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Best Cold Air Intake kit to get for 2021 3.5 EcoBoost 6 cyl?

longbow42

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Have a Platty being built and hope to have by EOM. What's the best cold air intake kit to get for the 3.5 Eco-Boost 6 cyl engine? Thank you!
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ZWARRIOR

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I hate to be That guy, but turbo engines have an intercooler that cools the air after it goes through the turbo. So in short the air will be heated when it touches the turbo, before cooling it right before it goes into the cylinders. So cool air intakes are redundant and unnecessary for Ecoboost engines. The $150 may be better spent on some floor mats.
 

Roger350

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I hate to be That guy, but turbo engines have an intercooler that cools the air after it goes through the turbo. So in short the air will be heated when it touches the turbo, before cooling it right before it goes into the cylinders.
While this portion of your response is true, the rest is not accurate. While turbo engines respond best to exhaust mods that reduce back pressure, they absolutely do respond to aftermarket intakes that increase the airflow to the engine. All engines are air pumps, anything you do to pump more air through them will create more power provided the fuel is adjusted accordingly. "Cold Air Intakes" is a term typically applied to all aftermarket intakes. Most do a ton to remove restrictions in the intake to get more air flowing, and most also try to source the air from outside the engine bay which is cooler. Starting with cooler air, from outside as opposed to heat soaked air from the engine compartment is still an advantage, even though the turbos are going to heat the air up, but most of the HP gains will be from the ability to flow more air to the turbos.

Exhausts will increase HP more, but good intakes also increase HP.

All that said, being new to the 3.5 EcoBoost, or the PowerBoost I'm getting, I don't know which intake is the best for these trucks.
 

discothan

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I plan to replace the stock air filter/intake with the bolt on K&N Series 63 to help reduce the air restriction of the default filter. I don't have any dyno data to prove HP increases in the 2021 F150, but in a previous life modding a Nissan 300zx TT, the upgrade to a K&N provide 10-15HP increase. Also, I agree with Roger350 that providing for a wider exhaust output will help to increase HP production by reducing pressure exiting the engine.

According to American Trucks video, the 2020 version fits the 2021.

If you want to greatly increase HP, you would have to explore ram air intakes, but you need to be careful, the engine might not be able to handle higher PSI boost.
 

ZWARRIOR

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While this portion of your response is true, the rest is not accurate. While turbo engines respond best to exhaust mods that reduce back pressure, they absolutely do respond to aftermarket intakes that increase the airflow to the engine. All engines are air pumps, anything you do to pump more air through them will create more power provided the fuel is adjusted accordingly. "Cold Air Intakes" is a term typically applied to all aftermarket intakes. Most do a ton to remove restrictions in the intake to get more air flowing, and most also try to source the air from outside the engine bay which is cooler. Starting with cooler air, from outside as opposed to heat soaked air from the engine compartment is still an advantage, even though the turbos are going to heat the air up, but most of the HP gains will be from the ability to flow more air to the turbos.

Exhausts will increase HP more, but good intakes also increase HP.

All that said, being new to the 3.5 EcoBoost, or the PowerBoost I'm getting, I don't know which intake is the best for these trucks.
Isnt the one and only function of the turbo to force more air in? and turbos are very well fine tuned to allow only the ideal boost given the circumstances. I suppose it will help if you are trying to push as much power as your engine can handle, but in a every day setting it really is redundant and unnecessary. I am not a mechanical engineering so my knowledge is very surface level.
 

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discothan

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Isnt the one and only function of the turbo to force more air in? and turbos are very well fine tuned to allow only the ideal boost given the circumstances. I suppose it will help if you are trying to push as much power as your engine can handle, but in a every day setting it really is redundant and unnecessary. I am not a mechanical engineering so my knowledge is very surface level.

Generically, engines with turbo mechanisms reuse some of the exhaust to help spin this turbo mechanism to compress air that is fed into the combustion chamber. More compressed air (higher PSI) = more O2 = bigger explosion = more power

I'm sure its a bit more complicated than that, but in the end....you are right, a turbo helps provide more air (compressed air) to the engine.
 

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Isnt the one and only function of the turbo to force more air in? and turbos are very well fine tuned to allow only the ideal boost given the circumstances. I suppose it will help if you are trying to push as much power as your engine can handle, but in a every day setting it really is redundant and unnecessary. I am not a mechanical engineering so my knowledge is very surface level.
Yes, turbos are all about forcing more air through the system, and boost levels are computer controlled. A tune can control the air/fuel/boost tables to maximize HP and Torque, both for peak numbers and area under the curve. Very few engine mods provide any "every day" benefit, unless your engine is underpowered to begin with, which is not the case with the 3.5 EcoBoost. All I'm saying is that aftermarket intakes are no more redundant than other engine mods. In general, exhaust, intake, intercooler/intercooler pipes and a tune are considered the bolt-on performance adders for turbo engines. Exhaust is always the most beneficial, but they all work together to maximize power and torque.
 

