Title explains it all just wondering what the best cold air intake for the 4.0 for the money is?

 

The stock one.

Don't waste your money on these aftermarket "improvements" that supposedly give you more power and efficiency, because they don't.

 

Spectre or Thor cowl intake. That's the only "CAI" I would consider using.

The typical cone filter stuck on the end of the intake tube is just dumb. It just sucks hot air and leaves the filter exposed to water and the elements.

 

And not for power....


Just for the sake that it's higher than the stock one, giving you more of a "snorkel."

 

I wouldn't do it for power, but you will draw significantly colder air with the cowl intake. It's not like it will make much of a difference by itself though. I could see it making decent gains with the cowl intake, 62mm tb, and free flowing exhaust. Whether it's worth the extra few ponies for that much money is hard to say.

Edit: here is a very good read with some real world numbers on cowl intakes. I was pretty much sold after reading this. https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/co...veness-165025/

 

From what I've read, even though a 62mm throttle body matches the hole size of the intake itself, the engine is only capable of drawing in enough air (naturally, of course) as the stock throttle body allows. Sadly, I believe this is just another one of those "placebo effect" mods like the 784 injectors and cold air intakes.

I tried the 62mm throttle body, and within days, I removed it and sold it. There was no noticeable gain to justify the price. I do use a Banks cat-back exhaust too, which flows 108% better than stock (that did something and I can notice it around the higher RPMs).

In the end, if you watch that video I linked above, you'll see that even a COLD air intake doesn't really affect the engine's performance any. The only real benefit to an intake as you're describing is that it's higher up, and allows water-crossing.

 

Like said leave it stock or go for a cowl intake if you go off road.As far as cold air intakes a f150 forum they took all of of them offered for a truck and dyno tested them all out.It was about 10 or 15 of them in total only one showed any gains.The rest did stock numbers or they lost a few hp with.

 

Why did you post that vid? That S2K made 5hp more with the cold air intake. They did say rotary motors lost hp with a aftermarket intake but I don't remember XJs ever coming with those.

 

Alright then, not to high jack but if a CAI is not worth the cost simply for the sake if being a CAI, is there a particular stock filter that is more efficient than others?

 

WIX or NAPA Gold filters are best

 

Hm that's the first time I've heard that about the 62mm tb. And in that video they proved it made more power with the CAI..

 

Nothing major – no real power and definitely no 1-2 mpg increase like a lot of people are going to tell you that you get. Jeep engines really don't have anything more to gain from them.

 

The way I see it is that it's not about what you get from each mod, but the sum of everything you can do. I feel like every little mod will compliment each other. If I could see some small power gains and mpg from doing intake, exhaust and injectors then I'd be happy. And let's be honest, I want to do an exhaust cause it sounds cool, not as much for the power

 

Most performance mods are about improving efficiency. With a four stroke engine, only one stroke makes power, and the other three consume power. Something like an air filter won't ever "create" any power but may make the engine spend less energy sucking air through the intake at high RPMs. Some mods actually will create more power, things like ignition and fuel delivery mods that result in better combustion can create more power from the same amount of fuel through fuller cleaner burn. But generally speaking, if you want more power you need a bigger explosion and for that you need a bigger chamber--there's no replacement for displacement (generally, things like forced air induction are another ball).

ps--I have a cold air setup with a cone filter, to help the bored throttle body and 99 intake breathe easier. Until a couple of weeks ago I had it in the cowl to free up space in the engine bay for additional accessories like air compressor (plus the other advantages of having it in the cowl), but moved it in the bay temporarily because of a parts change.

 

I went with Banks Power Monster cat-back exhaust system and saw great improvement in higher end pulling power when flooring it down the road.