I am currently looking into getting a new cold air intake and throttle body spacer for my 08 5.7 liter. I have read so many reviews and it seems half of them are done by company reps. So I came here for advice from actual users. Also every throttle body spacer I look at says that they cant guarantee compatibility with aftermarket intakes. Is anyone running an aftermarket cold air intake with a throttle body spacer? Any information would be great.

 

no gains with the TBS unless tapped for spray or needed to make fitment easier with the CAI.

I let someone jump in with CAI info.

 

Throttle body spacers on your truck will do NOTHING. Save your money.

As for Cold Air Intakes, i think their is a whole thread on them in the FAQ section but for the most part, it comes down to the looks and brand name of what you want. K&N, Airaid, BBK, Volant, aFe, etc. You can also make your own with PVC pipe pretty easily. They all simply replace the Hemi Hat and bring the air intake closer to the fender and use a high flow filter. Some have a sheild to block the engine heat. Ill be money you will not see any difference on a dyno from one brand over another. And if their is any difference, it will be so minimal you will not even feel it. They all work well. The only thing about the different models i would say is a downside is metal tubes. They do not insulate heat well although chrome tubes look nice. I would go with a plastic version.

Other then an exhaust i have no plans to do much else performance wise to my truck. My goal is to keep it running as long as possible. So i opted for the Modular Intake from Airaid. It removes the Hemi-Hat and smoothes out airflow but allows me to keep my stock (rain proof) airbox and to keep using paper filters which offer better filtration over gauze and foam types. And if i ever wanted, i could still drop a K&N plate filter in it. Unless you are doing any major mods, such as a programmer, headers, exhaust, etc. You don't NEED a Colid Air Intake and high flow filter setup. A basically stock truck is not starving for air.

 

NV290, I do intend to get a superchips tuner for my truck soon as well as maybe get some new headers. So would it be best to go ahead and do a CAI versus a normal intake? Also thanks for the info about the TBS. Everything I have read so far glorifies the hell out of them. They claim they actually speed up airflow and does all sorts of other fancy stuff.

 

They do work well with carb's but not so much with EFI.

 

And if you can show me how a throttle body spacer and the turbulent airflow they create can effect a system that utilizes a fuel rail to supply fuel to injectors that spray fuel directly into each cylinder then I'll eat my hat and go buy one.

When gas was introduced to the system AT the throttle body basically in the same way it was in carburetor days then yes, there was a benefit to having a spacer, but those days disappeared back in the 1990s...

 

Another thing that was an actual advantage with Carb Spacers was they were often made of plastic. The plastic served to help insulate the carburetor from the heat of the intake manifold which in turn would keep the fuel in the bowls a bit cooler. But even still, my guess would be the HP gained from slightly cooler fuel would be unnoticable.

But like Hammer said, the design of the intake manifold and fuel injection on these trucks make a Throttle body spacer completley worthless. You are literaly throwing money away if you buy one.

 

Thanks hammer and NV290. Thats why I registered for this forum. If I went off the information from the vendors i'd be broke and see little gain in performance on my pickup.