Ok - before I get blasted for not searching, I promise you I have been searching with no success on finding feedback on the M1 MPI intake. Evidently the search engine will not include the "M1" because it's "too long or too short in the title".

Here's where I'm at...If I had loads of money to throw at this truck, I'd probably just go out and get a newer Hemi model, so I'm trying to keep this low budget to have a good ol' truck.

Like many of you, I'm at the stage where I ordered the Hughes Plenum kit ($165 shipped) for the repair. I wanted to order the Airgap however, wife, 2 kids and summer vacations coming up - there are many other things I'd rather put money into to justify the $500 increase over the fix (with shipping).

However, the M1 MPI intake I'm seeing priced about $450 thus only a $300 difference. I see most are big fans of Hughes and the only complaint I'm reading is the M1 offers only mid to high rpm improvement. I don't do a lot of mudding / off-roading / etc., mainly suburban city and highway driving. I find when I go to pass someone I'm putting my foot down with very little happening. So the mid to high range power is what I'd like to get.

OR....for the same price range and even easier install - should I just fix the plenum and go with the H&S roller rockers for the mid to high rpm issues? Yes - a cam and head work would be much better, but again - I just don't want to sink that much into it.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

******if it was me**********


i would not put a M1 dodge close to stock truck, the weight of the truck you will lose bottom end

so i would go with the air gap

but if i had a wife and kids i would spend the money on there vacations and in joy life while they are kids with no problems like bill's, family problems...ect

so the Hughes Plenum kit would be in order, also you can do the kegger mod to help with mid to higher power band,, you most liky will not lose bottom end power

still looking for more power,, the 1.7 rockers

still looing for more power,,, sct tuner, which is problem NEEDED if you have the death flash

*******just my thoughts******

 

On a stock motor, the Air GAp is going to lose bottom end also. THe factory kegger is a bottom end machine and neither the Airgap or the M1 is going to keep bottomend on a stock motor. Both require additional supportings mods to really open them up and show their full potential. The M1 is made for a 2 barrel throttle body, while the Airgap uses aan adapter to use our throttle body. The 2 barrel M1 is designed from the ground up to be used as we are, not hacked to make it work on our trucks. If your planning on adding the supporting mods I would go with the M1, if you are going to keep the motor stock, keep the kegger and spend the money else where. Rockers and a tuner. Just my 2 cents. Take it as you will.

 

Stock manifold: Good low end. Looses it up top.

Hughes Air Gap: Dual plane manifold, best for mid, to top end power. Good compromise for a street truck.

M1: Single plane manifold, more designed for the upper RPM range, not really where a street truck lives.......

The hughes, and M1 will give you a power boost, just depends on where you want it. They will also nicely compliment additional mods. Heads, cam, headers, etc.

The big question becomes, what is going to be the primary duty of your truck? Street? Off Road? Mudding?

 

this is a totally 'for what it's worth' and solely from my perspective:

The 1.7rr's went in the same time I did the plenum fix, and SCT'd the PCM (removing the death flash).. I can't tell you there was a huge gain by putting them in there to be absolutely honest- but, again, I did them with the plenum repair so it's really hard to distinguish where the gains came from.. Beyond doubt the SCT did some great stuff for the truck though..

I also did gears- moving to 4.56:1.. THAT, was a seat in the pants change for the good. Moving around town, the gas mileage is up- not so much on the open road though. I feel very confident I can move whatever I hitch up to with this truck, and I also feel confident the tranny is under a lot less stress.

I bring gears up because: ultimately I went with the FI.. there is a substantial gain for me.. BUT- the gears keep me in an operational range where the FI is better- when it was the keg, there was a slower curve somewhere around 3kRPM. with the FI, I'm feeling a lot more jump at around 2.4K.. Understand though, the gears make that 'softer' area in the curve a LOT more responsive than either the keg or the FI is capable of doing by itself..

I spill this across your screen to impart: it isn't just the one mod here or there that makes the difference.. It's mods that compliment each other.. The only mod that stands by itself, imho, is the SCT..well, and the efan.. the efan was a great mod for my ride..

If you do 1.7rr's with a feeble plenum gasket, your not going to see the gains. If you do them w/o opening up the exhaust and the intake, you're limiting their effects.. It's almost a package deal- plenum fix (no matter which route you take), 1.7's, exhaust (headers, + a better Y pipe at the very least), good breathing air intake be it 14x3, CAI, or even just a better flowing filter on the stock box.. of course, all that and the SCT to boot will net you great gains.. toss in good ignition, plugs, wires, cap+rotor- and you're in business..

In retrospect, I don't think I would even bother with anything but the plenum fix and good tune up unless I planned on going with at least the above mentioned stuff too.. They compliment each other very well..

One last thing: the FI totally eliminated concerns about the plenum ever again- and that is what won me over. I don't know if it would be worth it if it didn't eliminate that concern.. I don't know if I would like the thing so much if my gearing didn't keep me in the RPM range the FI likes..

anyway, hope this helps.

 

the airgap and the m1 will end up being same in price , the airgap come all in a kit ,which was one of the reason why i bought it. i did not notice any low end lose. i think i gained some actaully. top end is day and night from the kegger. its all come down i you want to lay down 600 bucks or not.
it was def hard for me to hit the checkkout button lol

 

Are you talking about the 2-in-1-out cat or the actually y-pipe then into the cat?

 

I guess what I was trying to say was the factory Y was the restriction on the system.. If I had got rid of the Y at the beginning, and replaced it with a better Y of some sort- be it a two in one out cat (I looked but couldn't find one), or a Jegs 'off road' Y, I likely wouldn't have messed with anything else.. I had already done shorty headers, and already had all the parts and pieces to go true dual when I went to eliminate the Y..

I took a lot of pictures when I did the exhaust, but the one picture I failed to take (and as it turns out the only one I really SHOULD have taken) was the factory Y cut open... It basically took two pipes (guessing they were 2.25") and literally squeezed them together with a slightly larger pipe, and then went into the cat.. I can't weld, but I can cut my *** off.. While a bud was welding up the exhaust I cut that thing open in curiosity.. We both marveled at the stupidity of that thing.. choke central..

if I had it to do all over again, my very first thing to do to the exhaust would be to cut out the OE Y, and see how I liked it before I did anything else... my gut feeling is THAT would have made me happy enough to leave the rest of it alone.. and spent that $$ somewhere else.

 

just to clear his up a little

1994-1999, the Catalytic Converter was 2 pipes going in and 1 going out, acted as a y-pipe and a Catalytic Converter


2000+ y-pipe then Catalytic Converter(which is 1 inlet in 1 outlet out)

 

And to add my 2 cents into the pot and stir...

I had the 2 into one OEM cat which in theory would have bypassed the crappy oem y that came on later models. I still felt what I consdered a pleasing boost when I went to an aftermarket y and highflow cat. Of course in going to a 3" in/out cat I was also bumping up froma 2.5" chokepoint to a 3" one since I had already replaced everything rear of the cat with three inch tube some time ago.