I'm the other guy that Oliver has been talking about that received an intake with cracked epoxy that had to be sent back to be welded. I didn't put mine on right away like Oliver did because of worries of having the same issues as him. As he has already stated we put gasket maker on the intake along with new intake gaskets for fear of intake leaking.(I will give Matt props for sending me new intake gaskets free of charge). Also we had to drill out the back holes on each side of intake because the bolts would not go through and cut about 1/8" off of most bolts on driverside in order for them to seat all the way down and get a torque. Cutting the bolts wasn't a big deal to me but if he would have separated both pieces enough before welding to make up for the material lost from cutting it apart then bolts wouldn't have to be cut. After the install I tested for leaks and started it up, I am confident that there isn't any leaks.
I didn't want to jump on here right away until I put a few miles on the truck. I did notice that it seemed a little more responsive down low and it seemed to want to stay in 3rd gear longer. What Matt sold me on was him telling me lower EGT's. With a Spearco intercooler EGT's dropped around 150. My AFE Stage 2 dropped them some more. I told Matt I would be happy with a 100* drop, he said I could expect close to 300* drop, I figured money well spent. Well I have yet to see any drop in EGT's so I told Matt that and he said wait till I tow. I just got back from a trip to the mountains towing my heavy 5th wheel toyhauler. I did this same trip back in August when it was much hotter and I did not notice any drop in EGT's. It did seem the motor was willing to lug in a higher gear on some climbs but doing so would make the EGT's climb. I'm not saying that I have issues with high EGT's but I don't like to go above 1250* while towing and I was able to on both trips.
So in my opinion this part wasn't worth the money as I didn't see any real gains. This is the only modded intake that I have tried and went with it because it keeps the EGR system in place for CA smog, can't say if any other modded intake would be better. Also even though I have my EGR system in place the cooler is blocked off with a solid uppipe and the EGR valve is welded shut.
My expectations were high when I was told to expect a 300* dropped and I was very disappointed. On a side note I played with my FICM tunes while towing and went from PHP Economy to Atlas40, the EGT's didn't change but I got much better bottom end response.
