately, I didn't check the item in the box before purchasing it. There's a lesson here for all of us.
The FRAM has prominent and abundant glue on the inside, securing the pleats to the cone:
Our second competitor for today is the Pentius UltraFLOW PAB8039, available about $11 online, and made in Korea. The foam base:
The inside of the Pentius. Where the FRAM still has a human touch to it's interior construction, the Pentius appears like it was assembled by a machine:
Let's compare objective measurments and specifications:
Code:
Mfg Mass # of Pleats
------------------------------------
FRAM CA8039: 8.5oz 99
Pentius PAB8039: 8.5oz 86
So the FRAM wins on filter media area.
On to the testing!
To recreate the exact vehicle conditions found in heavy ranch duty, I've elected to use a bottle of a national brand ranch, available in all markets stateside. Said bottle has been in the fridge for quite some time past the expiration date, so rest assured this test will simulate the harsh conditions encountered in real world duty. In addition, this bottle is of peppercorn ranch, among the toughest of the ranches normally encountered. It features prominent black pepper particles in the 1000-1500 micron range, which will be very taxing on the filters in our test.
Ranch specifications, per 8 fl oz:
Energy: 880kcal
Fat: 88g
Sodium (Na): 2080g
Carb: 16g
Each filter will be primed with ~8fl oz of the peppercorn ranch. Filtration activity will be measured at regular time intervals.
Results:
The FRAM of course exhibited a near-immediate critical failure, at the point of the tear in the pleat of the filter media:
To maintain the integrity of the test, the FRAM filter was rotated and testing continued as with an intact filter.
1hr, FRAM:
1hr, Pentius:
After an hour of testing, the Pentius filter is starting to exhibit wavy media. This did not appear to impact the filter's performance.
2hr, FRAM:
2hr, Pentius:
3hr, FRAM:
3hr, Pentius:
Testing was halted after 3 hours as the laboratory staff were becoming increasingly belligerent as the amount of alcohol in their bloodstream increased and the odor of the ranch diffused through the test area.
Final close up, FRAM. Trapped peppercorn partciles are visible:
Final close up, Pentius. No peppercorns or ranch escaped:
Conclusions:
Both filters proved capable at handling the heavy ranch duty. In this case, I don't think Modular V8 engine owners could go wrong with either aftermarket choice, so cost and availability should be the primary factors influencing your purchasing decision. Keep in mind the BITOG air filter change interval credo, "less is more". As the air filter traps more particles, the efficiency increases, enhancing filtration. In the case of this test, after exposure to the tough peppercorn ranch conditions, I am confident that either filter will provide maximum filtration of particulate matter. Once primed with "time on the ranch", either filter will provide superior performance to typical "oiled" performace type filters, as the Xanthan gum matrix left in the ranch residue combined with the soybean oil base provides ideal particulate trapping conditions. K&N may want to take note of this.
If you found this comparison useful, please feel free to repost or link it from any Ford forums you may be members of. Thank you for your time, and enjoy the rest of your April 1st
-LazyPrizm