X88 expeditions - Documenting and sharing overland travels, adventures, and expeditions

July 26, 2008

K&N Cold Air Intake

I'm not really writing up a how-to as K&N make their instructions available online so if interested, you can get the full scoop here. I have bought several intake kits over the years with lots of people asking me "are they worth the money"? My opinion is that they are if you are buying them for the following reasons:
  • easier access to filter - saves time
  • filter can be cleaned and used for a very long time - saves money
  • makes engine bay look "cleaner" overall

So for these reasons, I keep buying them. Here's what the kit looked like when I first got the Trailblazer

Why did I get the 77-series (part# 77-3062KP), that is, the chrome one? To tell you the truth, I wanted the plastic one (part# 63-3062) for two reasons, less absorption of heat, and easier to clean (don't need to polish). But Summit had this one shipping immediately at the time while the plastic one was on a 1 month backorder. So I decided not to wait. Now remember, this is the version for 2006 TrailVoys and up since we have the mass air sensor. Prior years have different part numbers. One small tip ... you can probably notice a piece of rubber above the chrome tube right where it goes under the black metal shield. That is a little extra piece of the "gasket" I cut that sits on top of the black metal shield. The problem is that the chrome tube moves up and down and starts to hit the metal shield. If left alone too long it would scratch and ultimately start to rust. So I attached the cut piece to the underside of the curve in the metal shield which protects the chrome. Because I cannot leave anything well enough alone, I used K&N's search by filter size function to see if there would be any slightly bigger filter that could fit above the windshield washer reservoir. I happened to find this interesting part:
Its part# RX-4750: - has the same inside flange diameter - 3" - has the same height - 6" - has a larger base - 8" x 6" - and is their "XStream" product which puts the filter element on the cap as well. So I bought one to test out and I am glad to say it fits really well instead of the filter that comes with the kit. It has to be positioned vertically, that is, the 8" base height is vertical, and everything else falls into place.
So thats the slight update ...

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