I just ordered the 74.99 cai kit from latemodelrestoration. Did a search, thank you guys for the link, that sucker is cheaper than I could've built myself. I just don't trust the spectre kits at the zone. Not to mention it is 149 and this one shipped to my door was less than 90.

Just for you guys worried about the engine heat and the metal pipe heres a tidbit of info...

I put a giant filter (napa 6637) setup on my powerstroke, no engine heat shields, and it dropped my exhaust temps by 50*, so more engine bay warmed air probably nets you more than not enough cold air in the stock box.

The kit has a box around it, I'll go to lowes and get some weatherstrip to run around the top to seal around the hood.

 

that same one is also on ebay for $60 shipped.

Where are you in MO?

 

I am about 60 miles south of St Louis...
No kidding, I'm gonna go look, I don't have real good luck with ebay though. Been stiffed a couple times in the past, haven't used em in years though...

On the modification note, I wanna upgrade the exhaust in the near future, and what would be required, not what would look cool, as in how much will certain size pipes support? I just want something performance too, I'm past loud, family truck, so don't want loud anymore. Been behind a 97 deisel for 8 years, and right now the quiet truck is awful nice.

I will probably do something and turn out about where the factory pipe is, but here is all I wanna do at the present...

CAI
Small to medium sized cam, still want low end, so a big fat one is out of the question.
Exhaust
Tune by ......open to suggestions

My question is though, how much does a 2.5 pipe support two 2.5s, 3 in, two 3 in, etc. that kind of numbers...

 

A 2.5" pipe should be more than enough for what you're doing. I'm assuming you have a 5.3, no?

You around farmington? I went to a gun show down there recently.

As for exhaust, longtube headers are what you are looking for. That's what's going to give you the best gain from any exhaust modifications.

 

Really? I live out of town, but Farmington address, you go to the show at the civic center, or excuse me Centene center....? Where are you from?

I am thinking headers too, just forgot to list em. Are they smog legal though? We don't have sniffers here yet, but its coming.
Does the stock muffler flow very well, I would think that would be the first thing on the exhaust side. Ya I have a 5.3 iron block.

 

I changed my muffler out for a 22" magnaflow and gained nothing performance wise. It's probably the worst mod I've done because all it does is drone. I'd love to have a stock muffler back in, especially to get that stock quiet on the highway.

Yeah, the gun show was at the civic center. I live in st. louis city.

As far as emissions goes, they don't even do the sniffer on our newer cars. They just plug into the OBDII and check for any codes. I do run cats with my longtubes though just because the fuel smell got old after a while with no cats.

The biggest restriction in the entire stock exhaust are the manifolds. So I would change those out if you want some good gains. My longtubes picked up 28rwhp and about 22rwtq if I remember correctly. That was without cats.

 

OH, ok, until you said without cats I was like dang, gotta look under my hood, the stock primaries must be like 3/4 inch or something...

 

if i had the cash id get ARH headers and a corsa touring catback and the comp cam xr259.the power starts really low and still has power at 5k rpm.
welcome to the site

 

OFF TOPIC: I lived in Farmington for a while when I was younger. Lived at the golf course (Bridlewood Country Club) that was on Route 68 coming into town. There was a Ford Dealership across the road.

 

i have the zone cai, i like it, probably gonna upgrade it with a kn filter, but for now it works well