Intake

alley.bta · April 2, 2018

Hello,

Asking for advice/review for best intake for 1500 Silverado 5.3. Probably will self install.

Penguin VII · April 2, 2018

BBP did a test on a handful of well known brands for the 6.2L, all should be applicable to the 5.3 from my convo with them except obviously the numbers will differ, rate or change should stay roughly the same.

http://blackbearperformance.com/IntakeTestResults_2016.asp

Largely Unknown · April 2, 2018

Seconded. I have the 5.3 and will also be going by the black bear reference info when its time for my intake upgrade, because some intakes out there will and some won't provide an increase in rear wheel horsepower.

Already have a couple of the better performers saved to my Amazon list for future reference:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N31IE4M/?coliid=I35MZ3K540KLIA&colid=2WYH09T133VKU&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GP8FKGU/?coliid=IVCO8SOAVV6HX&colid=2WYH09T133VKU&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

aseibel · April 2, 2018

All you really need is the Airaid MIT tube. The stock airbox allows plenty of flow. Upgrading the filter is your choice, you can get the junior kit that includes a filter for like $50 more.

https://www.airaid.com/search/product.aspx?prod=200-985

Penguin VII · April 2, 2018

54 minutes ago, aseibel said:

All you really need is the Airaid MIT tube. The stock airbox allows plenty of flow. Upgrading the filter is your choice, you can get the junior kit that includes a filter for like $50 more.

https://www.airaid.com/search/product.aspx?prod=200-985

I'm sure there is already a forum topic on this but from what I've seen and read that MIT tube pretty much does nothing. You can look at the data linked by BBP and see for yourself. I know it's a 6.2 vs 5.3 but still.

aseibel · April 2, 2018

5 minutes ago, Penguin VII said:

I'm sure there is already a forum topic on this but from what I've seen and read that MIT tube pretty much does nothing.

There are other threads. I read several before purchasing mine. It seems that no-one who does not profit from the sale of intakes has any data even proving they are useful. If you believe Black Bear's data, go for it. I can't prove anything because the unbiased data doesn't exist.

That said, I had a K&N full intake on my previous truck and liked the sound, and I felt like it made a difference. I chose Airaid for this one because I don't believe GM leaves that much HP pent up by the little air baffles. To meet CAFE requirements, they need every ounce of power to get to the wheels, not wasted by small filters and sound dampening.

I think 75% of what you are getting with a cold air intake is the sound. any small increase in power or throttle response is just a bonus.

truckguy82 · April 2, 2018

1 hour ago, aseibel said:

There are other threads. I read several before purchasing mine. It seems that no-one who does not profit from the sale of intakes has any data even proving they are useful. If you believe Black Bear's data, go for it. I can't prove anything because the unbiased data doesn't exist.

That said, I had a K&N full intake on my previous truck and liked the sound, and I felt like it made a difference. I chose Airaid for this one because I don't believe GM leaves that much HP pent up by the little air baffles. To meet CAFE requirements, they need every ounce of power to get to the wheels, not wasted by small filters and sound dampening.

I think 75% of what you are getting with a cold air intake is the sound. any small increase in power or throttle response is just a bonus.

Cliff notes : i think blackbears test is biased. I have 0 data to support what I think about black bear, and I have zero data to support my recommendation of the mit tube. So I highly suggest you go with the mit tube because well, I’ve just got a feeling inside me that says it’s the best option.

aseibel · April 2, 2018

4 minutes ago, truckguy82 said:

Cliff notes : i think blackbears test is biased. I have 0 data to support what I think about black bear, and I have zero data to support my recommendation of the mit tube. So I highly suggest you go with the mit tube because well, I’ve just got a feeling inside me that says it’s the best option.

You are pretty close:

1. Black bear data is biased.

2. There is no unbiased data available.

3. I provided my advice, which is what the OP asked for.

Do with it what you want. I'll be reading any follow up posts to see if there is any more data provided to prove anything.

truckguy82 · April 2, 2018

20 minutes ago, aseibel said:

You are pretty close:

1. Black bear data is biased.

2. There is no unbiased data available.

3. I provided my advice, which is what the OP asked for.

Do with it what you want. I'll be reading any follow up posts to see if there is any more data provided to prove anything.

Ah, was blackbear also biased when the mit tube performed exceptionally on their gmt900 dyno tests?

.justin. · April 2, 2018

27 minutes ago, aseibel said:

You are pretty close:

1. Black bear data is biased.

2. There is no unbiased data available.

3. I provided my advice, which is what the OP asked for.

Do with it what you want. I'll be reading any follow up posts to see if there is any more data provided to prove anything.

