Better breathing will tend to move engine torque up a bit in the RPM band, BUT we are talking A LOT better breathing, like heads, headers, CAI and a free exhaust. CAIs by themselves just don't change enough to experience this.

Even with a CAI, long tube headers and a free flowing "Y" pipe and muffler I really didn't have any low end loss, no feelable gains, but no loss either. Now in the mid to upper ranges, it's a whole 'nuter beast...

 

I'm in the same boat. New DIY CAI and truck sounds great, but after driving it a bit, it does seem sluggish. I did the throttle body cleaning + I installed new copper plugs. I have had the neg. off of battery...does it matter...pos. or neg.? I have about 102,000 miles and I have not changed the PCV or EGR. I guess I better get with it! Do you guys think this will help? And yes, I'm in colder climate (southern OK) and most of my trips are 20 miles or less. Anything else to check? Thank you!!

 

I'm just going to toss this in the pile, as it's something I figured out last weekend..

I have three filter.. two of them are Spectre's, but of drastically different design.. One is a Volant, that looks very similar to one of the Spectre's..



we had a substantial forest fire up here in the spring, and there were tons of ashes floating about.. I noticed the truck was howling for air, and decided a peek at the filter was in order.. I swung by the parts store and picked up the spectre pictured for $20 or so, and slapped it on in the parking lot.. I had also purchased a re-charge kit to hit the Volant and other Spectre with when I got home..

Instantaneous improvement.. I thought to myself "wow, that Volant was really clogged up".. I went home and cleaned it, and decided to let it dry for a few days before re-installing it..

a few days turned into a few months.. I put the truck on the road last weekend for about a 250 mile trip with the Volant, and it floggin' chugged the gas... the vacuum gauge was acting strange, and the truck had that strange howl again..

When I got home, I put the Spectre (pictured, the blue one) back on, and guess what? Back to normal..

What I'm getting at, is it is now my personal opinion that the open ended design of that blue spectre is far superior to the similar design of teh other two.. yours is more akin to the 'bad' design than the 'good' one, as it has a closed end just like the Volant, and most K&N's I see folks using..

It's a ~$20 venture to see if this helps you, and in worst case scenario, you have an extra filter.. give it a shot and see if your flow has actually been reduced due to the design of the CAI you bought in comparison to the OE one.. I bet a dollar the 'blue' Spectre breathes better than either, and that it filters just as good.

 

I have a Spectre filter with the hole in the end. I got it because it looked like it would work with the ram air system I wanted to run. I'm ducting air from the fog lamp hole into the hole in the spectre. Looks pretty good, but my truck is a chuggin'. Running sluggish. Will be looking at the pcv and egr as was suggested here. I agree though...it does look like a better filter by the way it's designed. Just my humble opinion though...

 

Actually, I've found that the Spectre filters are cheap garbage! Pyro had one on his Fleaby CAI that broke. When I rebuilt his out of PVC we found that by playing around with an air compressor that my K&N flowed WAY BETTER than the Spectre. Nothing scientific here, just blowing compressed air and feeling what was reaching the inside with your hand. BUT it was substantial enough that he tossed the Spectre in the garbage and we took a ride to Advance where he bought a $35 K&N.
I hadn't thought of this until Drew brought up Spectre. It's possible they have a "low end" and a "high end" filter since he found one that seems to flow better than another. His was a closed end model and it could be the open end one is better, regardless you won't ever see me using a Spectre filter.

 

I was speaking more to the design that anything.. I agree Spectre is much cheaper than K&N and Volant, but until I lay my hands on one of those two with a similar design, I'll run the Spectre.. I'm not talking filter surface area either- I'm thinking it's that cone filtered end as opposed to the solid end.. It's not a little different, it's a lot.. Usually, I don't buy into the benefits of CAI's, and think it's more marketing plow than anything, but dang, that red Spectre pictured, and the Volant that looks similar don't flow NEAR what the blue open ended one does..

 

I had a cai on my last truck and yes, all it did was move the torque into a higher rpm. The top end is where the benefit was but not outstanding by any measure. This time around I just got the Airaid air tube that goes to the oem airbox with a K&N drop in. My opinion, no matter which one you get it will free up some flow only if you have an exhaust that can get rid of it on the other end. Im not a big believer in CAI's. If you dont have one, use that money for a programmer. You can only take in as much air that ur stock intake manifold will let in anyway. Thats my opinion.

 

where is the pcv on my 06? How easy is it to change?

 

I agree, the big restriction here is the "Hemi Hat" in front of the TB. It's a resonator to muffle sound, especially that of the EGR opening and closing. On a very mildly modded vehicle, a higher flow drop in and just removing that "hat" performs just as well as a CAI. Now when you do other things to increase the flow and use engine internals that can use that greater air volume, then a true CAI starts to show benefits. Now you start getting into a cam, heads and headers, you're gonna want a CAI.

I'd like to do one of the newer "dry-flow" filters like the AEM or Amsoil, but my K&N at seven years old is still in perfect shape and I can't see replacing it at least when there are other places in need to spend money on right now. My Jeep needs springs and isolators bad and that's money that HAS to be spent.

The PCV valve is mounted into the top of the intake manifold, located to the right / rear of the throttle body. Remove PCV valve by rotating counter-clockwise 90 degrees until locating tabs have been freed. After tabs have cleared, pull valve straight up from intake manifold.

If it's not totally shot, it can just be cleaned and re-installed...

 

Running the Spectre...so we'll see. I hope it doesn't fall apart or anything. It seems to be built pretty solid. I have the open ended one. Only time will tell I guess. I'm getting ready to get with the PCV and EGR inspection. I'm hoping to get the sluggishness out of my truck.
It's kinda frustrating to say the least. Pissing me off! Out to work on it...