GM Performance Air Intake

JAshworth03 · December 9, 2019

I recently purchased and installed the GM Performance Borla Exhaust on my 5.3L Silverado. The sound is great.

My question is, did anyone notice a difference in sounds and power when also adding cold air intake? Specifically wondering for those that went in the same order, exhaust and then later CAI.

Thanks!

Swiftks · December 9, 2019

I had the GM Intake, then got the Borla S-type exhaust a week later. You won't notice any change in sound, the intake is pretty quiet compared to other aftermarket intakes... Don't know if this is due to design or a dry filter vs. oiled one. But before I had the GM intake installed, the dealership mistakingly installed a K&N intake, it had much more growl, when stomping on the accelerator. Actually kind of miss it, although the GM looks 100 times better. Didn't know the GM was going to be quiter... Oh well, say la vie.

As far as power goes... Your not gonna notice any real gains until you get to the upper RPM ranges say 4 - 5K +. That's usually the only time intakes really have any measurable advantage... When that engine is inhaling the air.

Honestly, if I was going to do it over again, I'd probably go aFe or Volant oiled filter intake; their products are both pretty good, and both would have more growl than the GM when you mash on the gas.

JAshworth03 · December 9, 2019

14 hours ago, Swiftks said:

I had the GM Intake, then got the Borla S-type exhaust a week later. You won't notice any change in sound, the intake is pretty quiet compared to other aftermarket intakes... Don't know if this is due to design or a dry filter vs. oiled one. But before I had the GM intake installed, the dealership mistakingly installed a K&N intake, it had much more growl, when stomping on the accelerator. Actually kind of miss it, although the GM looks 100 times better. Didn't know the GM was going to be quiter... Oh well, say la vie.

As far as power goes... Your not gonna notice any real gains until you get to the upper RPM ranges say 4 - 5K +. That's usually the only time intakes really have any measurable advantage... When that engine is inhaling the air.

Honestly, if I was going to do it over again, I'd probably go aFe or Volant oiled filter intake; their products are both pretty good, and both would have more growl than the GM when you mash on the gas.

Thanks for the help!

I keep going back and forth with myself to see if the spend on CAI is really worth it.

SquireSCA · December 10, 2019

The stock intake is CAI. Just open up the intake port to allow more air in, and get a higher flowing filter...

RaisedByWolves · December 10, 2019

14 hours ago, SquireSCA said:

The stock intake is CAI. Just open up the intake port to allow more air in, and get a higher flowing filter...

Intake port?

The oval on the right under the hood? Cause that seems small compared to the rest of the intake piping.

The difference in sound is due to one being an enclosed box and the other being open.

SquireSCA · December 10, 2019

4 hours ago, RaisedByWolves said:

Intake port?

The oval on the right under the hood? Cause that seems small compared to the rest of the intake piping.

The difference in sound is due to one being an enclosed box and the other being open.

The airbox itself, breathes through a hole in the side facing the wheel well, or at least that was how it worked on the 2018 model. That hole is fairly small. When you remove the air filter and remove the box itself, you can see where to open up the box. There is also the hole in the wheel well itself that the box breathes through... I took a Dremel and cutting wheel and opened that up as well. The side of the airbox has a rubber foam gasket to seal against that metal surface...

Once I opened up the box and wheel well hole, the air intake hole was about 2.5-3x what it was stock.

RaisedByWolves · December 11, 2019

21 hours ago, SquireSCA said:

The airbox itself, breathes through a hole in the side facing the wheel well, or at least that was how it worked on the 2018 model. That hole is fairly small. When you remove the air filter and remove the box itself, you can see where to open up the box. There is also the hole in the wheel well itself that the box breathes through... I took a Dremel and cutting wheel and opened that up as well. The side of the airbox has a rubber foam gasket to seal against that metal surface...

Once I opened up the box and wheel well hole, the air intake hole was about 2.5-3x what it was stock.

OK, thanks.

I think the 19-20 models are different than what you describe.

SquireSCA · December 11, 2019

Just now, RaisedByWolves said:

OK, thanks.

I think the 19-20 models are different than what you describe.

They are... I just installed a K&N air filter and checked it out while I was in there... It breathes through a tube that runs out of the front of the airbox and into the the front grille area...

So it is still a CAI in that sense, but doesn't offer the same easy "opening up" that the older ones did. Although I see no reason why you couldn't cut out the OEM inlet tube and find a larger diameter one and mount and seal that one up...

Robotaz · December 11, 2019

So nobody has observed an mpg increase normal driving?

I am usually dealing with performance cars, but that 10%+ airflow increase usually gives an mpg or two even if you can’t hear your intake better.

SquireSCA · December 11, 2019

I wouldn't know and I dont care a bit about MPG. I didn't buy a $55k offroad V8 pickup truck for gas mileage...

If anyone is worried about 1-2mpg, sell your truck, tear up your man card and go buy a Prius.

davester · December 12, 2019

10 hours ago, Robotaz said:

So nobody has observed an mpg increase normal driving?

I am usually dealing with performance cars, but that 10%+ airflow increase usually gives an mpg or two even if you can’t hear your intake better.

There will be a 0 mpg increase. If there were any measurable increase, GM would be including that intake setup on their stock vehicles.

Memphis87 · December 12, 2019

20 hours ago, Robotaz said:

So nobody has observed an mpg increase normal driving?

I am usually dealing with performance cars, but that 10%+ airflow increase usually gives an mpg or two even if you can’t hear your intake better.

I didn’t notice any change to mine, had it installed for 3 months now. Love the sound. Before I went in for the update to flash for the MAF, the truck was shifting very hard, and even after a week it didn’t settle down. Flash smoothed out the shifts and CAI was much more noticeable at lighter acceleration

Robotaz · December 12, 2019

There will be a 0 mpg increase. If there were any measurable increase, GM would be including that intake setup on their stock vehicles.

That’s not at all why they don’t install them on all cars.

davester · December 12, 2019

34 minutes ago, Robotaz said:

That’s not at all why they don’t install them on all cars.

It would be if they even got a fraction of a MPG increase when using it. Even a small increase in MPG would help with EPA requirements, and if just having a bigger air inlet made a difference, they would do it, as it would be free for them.