Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club

I am thinking about changing the air intake on our B/F to a after market unit; has anybody done this change and did it help? all the company's claim it will help with power and gas mileage

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Roy and Victoria Gough
Glendale, AZ
2006 RSB Casual Elegance

The aftermarket world is brimming with folks who claim to improve on the original. Having worked in and with the US auto industry, I tend to be quite skeptical. If you are lucky there will be no damage. Just to take the V-10 as an example, if you change air intake system, you just might become vulnerable to taking in water during a heavy rain. FOMOCO is trying so hard to inch up mileage that they recommend 5W-20 over 5W-30. Is it really credible that some aftermarket device which is effective would not have been included as OE?
Sorry for the rant, you just opened some quite old wounds.
Ralph

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Ralph
2011 24RB
Former 2001 23RK

These so called products are nothing but frauds. If there were a way to increase power and mileage even in small amounts the auto companies would have purchased the technology. These scams have been around for ages.

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William Higbie
'96 26 rsb
2000 Honda Accord

I would doubt that you could notice any improvement in either fuel economy or power by changing the Ford air intake system. However, when I installed the Banks Power Pack system that included exhaust headers, the Banks muffler and their computer chip I did install an air restriction gauge. This indicated that more air was needed when under a load. Using an air filter housing from the Banks Class A system proved to work nicely to achieve more air when the engine called for it. Although I cannot verify the 53 horsepower gain that Banks advertise with the Ford V10 it did make a difference in torque and reduced downshifting. The improvement in fuel economy was minimal.

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Mel & Connie

If they even make a kit for the van chassis, the best way to make reliable, real power is a supercharger and a proper tune. If you could get a centrifugal or roots type on there, I should think you'd make between 450-500 crank HP at 6-8 PSi. You're obviously looking at a whole package with larger injectors, a larger fuel pump and more than likely a good set of headers and exhaust.

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1993 Born Free President 24' Rear Bunk, 7.3L ATS Turbo Diesel, 10K Trans Cooler, EGT & Trans Temp Gauges, 77K "Elsa"

And if you do that to a V10 and use that high horsepower on a long upgrade pull, you will probably have engine over-heating problems. A larger radiator and water pump most likely would be required for a V10 pulling that kind of HP on a sustained basis.

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Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad

Good advice there.

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1993 Born Free President 24' Rear Bunk, 7.3L ATS Turbo Diesel, 10K Trans Cooler, EGT & Trans Temp Gauges, 77K "Elsa"

What about replace the stock air filter with a K&N?
I here a lot about K&N.
Or do you think it is just a waste of time?

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Steve
2011 Born Free 22 foot/ corner kitchen, E350, 30k miles.
Our first RV. Lots to learn. Thanks.

You guys are really stirring me up. Go ahead with a K&N. Those high flow filters simply let more dirt into the engine. Fine if you have a drag racer and rebuild engines every month or so. No so fine if you drive the BF on a dusty road, or even the highway for a few 10s of thousand miles.
Ralph

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Ralph
2011 24RB
Former 2001 23RK

We stopped at a Walmart for an oil change many years ago in a previous RV. A couple of months later and couple of thousand miles away I found my $$$ K&N had been replaced with a cheap throw away paper filter. 'Looked at my receipts and sure enough - 1 oil filter, 8 qts oil ...and 1 oil filter

PS. You can add a lot of HP and dissipate the extra heat and shorten the life of the engine and get up the hill a little faster with less fuel but going down the level hwy at 65 it isn't going to make that much difference. My take on the Banks stuff is: go a little slower and spend the money somewhere else. I do add a cetane booster that's also supposed to increase lubricity in the top end of the Ford PSD but there's no measureable difference in fuel economy.

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Mike & Jean
2005 26' RSS Diesel

To slightly, very slightly, modify my position on adding stuff; getting a legitimate lubricity additive can be a good thing for older diesels. Forget the cetane improver. The current very low sulfur diesel fuel has less lubricating ability then in years past. Some older diesel fuel systems are harmed, others not. Unless the situation has changed, those of you with the Ford/Navistar engines have been let down by not being informed by Ford of this issue. If the earlier proposed increase in ethanol for gasoline rule goes through, those with gasoline engines a few years old may also be left high and dry by everybody in the the automotive industry in somewhat the same way. Just another example if political correctness running amok.
JMO
Ralph

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Ralph
2011 24RB
Former 2001 23RK

This is extremely important, like you said. Pre-powerstroke diesels especially, need to have lubricity from the diesel to keep the injector pump properly lubricated. I always run a lubricating additive in the BF and when I change the fuel filter, I refill it with ATF. I have even added a pint of ATF in the tank when filling if I have nothing else. The best lubricator to run that you can get at the pump is B5 Biodiesel. There is one station in my area that has it. Please read:

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/76-gm- ... sults.html

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1993 Born Free President 24' Rear Bunk, 7.3L ATS Turbo Diesel, 10K Trans Cooler, EGT & Trans Temp Gauges, 77K "Elsa"