Air Intake

SportSide 5.3 · December 14, 2003

I here some talk about the UPD (NSV) Air Intake alot. Is it as good as they say it is? One guy said he dyno'ed 20-23hp with it. Next in line to me would be the AEM Brute Force, because i have seen dynos of 13-16hp. Well, tell me your thoughts

TexMan · December 14, 2003

I guess it's possible, but I"d be surprised if you could gain that much. There are so many new intake manufacturers out there now, making so many ridiculous claims about hp gain, I'm gettin leary or all of them. I only believe it when several people on these forums buy them and verify the hp gains.

TexMan · December 14, 2003

I guess it's possible, but I"d be surprised if you could gain that much. There are so many new intake manufacturers out there now, making so many ridiculous claims about hp gain, I'm gettin leary or all of them. I only believe it when several people on these forums buy them and verify the hp gains.

SportSide 5.3 · December 14, 2003

go to procold.net and check out there air intakes. they make claims of 28 hp and have dyno sheets to back it up. scroll down on the page and look at the bottom left. 28hp seems like a lot for just an intake tell me what you guys think

TexMan · December 16, 2003

Sorry about the double post.

Mike's 01WS6 · December 22, 2003

The most you can gain from an intake is maybe 15 at the wheels on a 2wd, I doubt it is even this much because the 5.3 doesnt have the airflow requirements of the LS1 because it dont rev as high. Somehwhere around 8-10hp would be a lot more realistic claim. The main problem with the truck intakes is the hard bend that it makes directly off the end of the throttle body. Get someone to do a comparison between a UPD (NSV) or a ProCold, and a stock airbox with the belly cutout and the baffles cut-off with a fram filter in it, I would be willing to bet that the cut up stock box was within 2 hp of the UPD (NSV) and the Pro Cold. Manufacures dyno sheets arent worth $hit, look at SLP's claims of 45 hp headers and 25 hp exhaust.

December 22, 2003

I have a 5.3L motor with a supercharger. The supercharger kit came with a K&N air filter. I didn't know whether to install the new filter or keep the oem filter (with about 500 miles on it). So I decided to do my own unscientific test to see if I could identify any advantage for the K&N. I have an autotap scantool that has a feature allowing log files to be recorded for performance purposes. With this tool I made two runs (under full throttle), one with the K&N installed and one with the oem installed. Here are my results (the measurements were taken from the MAF and are shown in lbs/min of air flow):

RPM K&N OEM

600 1.1 1.1

1,000 3.0 3.8

1,500 5.0 6.6

2,000 8.9 9.9

2,500 13.3 14.1

3,000 ? 24.0

3,500 29.4 ?

4,000 33.4 ?

4,500 38.3 39.4

5,000 41.9 44.0

5,500 47.0 48.4

I don't know if this test is valid or not, but it doesn't look to me that there is any advantage to switching to the K&N. I'm beginning to believe what I have read in other posts "the restrictive parts of the air flow system are the throttle body and air intake holes" .

Let me know what you guys think. Did I waste my time? Is it an invalid test for some reason? Or, should we spend our hard earned money somewhere else?

02denali · December 25, 2003

i believe it is preference at most.i went from a k&n fipk to a UPD (NSV) and i have been very staisfied.hell magnacharger has you set up to use the stock air box.i honestly think a good filter--k&n-airaid-is a good investment not just for flow but also to be able to clean it and not have to replace it. also a good filter and a good intake tube are probably the most important. just my 2cents

SportSide 5.3 · December 26, 2003

I was looking at the August mag. of Truckin' where they did a before and after dyno on a 5.3L with the AEM Brute Force. 13HP

I decided to go with that. Mainly b/c of the looks. The polished tubing is awesome compared to the UPD (NSV) intake (my opinion). UPD (NSV) reminds me to much of my mothers vacuum cleaner. But, it does deliver some nice numbers too from what i here.

Thanks for you alls thoughts....

NothinButBowTies · January 20, 2004

I was looking at the August mag. of Truckin' where they did a before and after dyno on a 5.3L with the AEM Brute Force. 13HP

I did the AEM Brute Force and was extremely pleased with the results. I instantly noticed a faster reving engine when I barried the pedal. I had an airaid on there before and will never switch back.