In preparation for some exhaust and chip upgrades on our 2002 Duramax we decided to upgrade the intake system. We had excellent experience with the AEM unit on our 1998 Tahoe so we turned to AEM once again. Only this time we wanted to try the new Dryflow filter design from AEM.

We know dirt is bad for our motor and we were very interested in learning that the new filter from AEM will filter down to 1 micron and independent labs show that it achieves over 98% efficiency. Typical oiled filters only achieve up to 95% efficiency. Now add the mandrel-bent lightweight aluminum intake tube and this is a very nice system. Follow along with our install.

Installation

Our new AEM Brute Force Intake system for our GMC Duramax.

Lay everything out to prepare for the installation.

Remove the stock resonator from the 6.6 Turbo Diesel	Unplug the MAP sensor from the stock Intake.

Stock intake and box removed. Next is to remove the mount plate.	New AEM heat shield bolted in place. Notice it is now open from the bottom.

Our new Brute Force Intake is ready to hit the round. It sure looks good in our dirty engine compartment.

Complete installation of the AEM Brute Force intake took less than 30 minutes. It looks great and fitment was not a problem.

Testing

The first thing I noticed was that the intake was NOT much louder than the stock intake. I was expecting a significant noise increase with the stock resonator removed but it just did not produce much noise.

So how about performance. We didn't have a dyno available so I really didn't expect to get much seat of pants feel from the intake system. It did seem that throttle response was improved just slightly but as expected no major performance gains could be felt from my seat of the pants dynometer.

How about economy? It is very difficult to measure fuel mileage as it varies under normal driving conditions with terrain and driver. But it did seem that we received a very slight increase in fuel economy. My best guesstimate is approximately .3 MPG better than we were getting before the intake.

In summary we are very pleased with the fitment and improved under-hood look from the AEM Intake system. We now have a cleanable and re-useable air filter that does NOT require oil. We are happy with the new AEM Brute Force intake system on our 6.6L Duramax Turbo Diesel.

Source:

Advanced Engine Management, Inc.
2205 126th Street, Unit A
Hawthorne Ca. 90250
Phone: (310) 484-2322
Fax: (310) 484-0152
http://www.aempower.com/

Enjoy!