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which cold air intake do you guys reccomend?

26K views 77 replies 42 participants last post by  coolrodder 
#1 ·
hows everybody doing? :thumbsup: good i hope. anyway i dont want to make this long so ill get right to the point. i have an 03 envoy slt and want a CAI. something that sounds sweet and wont make my check engine light turn on.
what do u guys reccomend and why?
LET THE REPLIES BEGIN!!!
p.s. :thx in advance for any help provided.
Ariel
 
#4 ·
Your best bet is Ebay, its the cheapest place to get them. If you dont like Ebay then just google it and a long list of places that sell them will come up. Remember that the TB and envoy have are almost identical under the hood.

Chickengas while you are correct on the fact that the K&N will let mor dust in, any filter that uses a cotten element will let more dust it. When you open up for more CFM you also open up the possibility to let more particles in. The best thing if you are woorried about dust is to keep the stock paper filter. Unless you live in the desert then i wouldnt worry to much. Foam filters are just as bad. Most filters will result in similar power increases, what will seperate each brand is the quality of the filter, how well the tube keeps heat out and how well the heat shield keeps the heat off the filter. K&N, AFE, Airaid, and even the "ebay" intakes will make an improvement over stock. It just depends on what other features the kit take into effect. Before you go spending a ton of money on the volant kit you might want to consider what someone else suggested and get a kit that allows the use of the stock airbox and cut the face out.

Im probably going to go with the AFE of the K&N 57 series, only because it uses a composite tube and wont be as vulnerable to heating up like a metal tube.
 
#5 ·
Remember that the TB and envoy have are almost identical under the hood.

Chickengas while you are correct on the fact that the K&N will let mor dust in, any filter that uses a cotten element will let more dust it. When you open up for more CFM you also open up the possibility to let more particles in. The best thing if you are woorried about dust is to keep the stock paper filter. Unless you live in the desert then i wouldnt worry to much. Foam filters are just as bad. Most filters will result in similar power increases, what will seperate each brand is the quality of the filter, how well the tube keeps heat out and how well the heat shield keeps the heat off the filter. K&N, AFE, Airaid, and even the "ebay" intakes will make an improvement over stock. It just depends on what other features the kit take into effect. Before you go spending a ton of money on the volant kit you might want to consider what someone else suggested and get a kit that allows the use of the stock airbox and cut the face out.

Im probably going to go with the AFE of the K&N 57 series, only because it uses a composite tube and wont be as vulnerable to heating up like a metal tube.
:iagree: Very well stated. Even oil analysis from Blackstone Labs recognizes some extra impurities with the K&N however they do not throw red flags because of it. They only explain why the extra silica may be present and do not recommend extended oil change intervals because of its' presence. They recommend to follow extreme or heavy duty use oil change cycles.
 
#6 ·
nice any more suggestions?
looking into this im really going for something thats going to sound really nice as well as performance and not to have the hassle of worring about dust gettin in the engine coz im keeping my truck for ever. and any other problems that may occur.
 
#8 ·
Volant appears to have the best setup as it comes out of the box, unless you intend to modify one of the others. I picked up the K&N FIPKII. While the K&N kit's tubing is fine, the heat shield is pretty much worthless. My IATs jumped over 50 degrees on average, and I had to cut and bend plexiglass to get them back down. I lost about 2mpg in town due to the higher IATs after the K&N, but gained it back after sealing up the airbox better.

I intend to hollow out the stock airbox and try to plumb some cooler air into it from outside the engine compartment when I get some more free time. There are a few threads about it here if you search, and several pictures of what people have done.
 
#14 ·
#26 ·
Borrowing a better shaped washer reservoir and pulling air from the tow hook would be great. I haven't had time to do any salvage hopping to find a new donor reservoir, but intend to do so this Spring.

There are several threads on this site about people creating their own setups. The best setup would obviously be one that was sealed under the hood, and pulled in fresh air from outside the engine bay area. If someone would design a kit to do that, they's sell as many as they could make here. They're in high demand...
 
#25 ·
Thats why I almost bought the Volant. I didn't care for the higher price, however, it looked more enclosed. It also offered a ram air attachment that sucked up cold air from the outside and channeled it directly into the intake, however, $250 for a volant in addition to an extra $125 for the ram air...Thats getting pricey for just air.....
 
#29 ·
The SS has a nice cut out in the grill cross bar. One member here, Jaylind, did a nice little copycat mod that did not look bad that solved the low speed IAT dilemma as it drew air from the front between the headlight and turn signal assembly.

It seems reasonable to assume that it would also help at higher speeds but I cannot recall if he had a scantool that actually gave him realtime results to prove out his mod :undecided
 
#30 ·
If sound and power is what you want then go with the k&n intake polished. Then see if u can just hollow out your airbox with the k&n setup. That is what im going to do when i get my k&n. I have already hollowed my airbox and strapped on a cone filter that is comparable to the k&n. And for all those who say dirt will get through, no filter is perfect. If you plan on keeping your truck forever then use mobil one oil and change it every 5k miles.:yes:

Oh ya baby this is my 100th post im going to celebrate by going to sleep. Its 2:05 in the morning. Good luck dude.:thumbsup:
 
#34 ·
whered u get it ebay? im thinkin about going that route do u think i should trust the price and what not? its goin to 195 shipped. i called a local shop and they priced me at 280. what do yo think? ebay and install it myself? im talking abou the k&n 77 series. looks easy and hope it sounds nice.
 
#36 ·
ok i see that some of you guys have the K&N FIPK 57 series, and others have the 77 series whats the difference bc im looking into getting one for my TB, i dont know if it matters but i have the magnaflow cat back exhaust. So i would want to get something that will get the best performance for my TB?
 
#39 ·
The 57 series tube is plastic, whereas the 77 series is metal. Plastic is not as prone to heat soak, and does not scratch. Some get the 77 series for the shiny metal though.

These are not the exact TV ones, but you can see the difference.

57 series


77 series
 
#38 ·
Im looking for soon one too, but I might go with airaid because of stock looks and you keep the box by the body throttle. Also not to hijack the thread, but how exactly do you clean the filter.
 
#40 ·
yeah i got mine on Ebay, i would go with the 77, looks better and u dont have to get it in crome either. Also correct me if im wrong but would there be a sound differece between the metal and plastic one. when i took that pic i had the intake for about 3 months and other then the scratch that was on the bottom of it when i got it its still just like new. that may be one reason why it was cheaper. Some of the ebay sits get these intakes from K&N for real cheap because of very small flaws. Usually u cant even notice them.
 
#41 ·
No real difference in sound. The performance factor is with heat soak. Metal absorbs heat more readily than plastic. Heat, in theory, will cause the air to be less dense containing less oxygen. The intake air temp sensor then tells the PCM the IAT then the PCM delivers the appropriate amount of fuel fuel for the injector to mix with the air charge. Hence the move to the plastic tube.

But if you just want the bling factor ... get the shiny one!:thumbsup:
 
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