What's up everybody, I'm Justin with americanmuscle.com, and this is gonna be my detailed breakdown
and install of Airaid's Air Dam Cold Air Intake System, with their SynthaFlow oiled filter,
available for your 2010 through 2014 6.2-liter Raptor.
Airaid is a no-tune-required, CARB-certified cold air intake, making it the perfect choice
for Raptor owners in all 50 states who would like to take advantage of some performance
and sound benefits, thanks to the open-element design, as opposed to going with a sealed
enclosure.
Now the Airaid will be one of your more pricey options in the category at the mid-$300 price
point, and will get a simple one out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter from me when
it comes time to get this thing installed.
The Air Dam will be one of a few options on this site to deliver a rotomolded plastic
intake tube design here for those owners who might be a little bit more concerned with
heat soak issues that otherwise might come along with a aluminum or metal intake tube.
Not the case here.
Again, rotomolded plastic...it is textured matte black of course, as you can see, Airaid
logo front and center, here.
Now, me personally, I just like the look of an all-black intake under the hood.
I think it flows with the engine bay a little bit better.
On the other hand, if you did prefer a little bit more flash under the hood, BBK and Injen
both offer a polished cold air for the 6.2 Raptor that you can find here at AM.
But let's quickly get into some of the performance benefits here with the Airaid system for your
Raptor, because that is the number one expectancy when bolting something like this up to your
truck, no matter what engine we're dealing with here.
And while Airaid doesn't give any exact manufacturer claims in regards to horsepower and torque
with this particular intake, my usual stance on something like this is gonna be high single
digits, low double digits without a tune or anything else.
Now, of course adding a tune will only maximize the performance of the intake and the truck
itself, but that is a little bit more of an investment, of course.
And that is totally up to you guys in the end.
At the time of this video, the JLT Cold Air for the 6.2 Raptor is the only tune-required
intake in the category, and that's because it does feature a larger mass airflow housing,
basically this portion of the intake right here.
And as a result, those intakes tend to make a little bit more power, due to that larger
design.
But do factor in, of course, you need that custom tune to go along with it.
One big thing I always like to point out with performance parts like this, is that this
particular intake is CARB-certified.
It is 50-state legal, so Raptor owners in the toughest states like California can bolt
this puppy up and go without catching any flak from the smog guys or the local authorities.
Now, along with the rotomolded plastic intake tube design, the Air Dam Cold Air for the
Raptor also features one of their signature filters.
This is the SynthaFlow oiled filter.
Yes, it is an oiled filter and obviously is washable.
It is reusable.
So, if things get a little bit dirty here, as they should with the Raptor after all,
right, you can always hose this puppy off, clean it, re-oil it and be good to go, prolonging
the life of the filter itself, keep things performing at their peak levels, and ultimately
save you some money in the long run.
Now, if you have your own feelings about using an oiled filter compared to a dry filter or
vice versa, Airaid does offer their SynthaMax dry filter, with the same exact intake for
the 6.2, and you can find that here on this site as well.
But ultimately, in my opinion, there's really no risk at running an oiled filter like this
as long as you're careful not to over-oil the filter once you clean it and re-oil it.
At that point you can get a little extra oil on the mass air flow center here, and the
truck might run a little rough.
So, just take your time, follow Airaid's detailed instructions on cleaning and re-oiling, and
you should be good to go.
Now the SynthaFlow filter itself does feature their synthetic nano-web material here, and
it can capture dust, dirt, and whatever kind of particles, down to two microns in size.
As far as personal experience here with the Airaid, one thing I noticed with this system
installed on the 6.2, it did feel a little bit more responsive at tip-in or basically
whenever I squeezed the throttle even the slightest amount.
A little bit more throttle response is never a bad thing.
Another thing you can't help but notice with this thing installed is the massive increase
in sound coming from under the hood and that awesome 6.2-liter power plant, and that is
thanks to the open element design of the Airaid here.
Now, of course, you can see it does include some weather-stripping, it is gonna seal to
the top, or bottom of the hood, rather.
But that is gonna help keep all that hot engine bay air from sucking through the filter, but
at the same time you're still gonna hear a lot of noise.
So, if you're into that sorta thing, you like hearing that 6.2 scream, this one will certainly
be for you.
On the other hand, if you don't like hearing all that extra noise or maybe you thrash on
your Raptor bury that thing in water, you might wanna consider a sealed enclosure instead
from the factory air box.
Or if you wanna go after-market, Bully Dog and Injen have some sealed enclosures available
here on this site.
Now, as far as pricing is concerned, well, we touched on this a little bit earlier, but
you will be looking at the mid-$300 price point for the Airaid for your 6.2.
Only the K&N Series 77 will be a little bit more dough, but keep in mind that thing does
include an additional coolant reservoir.
However, in my experience, guys, you just can't go wrong with Airaid in regards to quality,
fitment, construction.
Everything is completely top-notch and is worth the extra dough, in my opinion, and
that will be evident the moment you go to install this thing.
And speaking of that installation, let's get into that a little bit more.
And, as I pointed out at the very top of this video, gang you're looking at a soft one out
of three wrenches on the difficulty scale, maybe 30 minutes to an hour, depending on
your level of expertise.
Extremely basic hand-tools is what you're looking at here.
In fact, flathead screwdriver will be doing most of your work here.
If you'd rather use a seven or eight millimeter socket, rather, you can do that as well, might
make things go a little bit faster.
One thing to keep in mind though, guys, you will need a torque stool to help you with
these two screws for the mass airflow sensor.
So, that's kinda the only oddball tool that I would point out here.
As far as swapping out the intakes, well, removing the factory intake, just disconnect
the clamp at the throttle body, and you're actually just gonna remove the top portion
of the air box itself and the factory filter.
To get the new Airaid installed, just simply work in reverse order.
Personally, guys, I like to assemble everything on a table first, before swapping it in here,
just kinda like what we have on the table.
That way it's just nice and easy, you fit it into place, you tighten everything up,
plug in that mass airflow sensor, of course, and your installation is complete.
Wrapping things up here, yes the Airaid might be a tad on the pricey side, but you're getting
excellent build quality and materials and fitment in return, a rather large bump in
sound, and a little bit more power and throttle response to boot.
So that is my review of the Airaid Air Dam Cold Air Intake System for the 6.2 Raptor,
which you can get right here at americanmuscle.com.