[Alan Hicks]

I'm looking to do some serious upgrades to my stock 02 4x4 and thought this would be a good time to get some expert opinions on the major players in the air filter business for our trucks.

I currently have a stock truck that I intend to do induction, exhaust, chip, and gauge mods to. I don't need anything fancy or exceptionally strong, as I have PMRs and don't care to test their limits. I'm looking at getting between 300-325 RWHP on a high chip setting, and have no plans to go with bigger injectors in the future.

What I would like is to hear from people that have tested all the prime contenders, or at least some of them, and have some accurate numbers such as how many cfpm each will flow, and how well each product protects the engine from particulates. As I often travel on dirt roads, that can be a big deal for me.

The contenders that I am considering are as follows:

AFE Stage I - I'm not sure that I'd ever want this, as it seems to be the little cousin to the Stage II and isn't significantly cheaper.

AFE Stage II - From what I have heard this intake flows better than all the others and thus is capable of supporting big turbos and high horsepower. It is also one of the pricier intakes you can buy.

AIS/Donaldson - I have heard that this intake is basically what the 6.0L PSD trucks use, and that it's filtration is far superior to the stock airbox and beats all other aftermarket products as well. I have heard mixed reviews about how much air it will flow without the fender sleeve, however. Does anyone have decent numbers on a donaldson with and without the fender sleeve? (I have also heard that the fender sleeve can cause water and snow to shoot up into the intake. Is there any truth to this?)

Tymar - Certainly the DIY cheapest thing out there, but how well does this thing filter, and how well does it flow?

Thanks for any information y'all can provide. I've looked at several sites that sell these, but their advertisements are almost always more fluff than stuff.

 

[JohnT]

I can only post about the tymar. By what ive seen, it filters almost as good as the AIS, and flows plenty of air.

 

[bigrpowr]

doesnt tymar use the donaldson?

 

[CSIPSD]

Ran the tymar... Good... Ran the AIS... OK... Ran the AFE stage 2... The best for higher HP... Of all three... The Tymar is about the best... But I love my AFE2...

 

[Charles]

I honestly cannot tell one bit of difference from one filter to the next, to a filter dirty as hell to no filter at all. And neither can the dyno.

My buddie's supra runs a K&N filter about 8 inches long and about 6 inches around running over 1000rwhp. It did 1086 with the filter on and I took it off just the check on an engine moving that much air and it did 1082 with it off (so no change).

For what you are doing, I would go with the largest paper element filter you can fit on the truck. Paper is very good filtration and with the biggest size you can fit you've got the most filter area so the highest flow you could possibly have for that level of filtration.

I however don't see anything over 500rwhp lasting long enough to warrant an air filter at all. I run a K&N to keep the big stuff out and it flows plenty.

Good Luck.

 

[Haul_n_horses2]

I currently have a stock truck that I intend to do induction, exhaust, chip, and gauge mods to. I don't need anything fancy or exceptionally strong, as I have PMRs and don't care to test their limits. I'm looking at getting between 300-325 RWHP on a high chip setting, and have no plans to go with bigger injectors in the future.

<snip>

AIS/Donaldson - I have heard that this intake is basically what the 6.0L PSD trucks use, and that it's filtration is far superior to the stock airbox and beats all other aftermarket products as well. I have heard mixed reviews about how much air it will flow without the fender sleeve, however. Does anyone have decent numbers on a donaldson with and without the fender sleeve? (I have also heard that the fender sleeve can cause water and snow to shoot up into the intake. Is there any truth to this?)

I have had the AFE Stage 1, OEM, drop in K&N and AIS. Of all of these, the UOA is best with the AIS. It filters better than the Donaldson or Baldwin versions of the Tymar and may flow nearly as much. I put the fender sleeve in this summer so I have not had a winter's worth of use out of it. It does diminish the restriction in the airbox. (Pat Dolan showed that the restriction was mostly related to the airbox and not the filter, LOL) Anyway, with the fender liner and a layer of sheet metal between the open wheel well and the fender sleeve, I am not worried about snow/water intrusion. More worried about that with the Zoodad mod than the fender sleeve. We shall see.

 

[Alan Hicks]

I appreciate the feedback, but has anyone done any real flow testing to determine how well these systems perform both for air-flow and filtration? It's mostly a curiosity thing for me, as I'm certain any of them would be fine for my limited mods.

 

[Soaggydogg]

My truck has a Tymar, my parents Ex has a Tymar, my Ex came with a AIS and I switched to AFE 2.

I would have preferred to keep the AIS on my Ex but it wouldn't flow enough air for the H2E.

 

[Haul_n_horses2]

My truck has a Tymar, my parents Ex has a Tymar, my Ex came with a AIS and I switched to AFE 2.

I would have preferred to keep the AIS on my Ex but it wouldn't flow enough air for the H2E.

My AIS would suck down to 3/4 of the way on the filter minder with the H2e. Put the fender sleeve on and now is only sucks down to 1/2! It's not a big issue for me as I rarely am at WOT. 99.9% of the time I am willing to sacrifice a little air for better filtration.

 

[Pocket]

I have no idea what the differences in flow rate is for these filters. But.....

I ran the homemade Tymar style filter for over 2 years, and I'm currently running the AFE Stage II. After the swap, there was zero difference in power. The only benefit I got from the AFE is the engine and turbo noise is reduced in the cab, and the engine compartment has some additional bling. The only reason I went with the AFE Stage II is because I picked one up for dirt cheap.

In your case since you are keeping stock injectors, the AFE or the DIY setup will flow way more air than your truck will even use. The only one that might be a slight restriction is the AIS, but with the fender sleeve mod I doubt you would ever notice any problem with airflow. Pick one and have fun.

 

[dieselpuller444]

I used an afe pg7 filter. I got the biggest one that would fit in place of the stock airbox. Used pvc reducers to neck down the 5.5" filter inlet. Cost me $115 total and a little ******* engineering and it works great.

 

[CATdiezel]

My AIS would suck down to 3/4 of the way on the filter minder with the H2e. Put the fender sleeve on and now is only sucks down to 1/2! It's not a big issue for me as I rarely am at WOT. 99.9% of the time I am willing to sacrifice a little air for better filtration.

My F550 sucks the AIS down about 20% of the way at WOT but its only chipped and exhausted


I also Chose the AIS over everything else because of its awsome filtering capabilitys being that my truck spends 75% of its time on construction sites. And the dust FLY's.......

Haul_n_horse2 Do you have any pictures of the AIS fender sleeve mod?

 

[Haul_n_horses2]

No pics of the sleeve mod. There are good pics on the vendor's site.

 

[Alan Hicks]

What vendor has the AIS with the fender sleeve?

 

[Haul_n_horses2]

What vendor has the AIS with the fender sleeve?

Sent you a PM. I am not sure who is a sponsor of the site yet.

 

[Kanman]

If you go the AFE direction consider getting the dry element. IMO the AFE dry filter splits the difference between the high flowing oil element on the AFE Pro Guard element and the safer higher filtering Ford AIS.

Alan commented earlier about the H2E not getting enough flow with the AIS. Seems to me like Hypermax is trying to tell us something here. I believe at this time there is no filter available that "PERFECTLY" filters/flows to the needs of a turbo like the H2E. It's all about compromise.

 

[Slated4Greatness]

300 -325 HP and a lot of time on dirt roads. I'd go with the AIS.

 

[gregrob]

I think a large paper element is the best "compromise" out there.

Filters great, and the large surface area of the filter makes great flow possible as well.