# Cold Air Done Right: STILLEN's Intake for GM's V8 Trucks **By Nathan Fette** · 2026-05-13 # Cold Air Done Right: STILLEN's Intake for GM's V8 Trucks![](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0144/4275/8230/files/TP403506_IMG04_2019_2025_Chevrolet_GMC_1500_6_2_TruPower_STILLEN_Cold_Air_Intake_Oiled.jpg?v=1776803731) ## Worth the Wait Six years is a long time. Since STILLEN released the TruPower Cold Air Scoop for the Silverado and Sierra in 2019, the phone never stopped ringing with one question: when is the full cold air intake coming? That question is answered now, and the reason it took this long is not indifference. It is the belief that releasing something means it has to be genuinely the best option available for your truck. The 2019 and later Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra represent the pinnacle of the American half-ton pickup. The 5.3L and 6.2L EcoTec3 V8 engines that power them are legitimate pieces of engineering, and the people who drive these trucks know it. They also know that a factory intake system is designed around cost, emissions compliance, and cabin refinement, not peak power. The gap between what the engine is capable of and what the factory intake allows it to do is exactly where STILLEN has spent the last two years.![](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0144/4275/8230/files/TP403505_IMG03_2019_2025_Chevrolet_GMC_1500_5_3_TruPower_STILLEN_Cold_Air_Intake_Dry.jpg?v=1776803866) ## How STILLEN Found the Cold Before a single prototype was cut, STILLEN instrumented the engine bay with temperature sensors and mapped thermal conditions across the entire space. The reasoning is straightforward: more airflow from the wrong location means hotter air, larger molecules, and a less efficient burn. The net power gain from a poorly located intake can be surprisingly small, even misleading. The data pointed to one location above the others, a low-temperature zone behind the headlight, inside an opening in the frame rails, naturally protected from engine heat by the wheel liner and pulling ventilated air from outside the bay entirely. That became the foundation of the sealed low-temperature airbox. Dense, cold, oxygen-rich air sourced from the coolest point STILLEN could find, delivered with as little resistance as possible. The first signal of what was possible had already arrived during scoop development, when opening the front inlet grille area alone gained nearly 10 horsepower on the dyno. If the front end was that restricted, the team knew the rest of the system was leaving power behind too. Clearing out the turbulence was the next job. The factory intake tube is loaded with resonators, baffles, and muffler chambers engineered to keep the cabin quiet for a mass market. Those chambers slow the air, induce turbulence, and force the intake charge to work harder before it ever reaches the throttle body. STILLEN replaced all of it with a rotational cast polyethylene straight-shot tube that runs a smooth, unobstructed path directly to the engine. The filter seals the system completely using a purpose-built dual-flange design that interfaces with the airbox housing at two contact points, ensuring that every molecule of intake air passes through the element and none of it bypasses.![](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0144/4275/8230/files/tp403504-878c6b7331bce08c614cd7b5e701e882cf6db453-3.jpg?v=1776799233) ## What the Data Delivered Two years of development and real-world beta testing produced results that speak clearly. On the dyno, the intake alone delivered 15 wheel horsepower and 12 lb-ft of torque. Paired with the STILLEN TruPower Cold Air Scoop, those figures grew to 24 WHP and 21 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels. For a naturally aspirated V8, those are exceptional numbers for a single bolt-on upgrade. Results may vary, but the consistency across test vehicles gave the development team genuine confidence in what owners can expect. Beta testers also frequently reported gains of 1 to 2 MPG in real-world driving conditions. That number is not a headline figure engineered for a press release. It is the kind of result that appears when an engine breathes the way it was designed to, with fewer restrictions, cooler intake charges, and a cleaner combustion cycle. The engine stops compensating and starts performing, and that change shows up not just on a dyno sheet but in everyday pull at highway speed, throttle response off the line, and the confidence to ask more from the drivetrain when the load demands it. ![](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0144/4275/8230/files/TP403506_IMG07_2019_2025_Chevrolet_GMC_1500_6_2_TruPower_STILLEN_Cold_Air_Intake_Oiled.jpg?v=1776803731) ## Built to Last, Backed for Life The TruPower Cold Air Intake systems ships as a complete, plug-and-play kit. Every coupler, PCV hose, MAF sensor extension harness, and rubber MAF gasket is included so installation is straightforward and the finished result is leak-free from the first start. The polycarbonate inspection window built into the STILLEN-branded lid lets owners check filter condition at a glance without pulling tools or disassembling the airbox. The filter itself is available in oiled or dry media, is fully washable and reusable. The systems are also covered by a limited lifetime warranty and made right here in the USA.  The systems are engineered for both the 5.3L and 6.2L EcoTec3 V8 platforms, covering the full range of half-ton Silverado and Sierra V8 applications. They also fit the 2021 and later Tahoe, Yukon, Suburban, and Escalade with the same engines, making them one of the broadest-reaching sets of performance upgrades STILLEN has ever offered for the GM truck and SUV platform.  Six years of requests. Two years of real development. One answer. The STILLEN TruPower Cold Air Intake is available now in four configurations: TP403504 (5.3L w/ oiled filter), TP403505 (5.3L w/ dry filter), TP403506 (6.2L w/ oiled filter), and TP403507 (6.3L w/ dry filter). [Find your fit](https://stillen.com/products/2019-chevrolet-silverado-gmc-sierra-more-trupower-by-stillen-cold-air-intake-tp403504-505-506-507 "Product Page Link for STILLEN GM V8 Cold Air Intake") and give your engine the air it has always been capable of using. --- > Source: [STILLEN](https://stillen.com/blogs/news/cold-air-done-right-stillens-intake-for-gms-v8-trucks)