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Yes, turbos are all about forcing more air through the system, and boost levels are computer controlled. A tune can control the air/fuel/boost tables to maximize HP and Torque, both for peak numbers and area under the curve. Very few engine mods provide any "every day" benefit, unless your engine is underpowered to begin with, which is not the case with the 3.5 EcoBoost. All I'm saying is that aftermarket intakes are no more redundant than other engine mods. In general, exhaust, intake, intercooler/intercooler pipes and a tune are considered the bolt-on performance adders for turbo engines. Exhaust is always the most beneficial, but they all work together to maximize power and torque.
Yeah, those oil separator things, are probably the only engine mod I will get from the top of my head
 

NeverStock

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I’m working with Whipple right now. It looks like the 2020 Whipple intake will bolt right up! Also working on an IC. Will have final answers by the end of the week!
 

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Isnt the one and only function of the turbo to force more air in? and turbos are very well fine tuned to allow only the ideal boost given the circumstances. I suppose it will help if you are trying to push as much power as your engine can handle, but in a every day setting it really is redundant and unnecessary. I am not a mechanical engineering so my knowledge is very surface level.
I happen to be a mechanical engineer, so I'll try to clear a couple things up:

1. The turbos will add specific amount of heat to the intake charge, but if the charge was cooler before entering the turbos it will be cooler leaving the turbos as well.

2. The intercooler removes a specific amount of heat from the intake charge after leaving the turbos, but again if the air was cooler entering the intercooler, it will be cooler leaving the intercooler as well.

#1 and #2 combined means that if a "cold air intake" truly does bring in cooler air than the stock intake, it will result in cooler air entering the engine which is denser, and therefore will make more power even at the same boost pressure.

3. It is correct that the turbos force air into the engine and the max boost pressure is precisely controlled so removing restrictions in the intake won't change the max boost pressure. HOWEVER, removing restrictions in the intake will allow the turbos to spool up to peak boost pressure faster. This will result in less turbo lag.

The caveat is that the new intake actually has to remove restrictions and/or pull in colder air to be an improvement. Ford engineers have every incentive to design the least restrictive intake path and pull in as cool of air as possible because this gives them higher HP/torque and/or better fuel economy. In most cases the only way to improve on their design is to remove one of their design restraints i.e. intake noise levels, cost, filtering effectiveness, or risk of hydro locking. If an intake is truly better thank stock, its probably making sacrifices in one or more of those categories.
 

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Regrebner

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Previous dyno runs on older model 3.5 EBs show that a drop-in oiled K&N will give about 3 peak HP gain. Not really enough to feel a difference. A full blown double filter AFE CAI will give you about 9 peak hp gain.

I don't know what the older f150 intakes look like but the 21 is already CAI designed the scoop pulls air from the grill area. So temps wont be changing with an aftermarket. The only change possible is allowing more air. Ford attempted to make the ride as quiet as possible using baffles and resonators so that is the only area that can make a difference in air flow. I would suspect you would not gain 9hp with a complete aftermarket CAI on this years design.

I personally have ran all of the above options on previous trucks but I prefer to stick with stock housing and filters for this truck. There's a lot of back and forth on the effects in the long run on the engine of a less restrictive oil based filter. Also, It seems to me that CAIs now a days only really make the truck sound different and not really worth the money unless you are going to mod the crap out of it. If that's what your into go for it!!! However, IMO you wont be seeing much of a performance gain with just CAI. I personally am not crazy about the aftermarket exhaust sound out of the 3.5. The best sound imo is a simple resonator delete but that can cause a loss of mpg and sensor errors on the dash.

Once, and if tunes become available on the 21s... This is the order ill be installing performance mods...

Downpipes, intercooler upgrade, custom tune all at once.

Could net around 100+ hp / 100+ tq from info I've gathered.

CAI and exhaust systems may be more beneficial once these mods are added.

500hp/600tq with those simple mods is crazy to think about cuz this thing already breaks loose at 50 as is...

Good luck either way!
 

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I will probably buy the Roush CAI. After all, these are Fords we're talking about, right?

I've been driving turbo cars for many years; I don't need to be convinced of the benefits of an improved intake, an oil separator, improved exhaust, or nitrous injection.

However, some of those things may affect your warranty or be illegal in your state. A CAI is not going to get you into any trouble
 

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You don’t need oil separators for fords made after 2018. Ford fixed that problem with a redesign
 

W3LCH

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I’m interested in a resonator delete as it seems cheap and easy and achieves moderate rasp enhancement and turbo sound. I just don’t want to throw codes on my new truck over something so small.
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