LSK 03+ K&N Intake systems

One thing i noticed last time i was under the hood and had things apart is that the snorkel on the stock intake is aimed directly at the incoming air from the grill. I think they designed the factory setup to be fairly effective.
oldintake.jpg

Another side note i found interesting. While i was in the Lincoln showroom they had a new MKZ displayed. A couple of the features are a super quiet intake for no engine noise, thicker glass to insulate outside sound. They make Lincolns now to purposely have no intake/engine sound. Its billed as "quiet technology" and marketing the MKz as the most quiet Lincoln produced. Hmmm.

oldintake.jpg
 
Some people equate the lack of engine sound as "Luxury".

We on the other hand equate the lack of engine sound as "Boring"! :D
 
Back to the subject at hand... There are some things to keep in mind here:

The one with the chrome tube produces a little less HP; check the numbers for the T-bird on K&N's website (they have dyno slips posted). Reason for this is that plastic doesn't conduct heat where as the metal does.

Neither will be CARB legal; yes it is the same engine on each car, but it is not certified for the engine, it's certified for the car. The ONLY time it is engine specific is when you build a car from scratch, then it must conform to the standards for the date of manufacture for the engine. However, it all depends on your state, and how strict the tester will be.

Replacement filters SHOULDN'T be an issue, you wash them, reoil and reinstall. IF you need to replace them, you should be able to call the company and order one.

Hope that helps!
 
NateRW21 said:
Back to the subject at hand... There are some things to keep in mind here:

The one with the chrome tube produces a little less HP; check the numbers for the T-bird on K&N's website (they have dyno slips posted). Reason for this is that plastic doesn't conduct heat where as the metal does.

Neither will be CARB legal; yes it is the same engine on each car, but it is not certified for the engine, it's certified for the car. The ONLY time it is engine specific is when you build a car from scratch, then it must conform to the standards for the date of manufacture for the engine. However, it all depends on your state, and how strict the tester will be.

Replacement filters SHOULDN'T be an issue, you wash them, reoil and reinstall. IF you need to replace them, you should be able to call the company and order one.

Hope that helps!
Click to expand...
Thats some interesting stuff. I have always thought that a metal intake will be less effective than the factory plastic setup. Also i agree that you cant take numbers from one car and try to apply them to another. There must be a reason why K&N doesnt reference the LS with that intake.
 
Fla02LS said:
Thats some interesting stuff. I have always thought that a metal intake will be less effective than the factory plastic setup. Also i agree that you cant take numbers from one car and try to apply them to another. There must be a reason why K&N doesnt reference the LS with that intake.
Click to expand...


Sorry, I should have elaborated a little bit better. As I recall, they dyno sheets on K&N's website do show the metal tube as giving an increase over stock, but it's a little bit lower than their advertised HP gain of the plastic one.

It does make you wonder why they don't list it as available for the LS. I'm sure this is much more an issue of CARB compliance and precieved consumer demand than some type of increased chance of damage to the car that they'd be liable for. I have one on my 03 and it fits pretty well, so it can't be an issue of fit. And I guess they could just be ignorate to the fact that it works on the LS too, but I doubt it. Just doesn't make sense to me to have a product which can be used for two different purposes, and market it to only one without good reason (which in the case of a corperation is always financially motivated).
 
First of all, to CARB certify each car model and K&N unit they have to go through the certification test. That test will run in the neighborhood of around $10,000 per car per unit. The K&N kit that has the plastic intake tube is CARB certified. The aluminum kit is not. K&N did this to save them money since not all states have emissions tests.

The reason K&N does not list the kit for the LS is simple. They want it to be exclusive only for the T-Birds. They will NEVER say it will fit the LS because of that. However, numerous people have swapped out the kits with no problems as you see here in this thread.

You can view both units here:

http://www.lskoncepts.com/store/lincoln-ls-kn-typhoon-air-intake-system-p-107.php
http://www.lskoncepts.com/store/lincoln-ls-kn-57-series-aircharger-intake-kit-p-106.php
 
GrayGhost1 said:
The reason K&N does not list the kit for the LS is simple. They want it to be exclusive only for the T-Birds. They will NEVER say it will fit the LS because of that.
Click to expand...

Are there really that many more T-bird owners out there? And at that T-bird owners that want to modify? Every person i have seen driving a T-bird is an old person, but iguess that could be said of the LS too. I would think the LS would fit more of the profile for an "exclusive" product.
 
Fla02LS said:
Are there really that many more T-bird owners out there? And at that T-bird owners that want to modify? Every person i have seen driving a T-bird is an old person, but iguess that could be said of the LS too. I would think the LS would fit more of the profile for an "exclusive" product.
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I don't have the official numbers on the 03-05 T-Bird but K&N worked with some big T-Bird guy to make the kits from what I heard. With that being said K&N doesn't know the difference and don't really care.
 
hmmmm they want it to be exclusivly for the T-bird? That just defies all logic to me... but it could go either way I guess. There are a lot of factors in there, but myself, having something of a business mind as it is; the simple and easy conclusion is missed profits by not marketing the system for the LS as well. But again, I don't see behind the scenes and the other factors that might be influencing it.
 
I talked to K&N back in August about listing both intakes for the LS and it's like what Ken said about the CARB certification. K&N's big mistake was that they did not include the LS in their initial round of certification. For them to list it now would mean that they would have to go through the CARB process again and they do not want to do that because of the expense.

I was also told that they figure if someone wants to add a CAI to their LS, that person would know that the T-Bird and LS are the same, connecting the dots themselves. So it's mostly a word of mouth thing.

K&N's R&D facility is just a few miles from me and I even drove down there to show them. They admitted that they were a little embarrassed about not getting the LS certified when the intakes were on the drawing board. They were so focused on the T-Bird, thinking it would be this hot ride, and never even thought about the LS, which they could sell more intakes for.

If we only knew back in 2002, we could have set them straight.
 
Not for nothing, but dynos are really only useful for tuning and getting the A/F ratio right. HP/TQ numbers are nice, but the true sign of power is done at the track.

:Beer
 
I had a 97 Mustang GT w/dyno runs before and after K&N intake mod. Only a 2-3 improvement at best. I am now very sceptical of any manufacturer claims.

Doug
 
Well, in my first post, and I had factored the CARB certifications in on one of the reasons they might not have it listed for the LS; like I said before, there's a lot of factors influencing the choices a company makes that the consumer will never see. I'm just glad we've got one and it works; seems like the fit could be a LITTLE bit better, but it's certainly not bad... on par with other systems for other cars.
 
In my experience most of the restriction is in the air tract and the filter isnt as big of a deal. Of course you want a good filter on the end of everything, but its the tubing and everything that slows down the intake because they want to make it quiet which means lower performance. Its like on my old mustang. I could have put the biggest filter i wanted on it that could flow 2000 cfm, but if the carb only flows 650 cfm then you only get as much as the weakest link. Which usually isnt the filter. With that said, when its time to clean the K&N panel i have in there im going to see if i have some extra cash to get the KKM cold air kit.
 
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