Biased how? We went into that test with no pre-conceived expectations and kept conditions as close to identical for each intake as possible. We were frankly shocked at the results as they were so different from the previous generation.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but if you're going to claim that we weren't forthcoming in our data, we would appreciate an explanation as to how.

aseibel · April 2, 2018

1 minute ago, truckguy82 said:

Ah, was blackbear also biased when the mit tube performed exceptionally on their gmt900 dyno tests?

I obviously didn't use Black Bear to determine what to buy. I don't know or don't care which intake they think is better. I'm just saying that from other things I read when doing my research, I don't believe changing your air box & filter is worth it. The only gain is by removing the baffled crappy stock "tube" and replacing it with a straight, smooth one.

My point is, there is no data proving that any Intake modification increases horsepower except from companies selling intake/tunes. If every driver could bolt on 25 HP for under $200 wouldn't this be done by every single driver? Wouldn't GM just provide the better intake to boost their performance numbers? why would GM willingly lock up 25 HP? go ahead and purchase whatever intake you want. I have put intakes on my last 3 vehicles. Each was a different brand. I like them, but I'm on the fence of how much performance they create.

truckguy82 · April 2, 2018

2 minutes ago, aseibel said:

My point is, there is no data proving that any Intake modification increases horsepower except from companies selling intake/tunes. If every driver could bolt on 25 HP for under $200 wouldn't this be done by every single driver? Wouldn't GM just provide the better intake to boost their performance numbers? why would GM willingly lock up 25 HP? go ahead and purchase whatever intake you want. I have put intakes on my last 3 vehicles. Each was a different brand. I like them, but I'm on the fence of how much performance they create.

2nd source, this is a 5.3 making 15whp with just an intake

you have any other words of wisdom? Or is this test also biased?

.justin. · April 2, 2018

2 minutes ago, aseibel said:

I obviously didn't use Black Bear to determine what to buy. I don't know or don't care which intake they think is better. I'm just saying that from other things I read when doing my research, I don't believe changing your air box & filter is worth it. The only gain is by removing the baffled crappy stock "tube" and replacing it with a straight, smooth one.

My point is, there is no data proving that any Intake modification increases horsepower except from companies selling intake/tunes. If every driver could bolt on 25 HP for under $200 wouldn't this be done by every single driver? Wouldn't GM just provide the better intake to boost their performance numbers? why would GM willingly lock up 25 HP? go ahead and purchase whatever intake you want. I have put intakes on my last 3 vehicles. Each was a different brand. I like them, but I'm on the fence of how much performance they create.

GM isn't solely concerned with power output, noise is a big factor in their engineering as well. Nearly every intake on the market is going to add a considerable level of intake noise with installation and not all consumers are interested in that.

For what it's worth, the sale of the average intake nets the vendor $20-25. It's really not a high margin industry and anybody that staked their livelihood on parts sales online would have to work pretty darn hard at it just to survive. To date, I'm not even sure that we have recovered the full cost of purchasing and testing all of those intakes.

aseibel · April 2, 2018

5 minutes ago, .justin. said:

Biased how? We went into that test with no pre-conceived expectations and kept conditions as close to identical for each intake as possible. We were frankly shocked at the results as they were so different from the previous generation.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but if you're going to claim that we weren't forthcoming in our data, we would appreciate an explanation as to how.

OK, i'm not saying your testing was biased or you did anything wrong. I just take everything with a grain of salt. If the guy at the corner fruit stand tells you that 2 apples a day keeps the doctor away, do you blindly buy them or do you research from other people who aren't in the apple business?

2 minutes ago, truckguy82 said:

2nd source, this is a 5.3 making 15whp with just an intake

you have any other words of wisdom? Or is this test also biased?

this is not biased because he is not trying to sell performance. so 15 HP, is nice. and that's why I put the MIT tube on my truck. I'm not arguing against intakes, I'm stating that most of your gains come from replacing the tube, not the filter end.

truckguy82 · April 2, 2018

3 minutes ago, aseibel said:

OK, i'm not saying your testing was biased

? you literally said, I quote "black bear data is biased"

This is not to mention, it makes zero business since for them to falsify these tests, which is what you are accusing them of doing. First of all, this is the internet, nobody is going to read the data and say oh now I must by an intake from blackbear. Blackbear posts the make and model of the intake, and literally 99% of people don't give a shit who the vendor is, they just buy it online wherever is cheapest. Everybody knows this.

So they spend hours upon hours acquiring hardware, paying employees, and installing the hardware, all with the intention of falsifying it and losing hands down their most valuable asset, credibility. It's literally the only asset they have. They are a word of mouth business and the only reason anybody uses them is because of online reviews. So they are going to do all this work to make a few bucks on intakes and potentially lose credibility by falsifying data to some easy to duplicate test. And here comes aseibel, for no reason whatsoever, recommending to people new to the forum that blackbear is full of shit.