there was some concern that removing the rubber rad flaps might decrease the cooling capacity of the radiator as it funnels and "scoops" air at highway speeds and assists with a larger "catch of cold air for the fan at idle. On a hot day, you should probably warm up the truck and idle for 10 min with and without the flaps and note the temps to see if there's a big difference. Idle would be my only worry.

I ran without the passenger side for about 1 1/2 years and bought a new one as I didn't like the looks of the build up of debris on the PCM.

 

You could always get a better CAI like the Volant system and use the air ram by simply cutting out the rubber and inserting the ram end through there. Plus, the Volant takes air flow from the fender well vs. in the engine bay as your intake is setup.

However, due to the nature of this subject and results of a few dyno tests in which some state significant gains vs. some tests where it was recorded that no gains were seen with a CAI vs. OEM stock intakes etc, this is one area that I don't want to go into.

But, the whole point of the CAI is to intake air that is colder than the engine bay temp. So, when your intake is sitting above your headers, the heat rises and the intake is sucking in hot air- not cold nor cool air for that matter. You may as well pull that off and run a 14 by 3 inch round hat as you will be getting the same results- in fact, some note an improvement with that type of setup.

The sole purpose of the rubber there is in attempt to maximize the airflow through the radiator vs. going around it. Solving one issue creates another issue with that method in my opinion. When removing the rubber pieces, the radiator may not cool as well as it did with them in place however, I have never measured nor spoke to anyone that has measured the difference so, I don't know if it's worse or not but, in theory, it would be safe to assume that it would not work as well.

Like someone stated earlier though, the proof is in the end results (the pudding) so long as you know where your baseline was and that you can assure that the setup was in correct operational mode.

If you had a vac-leak or gasket issues or, perhaps some other anomaly in your setup that you were unaware of, informing others on how well it does without it may / could end up being misleading.

Now, if one was 100% positive that everything was fine, then, by all means, tell the world....

 

truly the only reason i put the CAI on this truck is because it was cheap and cleaning that air filter is easier and cheaper than replacing the stock filter.

more convienence than performance

heck...when it comes down to it...i drive this truck to work and back, pull my boat, and haul around the stuff that SWMBO tells me to. as long as it works and will last...im happy.

 

Me too...I thought it couldnt hurt since half the air filter was missing and the retainer theaded shaft busted off in the throttlebody when I got the truck.... For the must part cold air intakes do have advantages in certian circumstances and proper setup. With the side rubber pieces gone theres is so much air blowing around under the hood its unlikely the header heat really has a huge effect.....Plus my plan was to get another piece of pvc and extend it up where the rubber piece used to be anyway but I had more pressing things to do like change my stat cause it was climbing to 220 while driving....(180-185 now)

I'll have to test it out on a hot day and see if it gets too hot idling..I understand the theory behind it but my rubber pieces were destroyed from the PO putting in the body lift anyway. Plus its so open all around that while going down the road I couldnt see it being an issue and even at a standstill it never went over 185 today and it ran a good 20 mins in the driveway.

 

i set in traffic in the heat with the air blowin and the stereo blarin...never even thinks of overheating.

ive got to do the plenum thing and will put a new thermostat in then...but just as preventative maint.

 

whats the PCM

 

I think it stands for "programable computer module"....either way its the computer.

 

Powertrain
Control
Module.

AKA the engine computer.

 

I would leave those rubber things in, they increase the positive pressure coming into the front of the truck through the rad.

In order to decrease engine bay temps, you should focus on making air escape the engine bay. which in most engine bays is at the back like under the firewall, or through the fenders.

Honestly on these trucks, the more you can seal up around the rad, the better off you are since these engine bays have alot of space.

Edit, I was also taught that the purpose of TB spacers is to increase the distance between the TB and valve so that the fuel mixture can atomize better. But since we have port injection instead of carb or tbi, TB spacers are useless. The difference you feel is probably a mental trick.

 

+1000000.