I do not understand what you are talking about at all.. If you look here the ones I see that will work on your rig have the same bends or lesser of a bend compared to the $250-350 CAI's, Material? okay the ones I am looking at are made of aluminum that should last a very long time. Many of the K&N and others made of plastic are just as likely to crack as well, matter of fact if you look at my setup and see where the bolt goes into the throttle body, well they are known to crack there as well..
(you also could do a little tweaking as well to make it fit better.. cut, add ext..)

As I said I don't see your argument of bends and quality of material being justified. If the products are looked at you would see they have smooth bends and in some cases the exact same bends, along with being made of durable materials, only performance and quality factor at all is they come with very cheap filters, this I already have suggested to throw away and replace with a quality filter such as as K&N cone filter.

So, look here and find one that you like.
http://motors.shop.ebay.com/items/_C...774c0&_fcsfc=0

Buy one and then replace the filter with a quality one (just be sure it has the same diameter inlet as the tube is)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/K%26N...#ht_500wt_1208


You can buy the more expensive ones, I could care less.. I am simply trying to save you from throwing money away that you could use for another upgrade that actually would give you a performance gain, because its a fact that you could get a better performance gain by going with a cheaper CAI set up and using the saved money on other upgrades such as a Fastman Throttle body or a Transgo shift kit.

 

That is what I am trying to get to the bottom of. Who has any experience with any of these? Some have inferior material and buying them would amount to throwing good money after bad. Others, just re-route the air intake without getting cooler air into the engine, which is the objective.

Most of the intake you see out there are for hte 5.2 which monts differently than the 4.7 and thus provides a straighter pipe for the air to travel through.

If you look through the various options on that E-Bay page that you provided, there is even a set up that is nothing more than a 'Y'. This would allow for more air to be brought to the engine, but you are just bringing the hot ar up from the headers.

Just trying to see what people are using. I am not opposed to using something less expensive, not cheaper.

You have the K&N system. Are you happy with it? the CAI do help, I know that for a fact from using it on my Jeep. Once again, the intake on my Jeep is the Hat type since it is a 5.2 L engine.

 

Yes that y pipe you mentioned is basically worthless when trying to bring cold air in.
And yes you bet CAI help out, but your not going to notice on bit of difference between them at the pedal unless you go all out, and that being a ram air hood then you would notice that gain from all the other CAI's, the rest of them are all going to fill the same at the pedal. I am very happy with my K&N setup.. As I said I only paid $25 for it brand new, got lucky and purchased it off a guy who had wrecked his truck before putting it on, and just wanted to get it out of his garage.. I would of not paid more then $50-70 for it though. I had already done my homework and seen that I could get the the same performance from using one of those cheaper Aluminum setups and replacing the cheap filter, then using the saved $$$ on another upgrade like Fastman throttle body.

I would get one like this for your setup and replace the cheap filter.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Car-...#ht_4223wt_946

I would not aim the filter so downward.. I then would fab a little type box somewhat like is what I have on my setup. Just something that kind of blocks the heat from the exhaust.
Something I plan on doing but have not done yet is running a tube from the front (like the guy who posted a link that made his own intake) and just have it directing air from the front and blowing it over the K&N filter. Just a little more cold air being added by doing that.
(here is that link https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...ir-intake.html )

Lets just say you end up spending $100 on the complete setup I just described above. You still saved $200 that you now can spend on another performance upgrade.

Then I would add this with the money saved.
http://www.thefastman.com/ThrottleBodies47.asp

You do that then you would have a BIG performance gain. Way Way Way better then just going out and paying $300 for a expensive CAI system..

 

Those intakes are POS. They only bring hot air in!

Unless bringing cold air in you are wasting your time.

Here is some info on a cheap very efficent CIA using the factory air box and a drop in air cleaner. A functional ram air intake would be the perfect thing, but unless you want to spend that kinda cash, it's not worht it.

First thing first...... you got to bring cold fresh air in. The only way to do this is piping or hood intake. Other than that your wasting your time.

The air under your hood is hot! Even with the pictured air intake up there ^^^^ your still taking in hot air from under the hood.

Here is some info that DRO318 was talking about:

Custom made Front RAM air intake
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen-...ir-intake.html
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen-...e-ram-air.html

And reduction of air issues........ Please!!!!!!

First you need a bored TB and with a ram air and true CIA.

Even with all that, my truck gets as much air as it can breath and with P&P heads, exhaust, and TB, bring it in and pushing it out it's plenty fine.

Stop over thinking!

 

Would you then say for the money that I have to spend, to just get a good filter for my stock box and spend the money on a Fastman TB?

 

Fastman Tb and save up for a CAI

 

+ 2 on that
After you set up the ram air the engine gets forced cool air not just cooler air that is just less restricted.
I'm not downing the K&N setup but
Forcing air into an engine will make more power any way you go whether it is blown or custom ram air. This is a fact just think about it
I'd go for the fastman tb after you figure out how to setup the ram air for cheap. my setup cost about 30 bucks

 

Okay that should be enough convincing... I just didn't want to see this guy go out and spend $300 on a CAI, its just not worth it. Buy a Fastman TB and do a little homemade CAI for the same amount of money and get WAY better of a performance gain then spending $300 on a over priced CAI.

Fastman better start giving me some type of kickback or discount lol, I send a lot of business his way, But he sure does a great job.

 

Dan at www.thefastman.com did at one time give a discount if you mentioned the DF. He still might be doing it but I'm not sure?

Thats right, do a DIY plumb in cold air direct from the front, K&N filter, and install a Fastman TB.

I'm fist on the kick back list. I think there's a number machine......LOL

 

It works for me. I bought Fastman TB first, and then built my custom ram air intake. You don't notice the power gain much while in town driving, but on hwy, definitely you can feel the difference when you slam the pedal.