Airaid MXP intake review

[ASD Dad]

OK, so I have had the Airaid on for about a month now and wanted to do a short write up on the intake.  This intake is by far the top rated intake for the 5.6 motors.  The Titan and Armada owners have been using it for a very long time now and ever since it came out it's been the highest dynoed "stock" intake made.  You can only get higher gains with a custom 4" full intake and then you need an Uprev tuner to recalibrate the MAF.  

 

The intake is huge at 4" in diameter for most of the tubing and the filter looks like it would flow enough for a big block motor or giant turbo.  Way more air than the 5.6 could ever use.  

 

Installation is very straight forward if you have ever done an intake.  It took me about 45 minutes and that was with my 7 year old helping.  This will NOT fit right out of the box, the engine bay of the NV is wider than the Titan/Armada.  All you need is a $6 4" rubber coupling available from Home Depot/Lowes/etc.  The stock coupling between the tube and the intake box is about 1" too short.  

 

I bought it for more towing power.  The 5.6 always felt a little underwhelming to me and my DIY airbox mod made a promising gain in MPG.  This intake has been on the dyno by many owners and it does produce real world gains.  Most of the gains seem to be from about 3000-3500rpm and up which isnt ideal for towing but with this van and a heavy load you'll be in those ranges often.  

 

So does it work?  Yes and no.  Yes, there is definitely more power.  It isnt just noise either (all intakes are loud), but you can honestly feel a strong surge of extra power once the motor gets wound up.  As I said earlier, the power is in the upper RPM range.  It doesnt help that stock the Nissan ECU restricts the throttle from opening 100% until about 30mph or so.  Does it help towing?  Well, 20hp gains on an empty van are one thing.  20hp towing 7000# doesnt seem to do much.  I've been on the same trip twice with a short gap through the mountains and I honestly didnt notice the gains when towing.  The motor still struggled up the long grades I dealt with each time.

 

The second and third problem:

Noise!  I will be the first to admit I dont mind engine noise.  I used to race an IT car that was fairly obnoxious on the track.  I also owned a few rotary's with near open exhausts and if you've ever heard a turbo RX motor at 9000rpm you know it's a wee bit noisy!  That being said, the Airaid definitely sounds like an aftermarket intake.  It is deep, throaty and when you're on it hard it can be heard.  When driving with no load, as in 99% of day to day driving, it is Very civil and you cant even hear it.  You only hear it when accelerating hard.  All good - BUT - when towing you are always in the throttle and it gets quite loud at times.  Enough so that my whole family and even myself was getting tired of it.  The main noise issue is that around 2000rpm there is a certain resonance and it sounds like you've got a boat motor going.  It happens to be that 2000rpm is right where you would be towing on flat ground most of time at 60-65mph.  You get this guttural drone going on that just sort of gets annoying after a while.

 

Third:  MPG.  It went Down.  I went from around a 14.5 average to a 13.5 average.  This has been documented on the Titan forums and nobody can figure it out.  Some owners it goes up, some stay the same, some lose MPG.  They have been data logging, testing, all sorts of stuff and it just doesnt have a rhyme or reason to it.  My motor happens to be one where it went down as well.  My last tank I tried to even baby it and it was still 13.7.  

 

So strike one is noise, strike two is MPG.  The upside is definitely more power.  The first two strikes are too big for me so in the end - the intake is coming off.  I will be going back to my modded stock filter with a drop in AFE or other better flowing filter.  There are other mods that can be done to the stock box I may look into as well.  I would recommend if you are purely looking for more power and dont care about noise.  Fit and finish is perfect.  

 

Next on my list in the quest to open up this 5.6 motor - Bully Dog GT ecu flasher.  It will be here tomorrow...  Supposedly the GT and the intake together really make some gains but the noise when towing is something I dont want to try and mess with.  We take some trips that are 10+ hours on the road and I think 10 hours of droning would drive us all nutty.     

Edited July 30, 2015 by ASD Dad

[radin2son]

Great review. Thanks.

 

Since this is the first V8 we have ever owned, we did not know what to expect. Glad we chose the V8 over the V6, given the SMB ads just shy of 1000# and our gear, water, food and bodies ad another 1000#. No issues with power, mpg or shifting. Still have to decide whether or not to go with a better air filter...

[ASD Dad]

rad - I am going with the AFE Dry filter.  It is currently $38 on Amazon.  I was a bit surprised how dirty my stock filter was after 5000 miles and we dont live or drive on dirt roads or anything.  The AFE dry is a simple synthetic high flow filter that is easy to wash with a garden hose or in the sink (if your significant other isnt home!).  Let air dry and you're good until the next cleaning.  Figure I can clean it more often and be ahead after a few cleanings vs. buying more stock filters.

 

Some of the oiled filters claim to flow more and some really do.  The issue is the cleaning and re-oiling every time.  If you under oil you arent getting max filtration.  Over oil and you are clogging the filter too fast.  Plus you have to add in the expense of the cleaning and oiling kit.  

 

Dry filter - wash with soap and water, air dry, reinstall, you're done!

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00861FQU4

 

That's the filter.

[KMG]

ASD Dad, You said you are going with an AFE dry filter but the link is for an AEM brand filter.  Just FYI in case you misread the brand.

[ASD Dad]

ASD Dad, You said you are going with an AFE dry filter but the link is for an AEM brand filter.  Just FYI in case you misread the brand.

 

Oops, thanks for correcting that!  I am indeed going with that AEM.  I had an AFE dry in my Tundra.  The AFE is twice as much as the AEM and they're both respected brands so I am going with the AEM.  Amazon does carry both along with the old standby K&N, but all K&N are oiled.  I would recommend staying away from Spectre.  They are a cheap copy of K&N and people have had quality issues.