RE: air filters
I feel the need to chime in on this one. I have a 2003 Ram 1500 with the 4.7 liter engine. I bought the truck with about 6000 miles on it (it was a demo truck). I installed a K&N CAI kit in March of 2005 with 42,400 miles on my truck. I have cleaned the filter once. My truck now has about 127,000 miles on it. That's a little over 84,000 miles on the filter, which reminds me, it's due for another cleaning. I spent about $200 on the kit if I remember correctly. The kit came with a dyno sheet from a similar vehicle with the same engine that claimed an 8 HP increase. No, I don't notice that. As far as gas mileage increase, I wouldn't notice that, either. It varies too much and there are too many variables that affect gas mileage including the weather, tire pressure, driving style (which can vary on a daily basis), traffic and gas quality, among other things. What I do notice is that I only have to worry about my air filter about once every two years rather than once every 10,000-15,000 miles, which for me would be about 2-3 times a year. Without the K&N, I would have purchased about 8 regular filters at about $10 each (I'm guessing). I also noticed that my truck sounds a LOT better with the CAI kit, which for me is worth it. I love the sound of the engine when I stomp on the gas pedal. To me, that sound is worth the money I spent on the kit. As far as filtering capabilities, I know that it's not going to filter quite as well as the stock filter. I change my oil about every 2,000 miles. This will help alleviate the extra contamination getting into the engine. The reason I change my oil at that interval isn't because of the air filter. It's because I enjoy doing it and I drive a lot, so this vehicle needs to last a long time. I'm hoping to keep it until it has at least 300,000 miles on it and I don't want to replace or repair the engine. I already have almost 127,000 miles on it and it's not even paid for yet. The bottom line is a CAI will probably get you about 5-10 HP, but you probably won't notice it. It might give you 0.1 MPG better gas mileage, but don't count on it. It'll probably make your engine sound better, which will make it more difficult to keep your foot off the gas. It's not going to filter as well, so you'll be getting more contamination in your engine. How much more? I don't know.
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