Pro Shop
A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
Swapping out that factory air intake for an Airaid ram-air kit is a smart power play for GM 5.3L V-8s
By Bruce W. Smith / ©2007 Editorial Services West
Your 4×4 has the cool ram-air hood, and along with the aftermarket exhaust and a few more goodies on the engine, it’s a better performer than most. But there’s still one element missing: a breath of cool, fresh air.
As all performance enthusiasts know, the engine is nothing more than a sophisticated air pump. If there’s a restriction of the air going in or the air going out, the engine can’t operate at its maximum efficiency. It’s also well-known that cool air packs more horsepower potential than warm air.
Make a way for your truck’s engine to get a lot of both and, well, you have the recipe for making more horsepower.
Unfortunately the engines in many of toady’s trucks and SUVs are getting their air from under the hood, or from a location that is more conducive for providing warm air instead of cool air.
Enter Airaid Premium Filter Company (https://www.airaid.com/), which teamed up with the Good Hood division of Keystone Restyling Products (www.keystonerestyling.com) to supply custom air-filter kits. The result is fully functional ram-air hoods with a premium air filtration system that meets the demands of four wheelers everywhere.
Airaid filters provide full 360-degree air flow with a special combination of four-layers of cotton gauze filter material and a micro fiber synthetic all squeezed between aluminum or stainless steel mesh. The filter is re-useable and guaranteed for the life of your 4Ă—4; just wash and and re-oil with the items that come in their cleaning kit.
We upgraded the 5.3L Vortec air box in a 2002 Chevy Suburban that was the recipient of a Ram Air Good Hood. (The same steps apply to later model GM full-size pickup and SUVs with the 5.3L.) The performance upgrade took less than 30 minutes and required nothing more than the use of a couple of our most basic Craftsman hand tools.
Even if your truck doesn’t have a ram-air hood, it will still benefit from a breath of cool, fresh air made possible by an Airaid intake system. The images below show the basic steps.—BWS
