I finally talked to an old timer at a gas station in Nashville who made me rethink my whole cold air intake setup after 4 years

He said his stock box with a drop-in filter was pulling the same IATs as my fancy aftermarket one on his '19 5.0, so now I'm wondering if I wasted 300 bucks, anyone else had that reality check?

2 comments

2 Comments

cooper.phoenix10d ago

So @charlie_ellis is totally right about the stock box being solid. Ford actually spent a ton on R&D for that intake. It's tuned from the factory to pull cold air from the fender. Most aftermarket ones just suck hot engine bay air if you don't have a good shield. That $300 could've been a downpayment on a good tuner instead. I've seen logs from stock boxes beating the pants off name-brand intakes on the dyno. Live and learn, huh.

charlie_ellis10d agoMost Upvoted

Honestly I used to be all about the fancy intakes but that guy's right, the stock box on these cars is surprisingly good and the real gains come from tuning not the intake itself.