I was doing some searching about a air intake system and found that there are very good arguments for them being garbage, this led to someone mentioning the big honking air filter but i could nt find any info on it, any help would be great. TIA
That's weird I have read that the stock intake is pretty decent all and all. Where did you get your info? I would like read about it as I always thought there would be large improvements over a stock air filter.
I found the BHAF stuff here, I thought it was a paper filter just different somehow, might have been a joke. Between here ck5 and diesel place I am keeping regular AC Delco stuff in my trucks, except the k5 but thats money allready spent.:doah:
Not to throw a stinkin' Dodge in the wrong forum, but here is my BHAF and the heat shield I made. The advantage with the BHAF, 1. It's a paper element and filters better than the K&N style filters. 2. It's a big honkin filter so it does flow a decent amount of air and has lots of filter media for dirt storage. 3. Once it's dirty, you can just blow it out with compressed air and re install it. I don't see why there isn't a BHAF filter for the GM's that is more popular. I can't remember what the GM air box looks like, but surely it could be done. Plus it's a cool looking mod under the hood.
The BHAF does fit under the hood if you remove the airbox and create a bracket to hold it. It works pretty well.
The stock GM filter is just fine unless your going over 500 rwhp. That said, the BHAF or Donaldson drum filters are great for longevity and volume with good filtration. Some time back on "The Place" there was a guy marketing a fabricated air box to run Donaldson drums. Was very nice as I recall, but not cheap.
I've almost sucked a stock paper filter into the intake back when all I ran was an edge box. I doubt they'd flow enough to support 500rwhp unless it was brand new. You get any buildup and that little guy will wad up into a ball.
I run a "hot" Juice/Attitude generally on levels 3 and 4 with no problems. I change the filter about every 10k here in dusty AZ and have never seen anything that remotely resembled a problem of being "wadded into a ball". My suction gauge thingy never shows anything getting worse, but I change it anyway and notice no difference when changing. As to the "works up to around ~500 hp", I'm repeating what others have said over and over back long ago when I spent time on "The Place" (and whatever that other site was called) learning about my truck. I can't push those numbers because I have not sunk enough money into my tranny, so I can't speak from experience on that...
Hot Juice on 4 is still 90hp IIRC, level 5 just changes to 150 instead of 120.. That box on 4 should put you about 340 RWHP. The edge puts almost exactly what they claim to the tires.. and since an LB7 baselines about 250-260RWHP the above figure, 340, would be correct. Stock airbox doesn't cut it up around 500.. maybe on the LB7's but the LLY's don't like it. I was running a stock airbox on the dyno and it sucked up to the top of the housing and deformed causing the truck to peter out on the dyno, and that's when I tried the BHAF since TST had one on the shelf. Just speaking from past experiences.
I can't speak much on the rest, but I'm pretty sure the version I have (the "Hot Juice with Attitude", not the old "Hot Juice") dropped the bottom (30? 40?) setting and moved everything up a notch. with level 4 at 120 and 5 at 120. I'm certain that level 3 is 90 since that is what I have generally run since putting this one on back when they first came out. The only thing I can add otherwise without relying on faulty memory of hear-say over 2 years ago is that another '02 identical to mine dyno'd something like 375 with stock air filter on Lvl 4 with the same version of the juice I'm running. The only other mod was an open muffler which does not affect power numbers AFAIK. That meshes pretty close with your numbers based on a 120 hp lvl 4. Seems like his lvl 5 was a bit over 400 but I don’t recall what exactly. I admit the rest is hear-say from ancient history, but I am pretty certain that the number bandied about at that time for requiring upgrades to the intake tract was when approaching the 500 rwhp mark. And yeah, that was LB7 and early LLY time frame. But I’ll concede that may have only been possible with a relatively fresh filter. <shrug> Anyway, my info is getting very dated since I stopped following it after I got my truck where I was satisfied, so it is great to see another DMax enthusiast on here to help keep the Dodge boys in line. Welcome aboard! Maybe someday I can get my tranny fully upgraded by ATS and find out exactly where the upgrade is needed!
I have changed several elements on the dmax. It is amazing the crap that is out there, the correct element for the duramax is AC delco, and there are 3 that will physically fit. I have pulled 2 models out that were, as you point out, destroyed. The correct one has a bazillion pleats, and is stabilized with glue strips, keeping the pleats from folding over. I have never seen one of those deform. FWIW. I have manufactured over 100 CAI for the d-max using the gas airbox that GM sells (I think it retails for $280). Factory solution that works incredibly well for towing, after it is modified for airflow.
Brayden: I would love to talk to you about an upgrade, but I'm generally satisfied with the truck the way it is (Sacrilege!!!) and can’t justify the cost just “for grins”. A good single disk converter and shift kit is really all I “need”, but I “want” a full boat ATS with co-pilot. Killer: Good point, I had forgotten about that. Now that you mention it, I do remember some of the guys buying pleated filters that did not have the glue and mesh, and they did have collapsing problems. I’ve been using Delco without a second thought and had forgotten that. BTW, anyone want to buy a slightly used UNI with cleaning kit?
If you have a stock tranny, there will not be any gain by using a different filter or intake. But you will get some nice hot air.waytogo Stick with the stock intake. The only good reason to change it for us under 500 folks is for a good CAI. And AFE and KN are garbage in that regard.
I would venture to say you can suck the filter around 40-50psi of boost. Seems that around where the Cummins has problems with the factory air box and I've never seen that much of a difference in the filters or boxes in any of the big three, gas or diesel.