Topic: Air filters compared in lab!

I ran into this site, deciding on an air filter for my hopefully ITB set up....Uni vs K&N...
seems like a thorough testing of various filters
interesting....

https://www.project200.com.au/dm-iso5011/

there seem to be lots of youtube videos out there also

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Re: Air filters compared in lab!

K&N is a waste of money. A quality paper filter works just as well and you don't have to clean it all the time.

"get up and get your grandma outta here"

Re: Air filters compared in lab!

Yeah but that one old man ran one for a million miles on his truck.  When you factor in cost of oil cleaner surely he saved tens of dollars!

4 (edited by OnkelUdo 2023-02-03 02:41 AM)

Re: Air filters compared in lab!

Mr.Yuck wrote:

K&N is a waste of money. A quality paper filter works just as well and you don't have to clean it all the time.

I am not a fan of K&N fiters either but washable filters across the board have their place.  The most common being when you just a need a generic 3" inlet cone (or whatever) because you can't fit the oil-bath air cleaner from that 1947 Chrysler flathead under the Camero hood.

The real most common use, for me, is when the stock air filter and all paper alternatives are NLA.  There is always a hack to modify some other air filter to fit but at that point a washable air filter is totally worth the minor hassle of clean and reoil.  So far,this has only happenned on motorcycles for me but 2/3rds of them run a UNI or K&N for this reason.

Re: Air filters compared in lab!

OnkelUdo wrote:
Mr.Yuck wrote:

K&N is a waste of money. A quality paper filter works just as well and you don't have to clean it all the time.

I am not a fan of K&N fiters either but washable filters across the board have their place.  The most common being when you just a need a generic 3" inlet cone (or whatever) because you can't fit the oil-bath air cleaner from that 1947 Chrysler flathead under the Camero hood.

The real most common use, for me, is when the stock air filter and all paper alternatives are NLA.  There is always a hack to modify some other air filter to fit but at that point a washable air filter is totally worth the minor hassle of clean and reoil.  So far,this has only happenned on motorcycles for me but 2/3rds of them run a UNI or K&N for this reason.

They don't flow very well and most people don't wash them correctly. BUT for your application I'm guessing flow isn't an issue.

"get up and get your grandma outta here"

Re: Air filters compared in lab!

Mr.Yuck wrote:

They don't flow very well and most people don't wash them correctly. BUT for your application I'm guessing flow isn't an issue.

Hey now!  The Flathead is not turbocharged so the air filter could be the primary flow restriction...after the valves, the actual head design, the shared-ports, and the cast iron log manifolds.

Re: Air filters compared in lab!

Mr.Yuck wrote:

They don't flow very well and most people don't wash them correctly. BUT for your application I'm guessing flow isn't an issue.

Except according to that the linked test they flow the best of everything tested.

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Re: Air filters compared in lab!

It took a lot of dirt to actually restrict the filters. and K&N did flow really well in comparison. But a 2L @6500 RPM is sucking in at best ~190cfm, so got to consider the volume flow rate per your application. Interestingly enough the AC Delco had consistent restriction vs loading. so as it got dirtier, regular filter just worked nice.
https://i0.wp.com/www.project200.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ISO5011_Dust-restriction-curve.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1

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Re: Air filters compared in lab!

I've been using an oiled cotton cone filter.  I have no idea if it allows more power.  BUT, I've been getting my oil tested by Blackstone after the last few races.  I've consistently had silica detected, which means dust is getting in and past the rings.  The silica number has also varied from race to race which suggests to me that I am not consistently cleaning and oiling the filter or that environmental conditions are overwhelming the oiled filter.

Before the next race I'm going back to paper filters. Of course I removed and tossed my old air cleaner housing loooong ago so I expected that I would need a new air filter housing.  I've improved the flow of the engine bit by bit and I didn't want to go back to the stock filter box and filter.  That would be too easy.  So I was searching around for a filter box from a car with at least 150 stock hp that would work. My son pointed out that his sn95 mustang uses paper cone filters, and the same filters are used for the v6 and v8.  Those filters should allow way more airflow than my 2.2L i4 will ever need, so I'm going to rejigger my current intake to fit the mustang cone filters and just replace them every race. I'm not sure that a filter housing is even needed.  The good filters, Wix and Purolator, are about $11 on rockauto and the cheapest are under $5.


https://www.google.com/search?q=sn95+m … r+wix&