which intake is better for a 2003 H.O. AFE w/ torque tube or Volant .
Where does the volant sccop pick up cold air from?

 

I had a Volant Cold Air Intake on a prevoius Powerstroke that I owned. It is a very well constructed unit. On the Ford unit it used the stock intake tube, but also had a large oval intake on the inner fender well. The Volant had a 6" conical filter in a sealed box. The kit came with a new transition section from the air box to the turbo. The main reason that I went with the Volant is because it is a sealed unit and doesn't rely on the hood to make the top seal on the filter box like on the AFE unit. I know lots of folks that run the AFE intakes and are very happy with them.
I have a new 2005 CTD and haven't made up my mind on which unit I am going to use.

 

i like my AFE. Instead of getting the torque tube, I just removed the intake baffles. Very very well made unit.


Dave

 

I sell and used both... I think it comes down to what you feel more comfortable with. Volant makes nice intakes. AFE does as well. The Volant costs less and has a sealed airbox. The AFE costs more, but has a supposedly superior air filter too. So, it boils down to personal taste.

Do you spend more money and get what *should* be the better air filter as well? Or do you save some bucks, get a sealed airbox and still a Oiled-gauze air filter..??? I'll add another option as well. The Airaid Premium system. Not a sealed box like Volant, but open like AFE's and the Airaid comes with the Modular Intake Tube as well, which you don't get with a Volant and is extra (torque tube) on a AFE. And the Airaid is the least expensive as well.

The Volant filters are IMHO the ones that would pass dirt the easiest. Not saying they'll let dirt through, haven't seemed to yet. The AFE is 7 layer, and would in theory at least, be the best filtering. However I have an Airaid filter (4 cotton, 1 synthetic layer) in my truck and not a hint of dirt has made it through and it's a very beefy filter.

In the end, all 3 will perform about equally in terms of airflow. You wallet and you conscience are ultimately the deciding factor here. If you worry about the filter, I'd say Volant is off the list, Airaid is next and AFE is tops. If you worry about price, it'd be Airaid, Volant, AFE. Seems to me AFE might be the best all around and comforting choice.

 

I have a question i read somewhere that people were having problems with the oiled filters and the sensor that is between the filter and the turbo does this seem to be a problem to any of you that are using one of the above mentioned units, i too am undecided about which to buy. Will probably wait till my filter needs changing so it will be more justifiable with my wife.

 

This is only a problem if the filters are drowned in oil. Some people do that believe they filter better, and the excess gets sucked in with the intake air. It will mess with sensors, but the trick is to follow the directions and NOT over-oil the filters in the first place. You won't have any trouble.

 

Nice post, except for this last comment. The aFe ProGuard 7 filters do not flow anywhere near as much as aFe would have us believe. We've been comparing the standard aFe filter to the ProGuard 7 filter on a variety of trucks using aFe's air system, and in each case, the ProGuard 7 has been a massive restriction. On stock, or near stock trucks, the ProGuard was good for an extra 50F EGT above the standard aFe cotton gauze. On fairly heavily modified trucks (450HP), the ProGuard unit raised EGTs by 150-200F above their standard filter. We haven't had a chance to compare numbers above the 450HP mark yet.

I won't post the full test results, but these results have been gathered on 8 trucks thus far, with hopefully more results to come in next few months.

In short, stay away from the ProGuard element unless you are in dusty environments more than 50% of the time, and while you are in that dust, you are relatively high boost (more than 20 PSI). Otherwise, the standard cotton gauze filters just fine.

Rod

 

this may start a war but

neither
I was very dissapointed by my old gause type filter
im not gonna point fingers or say names or brands so dont even ask
but

I should have taken pictures of my intake tube

you could grow potatoes with all the dirt that was in there

go foam or look at AK ram's bhaf thingy

I would take a good look at the ram air III with the uni filter before spending the big loot on a gause filter

 

this is total BS

ive had many gause type filters on three different cummins powered trucks, all of them modded in some different ways
my new truck and my brothers 04.5 had dirt on the sensor and set codes
the dirt was NOT sticky or gummy, the dirt was dry dust
that means it did not have oil with the dirt

these trucks with a few mods create a lot of sucking power

if you can see through it
dirt can too

THE ONLY WAY you wont have trouble is if you dont drive in any dirt
or find a filter that works

sorry if this offends anyone but its the TRUTH

 

I think you'll find a lot of people who have absolutely zero trouble with their gauze filters. I've NEVER, and I mean never had any trouble with any of my vehicles, including my Ram with oil-coated sensors or dirt getting through. And I've had some pretty **** dirty airfilters with crap just caked on the outside, yet the inside was clean as a whistle.

