No matter what speed the engine is turning at the filter will be higher flow than the stock one. The engine is breathing easier whether you can noticeably feel it or not. The intake is going to pull more air at higher rpms and it will help it breath better up there. You just have to start at square one with this sort of thing and work you way up. Look at Shott and Silver_Dodges (many more aso just the first 2 I thought of) trucks, those are examples of where you can go with a stock truck. The intake alone is not going to turn your truck into a screaming hot rod, it is a piece of a much bigger picture and when it is coupled with other mods its presence will be felt.

 

oh ya I know, but I figured I would be able to feel some sort of difference. Anyway yeah I have a flowmaster 40 muffler, magnaflow cat, the FIPK, plan on getting a fastman tb, hypertech, headers. Over time I will feel the change.

 

Yep you should. The Magnoflow cat, headers and Fastman are next on my list also. Just gotta make that money.

 

You've probably noticed I have pretty much the exact same setup as far as tires and gearing, etc. I'm suprised you haven't noticed much of a difference. My off the line is still sluggish, but the mid range power definetly felt better according to the 'ol butt dyno. As you've indicated, I really didn't notice a mileage increase either.
Now I must confess, when I needed to clean my filter element, I decided to bolt on a bigger filter, based on the recommendations from hughes engines. I added the larger Spectre "Power adder" element which I'd guess is another 40% larger than the K&N. I know it didn't help my low end much, but I really noticed a difference in highway performance! Sadly, no mileage increase. However, you can really hear that thing pull in the air!

Honestly, I believe with most bolt ons, the PCM eventually resets itself to the factory air /fuel ratio programed into it. Yes you lean up the motor with an airfilter exhaust change, but the PCM recognizes this, and adjusts the fuel curve to compensate. Most people get the power benefit but seldom see a long term mileage increase.

 

Problem is, a stock PCM can only adjust fuel to a certain degree, and then that is all it is able to do because anything more then that is outside of the tables values it has to work with. So eventually, even with just bolt-ons, you reach a point were the stock PCM is no longer able to compensate, and you no longer are getting the full potential out of your mods. That is where a custom flash comes in handy. Gives your PCM new table values so it can handle larger ranges of sensor inputs, and work better with the mods you have. Granted, a CAI by itself is probably well within the specs of a stock PCM. But start changing your TB bore, intake mods, head mods, exhaust mods, maybe a cam, and you will definetly need something besides your stock PCM.

 

and the only solution to that is a mopar pcm? can't be thing the only thing, how bout a hypertech?

 

The best solution is a custom flash from someone like KRC or B&G. They take the mods you have, and give the PCM all new values to work best with what you got. There are lots of pros and cons with doing a custom flash though. I can get into those if you want, or else do a search.

The Mopar Performance PCM is also a decent solution, but it is a little more generic then a custom flash. So there is again a point where it would be at its max too. I used to be really against Mopar Performance PCM's (do a search, and you might find my rants about them from a year or two ago), but then I reached a point where my stock PCM wasn't cutting it, and my programmer felt like it also wasn't helping me get the most out of my mods. So I went to the Mopar Performance PCM, and now I will probably only go back to my stock PCM if I sell the truck. It was a great mod, really woke up the truck with the mods I currently have. That is how I know that the Hypertech wasn't able to fully utilize what I had on the truck. I may get a custom flash someday on my stock PCM too so I can compare with the Mopar Performance PCM.

Programmers like Hypertech and Superchips help, but they are really designed for stock or near stock vehicles. Reason is, they only add a little timing, a little fuel, and that is about it. Everything else is stock settings. But if all you have is a CAI and a free flow muffler, then a programmer would probably be an ok way to go, plus you can still run at least mid grade fuel.

 

thanks for the info silver dodge, but I'm still convinced I should be able to feel my mods without the help of a custom flash/mopar pcm/ or chip. I seriously wish I had a set of 265 tires I could put on to get my power back and then do some testing.

I called up K&N today and told them I've felt no gains in acceleration or throttle response since I've installed it. Told them I haven't experienced any sort of milage increase even though I know they do not gaurentee that, people claim they have seem some. I asked him would I even see gains around the 2000 RPM mark and he said yes I should definitely be able to tell a difference. He told me I could go to where I got it and return it, but I got it off a store on ebay and they only do things up to 30 days, but he said to call back if I can't do that. So I could either call him back and try to return it/exchange it, or keep it. I'm still confused as to why I haven't felt any performance, I mean even with 285's and 3.55, I should be able to feel a difference from before installation to afterwards. I even took it out yesterday and floored it twice (first time, so I can't compare to before hand) and it really went no where, nor did I hear any noises like it sucking air, just that same rattling noise I cant pinpoint. I guess theres a slight chance theres something wrong with this one but they claim to test them on dyno's before selling and if they didn't see performance gains they wouldn't have let it out. I think I might try to get an exchange if possible, I'll have to call back and find out. wish I got his name, from previous experience I'll call back and gunna get someone who says something completely different and won't let me return it.

 

Any chance that there is something else wrong with your truck that is preventing your mods from really making any noticable difference. Clogged cat, fouled injector, bad tune, leaky plenum for example?

 

Really don't know to much about the truck to know what could be wrong, but i've had a rattle since I bought it and I figured it was the cat so I had it replaced but the rattle is still there, so I got a new cat, unless somethings wrong with that but I doubt it. With the FIPK. When exactly do you hear the noise from inside the cab? When I floored my truck it only went to bout 3-3.5k RPM's not any higher, and still didn't hear a sound.