Upgrading Your Ram 1500's Intake System

Perhaps the reason intake manifolds are a focal point for modification is because it’s simple to do and very rewarding. We’re going to follow the system from the outside in again and discuss the types of modifications you can make and why you would consider making each one.

Over the past 40 years a lot of massive changes have taken place. Along with everyone else, Dodge moved up from carbureted systems to throttle body fuel injection and on up to direct port injection.

Minor adjustments have been made over the past 20 years, but when it comes to modifications and why you would want to make them, we’re talking about the 2002 and newer iterations of Ram trucks.

The first place you can start making upgrades is to the air filter itself. Now, if you’re planning on installing an aftermarket intake you can go ahead and skip this idea as it will be replaced anyway. 

Factory-style air filters can be restrictive and this is less than ideal. Adding a higher end air filter allows the engine to breathe more freely and can give you performance boosts. Now it won’t be anything major, but freeing up the airflow can give you one or two extra horses and even help improve fuel economy.

This may seem redundant but when you think about it, makes sense to do. At some point or another you’re going to need to clean or replace the air filter in your Ram, so while you’re in there you might as well make the swap. Price isn’t a major part of the equation, considering this is a small increase over your original filter’s price which you were going to pay anyway. 

Why upgrade your Ram 1500’s air filter?

• Cheap
• Easy to do
• Can be done during routine maintenance

Upgrading to a cold air intake is definitely the most typical type of intake modification to make in the 21st century. It’s cheap, affordable, and results in instant gratification. Allowing more air that’s colder to flow through your Ram 1500’s engine frees up some horses while boosting fuel economy. 

When should you swap in a cold air intake?

• When more power is desired
• When you need a boost in fuel economy
• When you need a quick and easy way to boost performance

After you decide to pick up a cold air intake, you’re going to notice a pretty big difference in the looks of things. One major difference is most of these kits will likely get rid of the air filter box altogether, leaving the air filter exposed. This is purposely designed, and for basic street use it’ll be fine.

However, when you’re off-road it can be a bit of a different story. More dirt will be suspended in the air, and it’s pretty obvious more dirt will be able to get through to the filter. Adding a filter cover or a pre-filter is the way to overcome this.

These are a super cheap investment. They look like a sack and simply fit over the air filter. This gives an extra layer of protection and gives one peace of mind.

Why add a filter cover?

• Cheap
• Easy
• Added layer of protection

The throttle body is the mouth of the engine. The belly needs protein and what’s protein to an engine? Oxygen. The more you can get in at once the better the engine will run.

Building power is as simple as opening up the throttle body. One can opt to port a throttle body to allow more air to flow through, but this takes a trained hand and lots of experience.

This is where buying trumps building as you can easily pick up a larger throttle body, and the hard work is all done for you. An optional addition is to throw on a throttle body spacer to compliment the additional air flow. This added space is usually modified to put a spin on the air. This helps the air and fuel mixture atomize for more power and better fuel efficiency.

Why upgrade the throttle body?

• Improves throttle response
• Increases power
• Fairly easy to install
• Complementary to other intake modifications

An engine works by producing a vacuum to draw in the air it needs to operate. All of the modifications we talked about so far work to allow the engine to pull in as much air as possible.

The problems are boring science issues, such as atmospheric pressure, and the engine can only draw in as much air as there is around it. This means not all of the volume in the combustion chamber is taken up.

There is a way around that: forced induction. Superchargers and turbochargers are pumps that simply force as much air into the chamber as possible. This upgrade can be costly and time consuming, but it will turn your Ram 1500 into an absolute monster. 

Why add a supercharger or turbocharger?

• Maximize engine efficiency
• Dramatic Increase in power and performance