You are right, not all filters are equal. But a filter could have a great media, but a lousy seal that lets dirty through. Is that not a possibility?

 

Fair enough. The pure nature of an air filter is such that you make a trade-off. Nothing that will flow tons of air is going to filter like a filter that is very restrictive. The trick is finding or thinking about what you need.

I run an Airaid myself....

The 3 extra layers of ProGuard 7 obviously pose a bigger restriction than the 4 layer AFE filters. But they also filter better too. Whether you need that or not is up to the individual.

As for foam filters. They do flow well, and they filter pretty well. But having used a ITG's, Uni-filters, and some HKS foam filters (and foam stuff on bikes) they all have two drawbacks that keep me from using them personally. 1. I've seen a lot of dirt on the backside and inside of foam filters. I've not had that trouble with properly fitting gauze filters. 2. Foam can become brittle with heat. It takes a while, and hopefully you'd watch, but I've seen a number of vehicles with foam filters that were just crumbling. That isn't exactly what I prefer from something that's supposed to keep stuff out of my intake.... Please note this is not a blanket statement. Not all foam filters are going to fall apart in a year. Not all foam filters will do a bad job filtering. But it can happen.

You will get a lot of opinions, and to a degree they are like a certain body part located below waist level in that EVERYONE has one. I'm simply offering mine. I can tell you that with all the stuff that's avaiable, I would not have picked the kit I run if I didn't believe it would work. Further, if I found it didn't, I'm not going to risk my $38k truck (sticker ) on a $200-300 intake system.

 

in these cases it had nothing to do with the seal

its the fact that theres not enough filtering media.

Im sure youll find a lot of people who never had a problem

youll also find a lot of people who dont know the difference if there is a problem

it really makes me angry when the I spend oodles of money to buy ,own and maintain a $45,000 vehicle that I gotta work my **** off to keep
and the "aftermarket" gives all these empty promises about reliability and "we'll stand behind you"
only to find out a month after you spent the money theres a retraction or
"well we really didnt test it in YOUR situation "
or "that really didnt perform to our expectation so you should spend more to update to this one"

or "your filter let dirt through so we are gonna jerk your engine warranty on your brand new $9000 motor"

 

Well, you haven't stated what filters you were using, and as I said not all filters are equal whether they are gauze, foam, or paper.

As for finding folks who don't know the difference. Sure, I agree a lot of folks are oblivious. However, most of those folks don't hang out on boards like this one. And I think it's pretty straight-forward that you should know it's an issue if you find dirt behind an air filter.

Not warring with you, I promise. Only pointing out possibilities as to why you might have had a problem because I've never had a filtering issue with a good oiled gauze filter.

 

What about the BHAF? I have a Volant and like it. I checked it out shortly after I installed it to see if oil/ dust was getting through the filter. All was well. I justed cleaned and re-oiled it this weekend and checked it out again after a few miles. All is still well. I honestly would have went with a BHAF if I could have found a good heat shield/ mounting to go with it. I didn't want it just banging around without a real mount and shield for it. I wanted to make sure it was protected from the elements such as rain and snow. The Volant kit is sealed from the top. It has it's own cold air box that the filter resides in. Yes it's not perfect but it does (I believe) prevent as much engine bay heat/ air from entering than others do. Hence, it draws cooler air. I also looked at the Scotty Ram Air and liked it. Similar design as it "seals" the hot engine bay from the filter element. What turned me off on the Scotty was that it isn't mounted down. It just sits there. I looked at a couple guys trucks here who have the Scotty and it was starting to rub through some wires or wire looms in vicinity of the filter housing. This was caused by the filter housing freely moving around that front passenger corner of the engine bay while driving. The Volant mounts in the original position as the stock OEM filter box. Fairly easy and clean set up. I'm not saying Volant is the best or worst. Just stating some observations I've made over the years. But like I said, if I could get a BHAF with a cold air box, I would have went that route. I know I could have fabbed something up but I was lazy. What ever system you get just remember, don't over oil it and don't under oil it!

 

Maybe this is a good time for me to repost my air filtration manifesto?

Here's the link:https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...n&pagenumber=4