Correct. But on the 4th gen's the stock intake is not restrictive at all. It's actually well designed and can easily meet the demands of a stock engine.

Agreed. But aftermarket parts manufacturers throw the term "Cold Air Induction" around irresponsibly. They label anything that replaces the stock induction system (post Throttle body) as a Cold Air Induction even though it's drawing air from the engine compartment. These systems actually hurt performance but people who believe the advertising buy these systems and believe they are working.

You very well might see some MPG gains if you replaced the Throttle body and ported the heads. But when you think about the cost, massive amount of labor and instant voiding of the engine warranty you will realize that it is an economically foolish idea if the primary purpose is increasing MPG's.

 

Agreed on the cost, for something under warranty it's not worth it.

 

the days of a cai and less restrictive exhaust adding mpg and power are long gone.

 

Any time you increase flow, or decrease how hard the engine has to work, you will increase mpg/power. It's not rocket science.

The easier it is for the engine to breathe, the less the engine has to work. The less the engine has to work, the less fuel it uses.

 

Yes, but i believe his comment is pointing out the fact that a lot of the vehicles sold today, including the 4th gen Ram's have engineered intakes and exhausts where they are not holding back MPG's or power (Certainly on the induction side).

Older vehicles used to see much larger improvements with simple bolt on's such as high flow intakes and exhausts. Restrictive intakes, single undersized exhausts, inefficient EFI systems, etc. I had an 85' Trans Am and that i replaced the intake runners, throttle body, airbox, injectors, headers and exhaust on. It was a TON of labor and money to get that extra power up to around 300hp. Now you can buy a Camaro that puts out more HP then i worked to get right off the showroom floor. In fact, my 85' 305 V8 TPI Trans Am from the factory was 215HP. The new Camaro's are putting out 323 HP in a V6 and getting 30MPG! So the car manufacturers are not idiots. The aftermarket parts companies are simply running out of ideas.


Car sales are heavily driven by the numbers. MPG and HP. Sure, people like features and appearance. But they also want as much power as possible using as little fuel as possible. So car manufacturers are doing a good deal of the simple mods the buyer used to have to do. So a lot of the mods are completely redundant. Like bolting on a high flow airbox on a 4th gen Ram. Even a Cat Back exhaust is a waste of money for HP or MPG gains on these trucks. You MIGHT pick up 1 MPG doing a cat back exhaust on an otherwise stock truck. But you will spend a few hundred bucks plus labor and have a noisier truck (which to some people is a downside) and have no exhaust warranty. So in the end, how long will it take you to recoup that investment?

 

Saying they're idiots, I'm not, but in the end vehicles are an investment, period.

So, there's always something that can be done to improve it. As you stated earlier, Port work, pricey yes, but this is one manufacturing flaw that can always use work due to casting flaws. Pricey sure, but that's a fact of owning vehicles and wanting to improve them.

How much have you spent on your trucks visual mods? They don't help anything but the looks, so how long will that take to recoup? So on that theory why even bother?

 

4.7s from my experience are anemic in the Ram. I think there is plenty of room to improve on the factory design and obviously dodge did too seeings they offered a Mopar Performance Cold Air Intake for them.

 

If you increase flow, you will increase power but not MPGs. Today's engines are computer driven and the Fuel/Air mixture is very steady. More air means more fuel means more power. The PCM keeps track of the air pressure, engine pressure, exhaust oxigen pre and post cats, air density and many other parameters. In the old days, with carburation the mixture was all over the place depending on altitude, air temps, etc, etc. so those engines would benefit quite a bit.

Sounds like it should be that way, but it's just words. The easier it is for the engine to breathe means more air for the combustion which means more fuel to keep the programmed Air/Fuel ratio. When you say easiest, you are being subjective but the actual effect on the engines ability to breathe is very objective and measurable and impact on MPGs is nil. As a matter of fact, may on this forum and many others have complained of reduced MPGs.

 

Thanks for agreeing with me PedroDog.

 

Again, it all comes back to "does the end justify the means". Of course their is room for improvement on any vehicle. But is it worth it? Sure, porting the factory heads would offer some improvement in power. But to reap the benefits of ported heads you would have to also go with a larger throttle body, True CAI, headers and an exhaust, not to mention a programmer. All of the above would run you in the range of $2,000 in materials when you take into account gaskets and other hardware. If you paid a shop to do it? Probably another grand. And lets not forget your engine warranty is gone. To me that does not seem like a smart investment on a modern pickup truck. If you are that concerned with speed, why not just buy a sports car? (Again, just my 2c). My truck is absolutely an investment. It's my everyday driver and i use it for my aide business. That exactly why i don't want to do anything to it that will hurt it's reliability or the warranty. My truck has more power then i could ever need and speed? I am more then satisfied. The only mods i will do on my truck are things that make it last longer and keep it reliable. So NOTHING that alters the drivetrain in any way.

Well for starters, visual mods you see every time you drive your truck, unlike some performance mods that are invisible and you cannot even feel. And many visual mods are way more then looks, they are practical. Bug defelector, nerf bars, vent visors, tint, etc are all visual mods but mods that actually serve a functional purpose. So the return on investment is way faster then a $100+ performance part that adds a 1/2MPG.

You are correct, fancy paint, emblems, fancy wheels and decals serve no purpose other then visual appeal.