Cold Air Intake

I made one using a floor vent from a home a/c heat unit . wire tied to my grill , and ran dryer vent hose to my air filter . Can not tell a difference . Banks said theirs was good for about half a mile per gallon . This one cost me about $12 . So I could throw it away and not lose anything .

Be prepared for an increase in intake noise when you install it. Not sure if it applies as much to the E series but I had one on my F250 and it was significantly louder than stock. The up side is it was a pleasant sound for a motorhead like me.

I used an aluminum drier duct and vent grill on my 94. Worked great. Looked a little funny but worth it.

Save your money for fuel.

I have a 1996 Class A with a 454 with Thorley headers, FF muffler sans cat and the CAI. The CAI I made from flex Al tubing. Did some experiments with using a 4 in Dia can vs a 12x8 rectangular opening trying for a ram air effect. Saw no difference in performance. I think you need speeds over 90 mph to see any improvement. So I would just bring the intake right up to opening of your front cap. The complete set of mods added a lot of performance. My 40-60 mph time went from 19 secs to 12 secs. This equated to a lot less downshifting on hills, less engine heat, about 80 more HP, but no increase in MPG.

On our older E350 (the pre-1992 and pre-EFI ones) I found that some of the elaborate factory air intake parts were missing. I got rid of the rest and connected the transition through the radiator support to the inlet of the OEM air filter using flexible clothes drier hose. I think getting air that isn't hot from being in the doghouse area is good. But I doubt there's a ram-air effect.

bob213 wrote:
Save your money for fuel.

why should he just burn more fuel that's not making power?

That gen v8 did NOT have a factory cold air intake, and adding cool air can make a substantial difference in hot weather. Remember, stock it sucks in post-radiator air.

Adding a cold air intake can cost under $15

I would try to stay away from any metal tubing after the air filter, they seem to soak up and retain heat more then the plastic ones. defeating the cold air effect.

What is the opinion of the K&N filter ? ... the stock intake on the E-350 has a venture tube section that is mounted to the front of the filter box, if one was to cut'off the venturi tubes and install a K&N filter it seems to me this intake would be similar to the Banks system ? ... comments are noted

K&N filters flow air really well but they don't filter as well as a plain old oem filter. Air filter tests are probably what made "bob-is-the-oil-guy" famous.