FIPK intake system........

Just wondering about the real, honest effectiveness of the K & N FIPK cone intake filter system. The latest JP magazine installed it on their new '00 XJ project vehicle and acted like there was an incredible improvement. That derned thing is so expensive for what it is and really seems dubius to me as to offering any real help.... dispite what that mag says.

Anyone use this product and can attest to the same improvements??

Thanks.

I put the K&N kit on the wife's V8 ZJ, and I noticed a nice improvement in performance. Does the kit for the 4.0 XJ also go to the factory airbox location with the heat shield to block hot air? This seems like a much better setup for cool intake air than the Turbo City intake I have on my XJ, which goes over the engine to the passenger side. I know many XJers have built their own, which would certainly be cheaper than the K&N, and probably just as effective if done right. I plan on doing the hood vent thing, though, so that should help mine.

Here's another alternative. It's only about $23.00 at Auto Bone for the parts. The pipe is a 3" exhaust extension and the filter is a rice burner special. However, on a Renix throttle body, you'll have to run it towards the original air box location. But with mine being a '92, I like it to go over the the valve cover so I get a little more clearance in the water. There may be some heat transfer from the valve cover to the pipe but I haven't noticed any change in performance. For best results set the exhaust free. Easy in easy out.

K+N FIPK

I have one on my 96XJ. I did notice an improvement in acceleration and it seems to rev up faster. Inside the kit they sent a sheet showing the HP increases of 5-6hp. The 4.0 intake and exhaust seem to be well matched up, so any increase in intake volume should be matched with more free flowing exhaust. The K+N kit is so tall at the t-body that you cannot use a t-body spacer because it will hit the underside of the hood. The other problem I have with the kit is that it is placed so low in the engine compartment that it has a tedency to suck water and mud into the engine. If I had to do it over again I would buy one of the intake kits that cross over to the other side of the engine compartment.

I have been running this kit for 1.5 years and overall I am happy with it.

Bryan

I made a custom intake/baffle out of some plate Al and a 3" Al tube. Welded it in and bolted it up to the radiator support. the crappy foam pipe insulation works well, but it looks like shi..

I noticed a good power gain from 3000-5000 rpm, but i only use that range when im "gettin it" and that isn't too often.

After a long hot drive here in AZ, i can place my hand on the hood on the sealed portion and feel it's barely warm. The rest of the hood is too hot to touch. Here is a link to my photo album for pics.

cheers
-J
http://in.f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jjvanden/lst?&.dir=/public&.src=ph&.view=t

if i had to do it again, i would add some type of insulation inside the plate to slow down the heat conduction through the aluminum from the engine. I used a piece of cardboard to trial and error the fit so that there's a good seal on the hood.

I think the baffle is better than the open element inside the engine bay.

-j

The part i like most looking at the FIPK deal is the piping that attaches to the throttle body. In my experience that larger round plenum appears to offer benefits. Perhaps a swirling or directing action happens helping with the intake air efficiency. My CRX throttle body has this type of chamber over it's intake opening. The baffle to isolate the engine heat that is part of the kit is also a good thing in my thinking, even though is speculative how effective the design.

I have already opened up both the intake with a bored T/B and '99 manifold, and the exhaust with a Leach header and full 2.5" system with Flowmaster 50 series.

Just looking to a possible filter system improvement now.

Thanks.

Judd, here's one that'll pump yer petrol......I'd already made my factory airbox look like Swiss cheese for added airflow and have been running it like that for several years, along with a panel K&N filter.

When I had my intake and exhaust off last weekend to replace the cracked header, I decided to just loose the bottom half of the airbox.......so I whipped out the Sawzall and made a precision incision around the box, removing all the lower box except for the area that the filter seats in, or about 1.75". This way the filter still seats on the lip and the clamps will hold it to the lid. I then bent up a trick little bracket out of 1/8" rod and bolted in to the inner fender in a vacant hole that the airbox used to occupy, which supports the front of the box.

When I took if for a spin after re-assembly, there was a noticable increase in off-idle throttle response and no more dead spot when accelerating up through the 2-3k range and it revs strongly up to 4K before shifting when on the throttle........my wife even commented on the increased performance when she drove it around the next day. I drove it to work yesterday and easily lit the 32's up when I was hurrying off the line to make a hole in traffic........not bad for an ol' Renix motor with 183K on the clock.

Free HP is good........this is an easy mod that helps your Jeep suck.......in a good way.
Maybe I could market this mod........nah, too hard to collect on so
I'll just name it...... Hack-A Box .

The only thing I noticed on my '99 was a little over an extra mile per gallon. Which is nice considering it gets crappy mileage anyway. If I had to do it over, I would make my own for about 1/4 the price.

ChargedUp! said:

The only thing I noticed on my '99 was a little over an extra mile per gallon. Which is nice considering it gets crappy mileage anyway. If I had to do it over, I would make my own for about 1/4 the price.

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what he said i have one on my 98, same thing.

XJEEPER said:

......I'd already made my factory airbox look like Swiss cheese for added airflow and have been running it like that for several years, along with a panel K&N filter.

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Swiss cheese airbox....Hmmmm

I do have a question though. On my '88, there's a hose running between the airbox to the exhaust pipe. Did you just cap that off at the pipe?

Thanks.

That hose sucks warm air from around the exhaust manifold to preheat the intake air (for emissions reasons) and can be completely removed. It is just connected to a metal heat shield around the manifold, not the actual flow of exhaust gas.

I completely cut out the front wall of the airbox on my '87 MJ 4.0 and noticed an improvement in power. I think I'll try removing the rest of the box like XJeeper suggests.

We got 1.8 Hp from a K&N FIPK on a '99 XJ. The beast already had a bored out TB and a cat back...

We used a Gtech first and then ran it at the drags...the Gtech mirrored the findings from New England Dragway....

IMHO, the untake is not a bottleneck on the newer 4.0.

The throttle response was improved but it was also noisier (what many ricers mistake for Fast is just loud.....)

Any open element filter under your hood is a crappy idea IMHO. The trade off for poor filtering and an intake more susceptable to water isn't worth it...not to mention that unless you have something piped to the outside you're still not getting cold air from anywhere (no matter how much aluminum shiny stuff you insulate the stuff with, you're still sucking air from behind the radiator).

TOZOVR said:

Any open element filter under your hood is a crappy idea IMHO. The trade off for poor filtering and an intake more susceptable to water isn't worth it...not to mention that unless you have something piped to the outside you're still not getting cold air from anywhere (no matter how much aluminum shiny stuff you insulate the stuff with, you're still sucking air from behind the radiator). [/B]

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But if you build a proper heatshield around the filter and completely isolate it from the engine compartment from all angles, you can make the filter breathe only cooler air coming in through the grille. I have a temperature probe stuck next to my Powerstack cone filter and the thermometer is mounted on the dashboard so I can monitor my IAT's constantly. As long as I'm doing at least 25mph the IAT is the same as ambient.
My homebrew Powerstack FIPK is better than anything K&N have come up with and it cost me only $60 to make (the filter was $48). It's a bit crude but it sure as hell works:

http://www.jeep4.0performance.4mg.com/FIPK.html