I’ve have had both a gen 1 and now a gen 2. This is one thing I never messed with. Fords engineering is spot on with keeping the air clean. I’m like
@Old-Raptor-guy and my truck sees a lot of nasty dust in Baja.
Sounds like he’s got an answer to get even cleaner air I should check out. I also love the stock filter as it’s easy to change and I load up on a couple new ones before every trip and keep them clean for swapping out While I’m down there.
I normally change halfway down then change again for the pavement run home.
I‘d think an aftermarket intercooler with a mild tune would be a better choice for performance (more expensive though) than risking the dust getting into the engine.
As far as looking cool the much larger and silver intercooler shows through the grill.
I have the intercooler to help with heat soak when running hard in the desert but no tune.