New intake and exhaust

[LivingSTDFree]

I just purchased a 2021 Ram 1500 Limited 5.7 Hemi with etorque, I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what cold air intake and exhaust systems would be great for my truck. I'm hoping to get a little better gas milage, and yes I know gas milage won't be the best in a v8 hemi. I am averaging 14 mpg, not on the highway, I'm hoping to at least increase it 2 or 3 mpg to pay for itself in the future. Thank you for your time.

 

[Scap]

That's asking a lot from an intake and exhaust...

 

[vincentw56]

You probably won't get any better with those upgrades. This isn't like it was 20 or even 10 years ago. These trucks aren't going to respond to it like the older trucks did. I have both as do many on here and there is very little difference. I have the Vaaram and Carvan Exhaust.

2020 Bighorn Night Edition, 5.7 Hemi w/eTorque

 

[AmericanRebelution]

If you are looking for the best mileage, don't change a thing. These mods will not increase your MPG.

 

[Fuzznutz]

If you are looking for the best mileage, don't change a thing. These mods will not increase your MPG.

Are you sure? Lol serious question? Because some claim 1-2 mpg gains with the Mopar CAI. Even with just a 1 mpg gain, it would pay for itself in 50k miles, which makes the cost of it more justified to me. So I ask you and anyone else for honest gains or not. Its not that I don't believe you, but many factors do play into it such as driving style, and so on. So anyone else have any honest claims, good or bad?

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[AmericanRebelution]

Are you sure? Lol serious question? Because some claim 1-2 mpg gains with the Mopar CAI. Even with just a 1 mpg gain, it would pay for itself in 50k miles, which makes the cost of it more justified to me. So I ask you and anyone else for honest gains or not. Its not that I don't believe you, but many factors do play into it such as driving style, and so on. So anyone else have any honest claims, good or bad?

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I have put CAIs on multiple different vehicles from Mustangs to Jeeps to trucks, etc. I have never experienced any significant gain in MPG.

My personal experience with my RAM is with a Vararam intake. It did not increase my MPG; if anything I lost a bit. I don't have personal experience with Mopar CAI so I won't discredit anyone's claims on this. But these days, fuel mileage is everything to the manufacturer. Most vehicles come from the factory darn close to as efficient as possible.

If fuel mileage is your priority, stay below 70 mph on the highway, decrease weight, and take it easy on the skinny pedal.

 

[Fuzznutz]

I have put CAIs on multiple different vehicles from Mustangs to Jeeps to trucks, etc. I have never experienced any significant gain in MPG.

My personal experience with my RAM is with a Vararam intake. It did not increase my MPG; if anything I lost a bit. I don't have personal experience with Mopar CAI so I won't discredit anyone's claims on this. But these days, fuel mileage is everything to the manufacturer. Most vehicles come from the factory darn close to as efficient as possible.

If fuel mileage is your priority, stay below 70 mph on the highway, decrease weight, and take it easy on the skinny pedal.

That's one of the best points I think I've ever read. Now a day when fuel mileage means so much to every manufacturer, if the Mopar CAI produced better mpg, it would of came on the truck as standard equipment. Thanks!

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[Neurobit]

If you are looking for the best mileage, don't change a thing. These mods will not increase your MPG.

Yep. I don’t have those mods but no one here has seen any MPG gains with either of those.

 

[LaxDfns15]

Are you sure? Lol serious question? Because some claim 1-2 mpg gains with the Mopar CAI. Even with just a 1 mpg gain, it would pay for itself in 50k miles, which makes the cost of it more justified to me. So I ask you and anyone else for honest gains or not. Its not that I don't believe you, but many factors do play into it such as driving style, and so on. So anyone else have any honest claims, good or bad?

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You've seen above, but rarely do CAI's or exhaust increase MPG anymore. Let's say you did get a 1mpg gain from the MOPAR CAI. The cheapest I can find it is $730 from BAM Wholesale. If you drive 12k miles a year you're looking at at least 4 years before it's paid for itself. That's a long bet to make on a vehicle that you may or may not have then for a gain you may or may not receive.

Best thing you can do is stay below 70, reduce weight (Limited's are HEAVY), use lighter road tires not AT's, and don't lift the truck. I average 17-18 in my Rebel if all I'm doing that tank is taking my kids to daycare and bringing them home. 35 mile round trip consisting of 16 miles highway at 60 mph and 19 miles of 40 mph roads with a few lights. These trucks love to run at 55-60 with MDS on.

So many questions on fuel mileage for a half ton V8 truck. The best answer is don't buy it. Or get a 300cc motorcycle. Can't complain about 60 MPG and $10 fill ups.

 

[Neurobit]

You've seen above, but rarely do CAI's or exhaust increase MPG anymore. Let's say you did get a 1mpg gain from the MOPAR CAI. The cheapest I can find it is $730 from BAM Wholesale. If you drive 12k miles a year you're looking at at least 4 years before it's paid for itself. That's a long bet to make on a vehicle that you may or may not have then for a gain you may or may not receive.

