Not sure if you have ever installed an AFE on the Raptor but quality is not its strong suit and its been well documented on this forum, not trying to bash AFE as I did buy one thinking they were the best at the time. DirtyNasty do you run a tune with the Volant, as far as I know the INJEN is the only one designed for the Raptor with an OEM tune, and for that reason it may not be a good choice for those running a tune.
I would go Aluminum tube over steel tube any-day, I will never be convinced that plastic is better, just my opinion on plastic but Yuk!
Yeah i know they had a few complaints on their build quality, supposedly those had been worked out. For me i value the optional filter lid for the stock box that you can get with the AFE (and the power core of course). Since i tend to see mud, water crossings, dirt, etc i would rather not expose my filter element to all that nastyness if i dont have to. That is where the lid and volant enclosures come into play. (the new volant being my favorite, the old volant like i have being not as good on that front)
I can understand your asthetic choice on the metal vs plastic, but the plastic will not retain or transmit as much heat as the metal intake tubes. This is why some people made the remarks about heat soak on the aluminum based intake tubes.
There is a very real reason why a lot of auto manufactures are starting to use injection molded intake manifold and intake tubes. (it hasnt always been cheaper then cast metal work, hell it still may not be)
It really comes down to the science of it all.
So you can better get an idea at the below link of the differences between the plastic used by most plastic intake manufactures and aluminum
Thermal Conductivity of some common Materials and Gases
Aluminum = 205
Polyethylene = .4-.5
Copper = 401
So that of course is one measure of things, the other is how well do those materials radiate the heat back into the medium they are next to (in this case air). I havent found all the numbers but i can assure you that copper and aluminum do a better job of radiating the heat that they conduct back then the Polyethylene (plastic). There is a reason electronics manufactures for years have used aluminum and copper in their heatsinks.
---------- Post added at 11:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 AM ----------
Oh and for the guys running the open style filter elements, DEF get a prefilter!! It will save your ass if you splash around a bunch of water under the hood.
Well at least it should save the filter element from getting all soggy and what not.
