Cold air intake - 2000 F150 4.6 V8 ?

Status
Not open for further replies.

DR1

Joined
Aug 17, 2014
Messages
749
Location
Florida
I know the term the best....is frowned upon,but is there one cold air intake that it better than any of the others for my 2000 F150 4.6 V8 4x2 auto trans. ext cab? Do these actually work?
 
Last edited:
you are going to put a hot air intake? I bet the engine cant use all the air the stock intake can provide. Might sound meaner though.
 
I was a mechanic at a Honda dealer eons ago. I've seen them from time to time. They didn't add any power but they did add noise.
 
The best cold air intake for a 10th gen F150 is the OEM intake. It pulls air from the fender well, outside the engine compartment.

Some will do the "Gotts mod" where the intake enters the fender well to make it larger, but it is mainly a sound thing, no proof of any more power from it.

I have seen some take the tubing section from an aftermarket intake and adapt it to the OEM filter and inlet to smooth out the airflow and change the sound, but again, no proof that it does anything at all except make your wallet lighter.
 
Pick one that looks good to you and doesn't cost much. There will be absolutely no performance gains either way. On some vehicles, removing the stock airbox and replacing with a short ram or CAI can make the engine bay much nicer looking and accessible. I doubt it's the case with an F-150, but my '01 Civic's airbox and intake silencer assembly were together bigger than the entire engine. I got rid of that mess real quick. I put on the cheapest eBay intake tube I could find (for my application, they were all the same from $40 - $400). Didn't add power, mpg, or sound (nor did it hurt anything) but I don't have to remove all that stuff just to do the simplest things now.

If you do decide to go that route, make sure you get a good quality air filter. I like AEM DryFlows.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Yup, the one Ford put on your truck in 2000.


+1

It won't do anything except maybe add some noise. Maybe.

Put the money you would spend on an intake into tune-up parts such as spark plugs, replacement air filter, etc, and you will likely see better results.
 
I looked into cold air intakes for my FXT not long after I bought it and was puzzled to find that most of them drew air from the engine compartment...how is that cold??
As I read more, it seemed like a different sound was probably all I would get out of it. I like it that my car is fairly quiet, can't imagine wanting a really loud one to be honest. I'm sort of jealous of my wife's car, it's a bit quicker than mine and it basically just hums when you really jump on it. Can be hard to not spin the tires really getting on hers from a stop at a typical intersection, though, not a problem with my AWD.
 
Here's the kit for your truck. Part# 400-249
AIR-400-249.jpg
 
If you want the best of both worlds, insulate the stock airbox. It takes some time and creativity - but silver windscreen shades are excellent to cut up, fit, and wrap.

You'll get improved immediate off-idle tip-in which is what convinces folks that they make such a difference. This is because the insulation will keep the intake charge cool during low flow periods such as hot idle. It doesn't do much under heavy loads since the air flow is high anyway, just like with the aftermarket CAI.

If you gut any resonators you'll get more sound.

If you do a neat job, it will also look like something NASA wrapped around a satellite and that always gets a conversation going.

-m
 
Last edited:
99% solo yank as a stand alone mod.

If you go further with the whole thing then it starts to make sense.

UD
 
An actual working Cold Air Intake is a Ram Air Intake that doesn't work.

So if you're not pulling air at a high pressure point (highest is exactly where your front licence plate is) and you don't have a near-perfectly straight run to the throttle body, and you are not travelling at least 80 mph, you have a RAI that doesn't work, but is a Cold Air Intake.

Pulling air from the fender-well (as is done by OEMs on most light trucks) is a pretty good CAI right there. Plus there may be features of the run to the throttle body such as Helmholtz Resonators that add torque at a certain RPM range, useful in truck duty. Replacing that with plain tubing kills that, plus since the torque peak is also tailored via cam and exhaust configuration, you may be now running sub-obtimum cam timing.

Can you maybe paint it all pretty like and leave it stock?
 
There's a resonator directly in front of the air filter where it goes into the fender. You can go to Home Depot and pick up a piece of pipe to replace that, eliminating the neck-down. This is what most guys do and I did to our Expedition with the 5.4L. There is also one in the big corrugated piece that runs from the throttle body to the air filter, it takes a bit more work to remove.

I took them all out of the Expedition. Seemed to make it a little bit stronger at the top of the rev range with the side effect of it being louder (more intake noise).

That said, there's not much (probably SFA) to be gained on a naturally aspirated 16V 4.6L or 5.4L Ford via manipulating what's in front of the TB. These engines aren't deep breathers, as their specific output indicates.
 
Originally Posted By: blupupher
The best cold air intake for a 10th gen F150 is the OEM intake. It pulls air from the fender well, outside the engine compartment.

Some will do the "Gotts mod" where the intake enters the fender well to make it larger, but it is mainly a sound thing, no proof of any more power from it.


^^ This info is 100% correct. ^^

You will see no gains anywhere by spending money.
 
I got one on my truck, didn't do squat. Google up free cold air mod intake for 2000 F150's, there is a few out there that will show how to adapt your existing intake and save you some coin. Also, cleaning those "re-usable" filters is a PITA.
 
Naturally aspirated motors rarely-if ever-gain any HP from a CAI. Supercharged/turbocharged engines may see a gain; it depends on the design of the OEM intake, the restrictiveness of the exhaust, size of the turbo, etc. For example, no aftermarket intake adds significant hp to the 3.0 liter turbo six in my 2 Series, yet a well designed CAI adds @24 hp to the 2.3 liter Mazdaspeed turbo four(the Mazdaspeed CAI chopped .60 seconds off the 3rd gear 30-70 acceleration times on my 2007 MS3).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top