Best thing you can do is stay below 70, reduce weight (Limited's are HEAVY), use lighter road tires not AT's, and don't lift the truck. I average 17-18 in my Rebel if all I'm doing that tank is taking my kids to daycare and bringing them hope. 35 mile round trip consisting of 16 miles highway at 60 mph and 19 miles of 40 mph roads with a few lights. These trucks love to run at 55-60 with MDS on.

So many questions on fuel mileage for a half ton V8 truck. The best answer is don't buy it. Or get a 300cc motorcycle. Can't complain about 60 MPG and $10 fill ups.

Spot on.

 

[Snofire]

I had a CAI on my jeep and didn't see any improvement, only a nice noise from the engine area. Any gains (if any) you get are taken up by the new lead foot you will have because you will want to hear it more. lol

 

[Fuzznutz]

You've seen above, but rarely do CAI's or exhaust increase MPG anymore. Let's say you did get a 1mpg gain from the MOPAR CAI. The cheapest I can find it is $730 from BAM Wholesale. If you drive 12k miles a year you're looking at at least 4 years before it's paid for itself. That's a long bet to make on a vehicle that you may or may not have then for a gain you may or may not receive.

Best thing you can do is stay below 70, reduce weight (Limited's are HEAVY), use lighter road tires not AT's, and don't lift the truck. I average 17-18 in my Rebel if all I'm doing that tank is taking my kids to daycare and bringing them home. 35 mile round trip consisting of 16 miles highway at 60 mph and 19 miles of 40 mph roads with a few lights. These trucks love to run at 55-60 with MDS on.

So many questions on fuel mileage for a half ton V8 truck. The best answer is don't buy it. Or get a 300cc motorcycle. Can't complain about 60 MPG and $10 fill ups.

Oh trust me I don't own a truck to commute and get good mpg. I've just forgotten so much about gas powered vehicles. My last 4 pickups were deleted diesels. Pretty easy to drop all the emissions, flash a tune to the ecm, and mpg gains are significant. But I no longer needed a big diesel pickup. So to start off with my trade back into my current ram 1500 etorque thingy 5.7, the window sticker says 21mpg. I'm not dumb enough to believe that's a real world number. But I'd like to think 17-18 would not be unrealistic with a window sticker claim of 21. But then I'm slightly lifted with 305/55r20 tires. Take another 2mpg off for that. These numbers are pure guesses by the way, but I guessed I'd be in the 14-15 range by the time you subtracted the real world numbers and the lift and tires from the sticker claim of 21. I'm not even there lol. And I'm not complaining about it one bit lol. I have a truck because I need a truck. As I said it's not for getting the groceries. But I thought I'd inquire a bit on anything that can be beneficial, because like I said coming from the diesel world where its easy to pick up significant gains, I just wanna make sure I'm not missing out on something.

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[LaxDfns15]

Oh trust me I don't own a truck to commute and get good mpg. I've just forgotten so much about gas powered vehicles. My last 4 pickups were deleted diesels. Pretty easy to drop all the emissions, flash a tune to the ecm, and mpg gains are significant. But I no longer needed a big diesel pickup. So to start off with my trade back into my current ram 1500 etorque thingy 5.7, the window sticker says 21mpg. I'm not dumb enough to believe that's a real world number. But I'd like to think 17-18 would not be unrealistic with a window sticker claim of 21. But then I'm slightly lifted with 305/55r20 tires. Take another 2mpg off for that. These numbers are pure guesses by the way, but I guessed I'd be in the 14-15 range by the time you subtracted the real world numbers and the lift and tires from the sticker claim of 21. I'm not even there lol. And I'm not complaining about it one bit lol. I have a truck because I need a truck. As I said it's not for getting the groceries. But I thought I'd inquire a bit on anything that can be beneficial, because like I said coming from the diesel world where its easy to pick up significant gains, I just wanna make sure I'm not missing out on something.

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If you've only lifted the front, possibly raising the rear can help. It pulls back some of the factory rake and reduces the giant wall you create when you lift the front. When I lifted mine I did a 2/1 to keep a bit of the rake. I think it's helped in not reducing my mileage when others claim they lost 2-3.

 

[Fuzznutz]

If you've only lifted the front, possibly raising the rear can help. It pulls back some of the factory rake and reduces the giant wall you create when you lift the front. When I lifted mine I did a 2/1 to keep a bit of the rake. I think it's helped in not reducing my mileage when others claim they lost 2-3.

Thanks, I have the factory mopar lift. It still has rake. I will eventually be adding a tonneau cover. That might help some. Also, I'm far from being broke in with things yet as well.

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[Neurobit]

As always, it has a lot to do with how and where you drive.

