hey guys, this might be an old thread, i didnt check the date it was started,
I just bought an 03 blazer ls 4 door, I think im in love...... haha
anyways I ordered a k&n cold air for it at NAPA, they messed up and ordered me the air raid.... so I used it anyways, just put it on today.
so if anyone cares anymore it was a nice easy mount, I didnt get a heat shield with it, but its in a decent spot, as i drive more i will have to check and see how warm its getting around the filter.
anyways, Ill keep you posted

 

i would strongly suggest either buying or buliding a heatshield otherwise your cold air intake is pretty useless and will do more harm than good.

 

X2 on the heatshield! But you'll find out soon enough when your back on here posting about why it bogs down, hehe! But yah look around at some albums. Quite a few of us have all made heatshields, its actually pretty cheap and easy.

 

Nathan, you do realize that without a heat shield, you basically have a "hot-air intake", right?

 

Well, I actually can contribute a little to this thread, because my '96 Blazer has an AirAid CAI, while my wife's '01 Jimmy has a drop-in K&N filter. The drop-in was in my truck first, and then I went ahead and put it in hers when I got the AirAid.

Truth be told -- performance gain is about the same on both. I haven't scientifically dyno-tested them, but I don't see much of a difference between the two. Both have improved performance of both trucks. Now, if we were to race our trucks on a track, mine would probably win, only because I have also tuned the computer, whereas hers hasn't been. But without the tune, hers would probably win, because it's lower to the ground and thus has a little better handling and less resistance.

As for whether the K&N full intake replacement would perform any better than the drop-in filter, I really don't know. My first inclination would be to doubt it.

Oh yeah...and I don't need a heat shield, because my mechanic buddy upgraded the fan when he replaced my rear seal 2+ years ago. If you put your hand in the area near the CAI, it's quite cold.

 

ya your right, its way to hot around that filter, I dont have much for tools and supplies to make a sheild either.
the K&N one does come with a heat shield right? because i may just go and get it and return the air raid

 

look at the heatshield threads. the truth is that even the K&N heatshield sucks! for the money your throwing at this, go to the autoparts store and get a roll of firewall insulation. then go to the hardware store and get a sheet of metal and some tin snips and a little box of screws/mounting brackets! thats all there is to it.

the funny thing is that all of us that have made them all did ours a little bit diffrent but based off the same concept! I think most of us are happy with how they turned out.

 

Thanks ugly monkey, you motivated me this morning, i checked out the threat with the heat sheild template and went ahead and did one up.
It turned out pretty good, I ended up just cutting a drop in spot off the top of the sheet for the intake pipe to sit instead of cutting a hole.
Im quite happy with it, I got most of it covered with a roll of that heat resistant tape stuff haha I dont know what its called, when i get some more time ill slap some more on it
however I noticed after driving that the inside of the sheild was pretty damn hot, are your guys' like that?

 

anyone who made their own heatsheild: is it worth putting some heat resistant tape on a preexsisting K&N heatsheild? btw i have a K&N FIPK and was very happy with it

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/97-98...ht_5016wt_1167

Buy that and then build a heatshield? = just as good as K&N?