Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) drilling holes in airbox

[brandonwhite]

I have a K&N in my factory airbox with the hose going to the fender disconnected. Works good but I am always looking for cheap improvements. I was thinking about turning the bottom half of the box into swiss cheese with my 3/4" drill bit to improve airflow. Seems like that little opening in the end is the bottle neck of the setup. Anyone done something similar? Good idea or bad idea?

 

[DavidGardner]

Brendon

I isnstalled an K&N air filter in my 95 Dodge 12 valve along with a TST 230hp-605torqe fuel plate. after installing this the filter minder would suck itself down to where it was showing the filter needed to be replaced. I posted on the TDR and someone told me to drill out the bottom of the air filter housing with a 1 inch hole saw. I did this and no more problems. I must add that with the none drilled air box every time I pulled a hill or flored it my filter minder would be pegged out and I would think maybe I needed to change the air filter. I would check the air filter and it would be as clean as a whistle. Bottom line I was pulling about 25-30 lbs of boost and the filterminder sensed that the air filter was pluged. Go ahead and drill out the bottom of your air filter housing. Worse case scenario is if you evr put it back to stock no one will know unless they remove the filter housing and look at the bottom of it.

 

[jkern]

i put two 2. 5 inch holes in mine. my filter minder never moves even pulling hard hills with 32PSI of boost. one note though... some of the high performance guys will tell ya that drilling holes in the airbox is going to suck in hot underhood air. which in turn will hurt performance a little bit and increase EGT's a little bit. so like everything else in life it is a tradeoff!!

 

[Joe G.]

I have two 2" holes in the bottom of my air box on the firewall side. Have seen no EGT problem and my truck goes very well for the mods I have done. I've asked about the under hood air being a problem, but I've seen no numbers that support that idea. Even if it is a problem, it certainly appears to be minor.

 

[Dane]

I drilled four 1. 5" holes in the airbox bottom about two years ago after pulling the fender to airbox snorkle. Great flow!



Filter dusts up faster, but it's worth the extra cleaning imo.



I use a stock paper filter in place of my AFE while it drys after cleaning.



I've given the post filter hose the white glove test every time I clean the AFE, not a spec of dirt making it's way past...

 

[RCone]

My opinion for what it's worth. I WOULDN'T drill the air box. I did remove the rubber snorkle and my AFE is the inbox style and my filter minder doesn't move at all. If yours moves you may want to consider either choices such as BHAF, drilling etc. As long as I am getting no flow problems I believe that clean air is the most important to the longetivity of the engine.



Roger

 

[brandonwhite]

Just got through drilling it. I put about 20 3/4" holes in it. The drilling has no effect on the cleanliness of the air going into the engine. All holes are below the filter so it just allows more air to get to the filter. I have not driven it yet so I can't say if it helped or not but it surely can't hurt.

 

[Crazy Horse]

brandonwhite,

This has been my inexpensive solution to lower EGT's and more fresh air flow into the turbo on 2 trucks now. It dramatically reduces EGT under a load. There are 2 90's; one on the front and one on the rear of the box. The back one is pointed straight down so less likely to intake moisture or water. In the summer I have a special preformed hose that attaches to the 90 next to the battery and is routed out behind the LF head light to suck in cool outside air. When the engine is idling you can feel the suction if you put your hand over the hose. It took allot of looking for the "perfect" hose but I have the part # if you want it. The 90's can be had at Loews or Home Depot, in the "pool" section.

 

[brandonwhite]

Crazy horse - I like that Idea. I think it might be a little late now to do that to my rig as I have a ton of 3/4" holes very close together but I wish I would have thought of that.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

The first heavy pull with my '02 equipped with a Comp sucked my filter-minder down 2/3 of the way - here's what I did to my airbox:



#ad




Next trips didn't budge the filter-minder, and have since installed a K&N filter - no noticeable operating changes noted, but obviously airflow is improved...

 

[SEmerson]

On my 2001 I cut out the fender tube hole. It is now the size of that whole side. Alot more airflow and still looks stock

 

[EricBu12]

I did this, I bought the dam-air so I could have cool air go into the airbox.



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