I myself have a stupid-short commute (<1 mile), so my truck gets consistent 8.5-9 MPG city. If I happen to drive on the freeway once or twice on weekends, then that brings my avg up to about 10-12 MPG. When traveling, I average between 17-19 MPG, depending on speed.

There's no magic bulllet. A 5,000 lbs V8 gas truck still needs to adhere to the laws of physics, and vehicles keep getting heavier every year as they add more creature comforts and safety features. The only way to mitigate this is to either change driving habits, get a smaller truck (or a smaller engine), go diesel, go hybrid, or a combination of these.

As the proverbial say goes, your mileage may vary (pun intended).

Cheers,

 

[ChadT]

Are you sure? Lol serious question? Because some claim 1-2 mpg gains with the Mopar CAI. Even with just a 1 mpg gain, it would pay for itself in 50k miles, which makes the cost of it more justified to me. So I ask you and anyone else for honest gains or not. Its not that I don't believe you, but many factors do play into it such as driving style, and so on. So anyone else have any honest claims, good or bad?

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I would say I got somewhere between .4 and 1mpg gain, .7 average.
Highway trip I'd say around 1ish, close to it. I was gunna run a few road trip tests with it, and then the plague hit.
.4 if it's all city (and hilly, which by me, it is) and I'm mashing the throttle a bit. .7 is a fair average

It's in MDS way more often and can stay in it.
There's something to be said for a short path from the grille through a scoop, and down into the engine. It's a short path and a wide mouth.

I believe it's been about 10,000 miles, close to it, since the install? I might clean the filter one of these days.

 

[CMil527]

Been doing intake/exhaust for 30+ years u wont see any increase in mpg's... just lots of noise!

 

[ChadT]

Oh trust me I don't own a truck to commute and get good mpg. I've just forgotten so much about gas powered vehicles. My last 4 pickups were deleted diesels. Pretty easy to drop all the emissions, flash a tune to the ecm, and mpg gains are significant. But I no longer needed a big diesel pickup. So to start off with my trade back into my current ram 1500 etorque thingy 5.7, the window sticker says 21mpg. I'm not dumb enough to believe that's a real world number. But I'd like to think 17-18 would not be unrealistic with a window sticker claim of 21. But then I'm slightly lifted with 305/55r20 tires. Take another 2mpg off for that. These numbers are pure guesses by the way, but I guessed I'd be in the 14-15 range by the time you subtracted the real world numbers and the lift and tires from the sticker claim of 21. I'm not even there lol. And I'm not complaining about it one bit lol. I have a truck because I need a truck. As I said it's not for getting the groceries. But I thought I'd inquire a bit on anything that can be beneficial, because like I said coming from the diesel world where its easy to pick up significant gains, I just wanna make sure I'm not missing out on something.

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Yeahhh with the gas halftons I don't think we'll see anything like what people did with diesels.

You see some guys neat 3/4ton, ask him what he did to it, "yeah I did XYZ, added probaably, +150hp to the wheels and I got 4mpg too".
And I just sit there and simmer.
The second you take the EPA stuff off the gains in terms of power and mpg are almost hard to believe.
Gas engines? Hey man we fight all we can for that 1mpg and 15hp!

 

[Fuzznutz]

Yeahhh with the gas halftons I don't think we'll see anything like what people did with diesels.

You see some guys neat 3/4ton, ask him what he did to it, "yeah I did XYZ, added probaably, +150hp to the wheels and I got 4mpg too".
And I just sit there and simmer.
The second you take the EPA stuff off the gains in terms of power and mpg are almost hard to believe.
Gas engines? Hey man we fight all we can for that 1mpg and 15hp!

Yeah I wasn't expecting gains like my cummins got. Those gains came with some huge possible consequences also though. It's been 15 years since my last gas pickup til now. Thankfully many of you made me see pretty quick that these new rams come just about as optimized for economy as they can get straight from the factory. And that really makes a lot of sense.

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[brian42]

Also, don't dilly dally when accelerating. Being light on the pedal and short-shifting (getting the transmission to upshift as soon as possible) does not do well for the truck's fuel economy.

If you accelerate 'smartly' to cruising speed that will help. I will shift the truck at ~3000 RPM when accelerating then back off close to cruising speed. If I'm going to boulevard speeds of ~40 MPH I'll shift around 2500 RPM and if I'm going to freeway speeds I'll probably push it up to ~3500 RPM for shifting.

My last truck I had an aftermarket intake and 4" straight-through exhaust (on my Ford diesel). I don't think that helped me much but after I added aftermarket injectors, modified the turbo, and installed custom tunes I added plenty of power and only lost a little bit of MPG (as along as I could stay out of the go-pedal). I spent more money than I'll admit too and there was no amount of time that would have paid for those mods...except the perma-grin on my face every time I drove it.