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Factory intake elbows are restrictive and bottleneck the airflow to your engine. To prolong the life of your engine and maximize its performance, the aftermarket air intake is a great and cost-effective upgrade over stock. Enter the Banks Power Monster Ram intake elbow.
What a percentage of truck enthusiasts don’t realize is, with only a few choice modifications, air intakes being one, these trucks are capable of the dominant power that will naturally sell themselves with the return. Not only will the new intake offer enhanced horsepower and torque, but it also offers an opportunity to dress up the engine a little.
We were ecstatic about the future. We would see better airflow and performance of this truck.
Baseline Basics
What we started with was an 86,000 mile, 2011 Dodge Ram 2500. This Ram is outfitted with a 6.7-liter Cummins. Cummins has been a force in the diesel engine game for decades and with this newest 6.7-liter ISB engine, they feel as if this engine could be groundbreaking.
Previously installed on the project truck were a few different modifications to enhance performance: an Industrial Injection Silver Bullet 66 turbocharger and a BD Diesel Performance three-piece exhaust manifold.
Our Banks box was full of top- of- the line product. Also included was the necessary upgraded fuel line to allow proper clearance on the engine.
While we teamed up with Banks, we wanted to put their new parts to the test to display how much they actually helped our rig.
Putting The Rest To Rest
Maximum power, performance, and efficiency are the ultimate goals, but to make it all happen the engine has to breathe freely. Finding ways to pump your engine full of cooler, denser air has always been the key.
In a recent test, Gale Banks, owner and operator of Banks Power, put on a world series of performance between all of the known intake elbows out for the 6.7-liter Cummins. Needless to say, Gale was happy with the end result.
As you can see, the Banks design is quite a bit different when compared to the stock elbow. It has more of a round and better-flowing design.
After comparing the factory OEM intake elbow along with eight other aftermarket elbows, Banks had his answer. The Banks Monster-Ram intake elbow had more CFM flow, the largest gain of CFM compared to stock, and the highest percentage increased over stock.
CFM stands for cubic feet per minute. It is a measurement of the velocity at which air flows into or out of a space. The more CFM flowing into your engine the better. This is why Banks Power went with the more flowing design than the competitors.
When purchasing your Banks intake elbow, your box will contain everything you will need to install it.
With that being said, “just enough” is never enough when it comes to keeping your engine full of the air it needs. The Monster-Ram intake flowed 1008 CFM (cubic feet per minute) of air, which calculated to 77.01 pounds of air per minute.
The factory intake elbow that came with the truck was also tested in this challenge. It is safe to say that the Banks intake was above par. The factory elbow flowed 432 CFM, which is only 33.00 pounds per minute.
Harnessing The Power
C&B Diesel Repair & Performance was happy to install the Monster Ram on this truck. They looked forward to the results from the dyno.
We took the truck over to our friends at C&B Diesel in Jackson, Missouri. There, we removed the old intake elbow to replace it with the upgraded Banks model. As you can see, with the new design, the elbow may encounter some clearance issues.
The purchase of your elbow includes a new high-pressure fuel injector line. With the size of this new intake, it doesn’t allow the factory fuel line to run its natural course. Therefore, the new line is rerouted to work together with the new design resulting in no clearance issues at all.
“Banks’ new Monster-Ram flat-out destroys the competition utilizing the latest in electronic computational fluid-dynamic technology,” Banks continued, “Tested on the flow bench, the dyno, and finally, in the real world, Monster-Ram is a beast that only Banks could have unleashed. Nothing on the market comes close to its performance or value.”
From Mild To Wild
After removing the stock intake elbow, we compared the two units. We noticed that the stock intake elbow was more restrictive. The Banks intake elbow offered a machined inlet port. This allowed 40 more CFM of air to flow conversely through the Monster-Ram.
Although not a factory piece, you can see what Gale meant by the difference. The stock unit has a differently shaped inlet with a sharp bend, compared to the Banks model and its CNC'd inlet with a curved design.
Factory elbows are designed with more of a bend and square-sided model. “Round tubes flow great in a straight line, but they flow terribly in a bend,” Banks said, referring back to the aviation teams in WWII. ” They were trying to duck air around corners, and every time you push air through a corner, you’re creating a loss. That’s just how nature works.”
 Bringing In The New
These elbows are not hard to remove by any means. Just a few simple tools will get you ready for the new installation. With the old unit removed, C&B went to work in installing the upgrade.
Removing the old elbow compromised the old intake gasket, but not to worry, the new Monster-Ram came prepared with a new and improved layer.
The new elbow still offered the connection point to hold down the engine oil dipstick.
Now that the Banks Power Monster-Ram was installed, we got to see how it performs. Right away, the truck went hauling 10,000 pounds. We noticed immediately noticed reduced low boost smoke, lower intake air temperatures, and 45 psi of boost nearly 200 rpm sooner.
