The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop K&N air filters

does anyone here use them? are they worth the money spent ?......dave

In my OPINION the gain is minimal to the cost. Overated!

I use them, Ive had one in my 51 for about 4 years now. Im running fuel injection and the only problem I have with them is when I recharge it "clean and oil the filter" the O2 sensor triggers the check engine light to come on for a few minutes till it warms up then it go's away. After a week or so it's fine ?
"I" think their worth the money.
Todd

K&N P/N E1000 will fit in the 59 apche 3100, 235 I6 Oil bath without any cutting. Will allow you to install the oil bath later if you so choose to. I just clean in when needed. Works for me.

Had 'em on my motorcycle for 20 yrs., 'til I crashed it.
Keep 'em clean & properly oiled, they flow & filter good...you only buy 'em once.

cm

GrandpasTruck, can you elaborate on this? Are you saying this E1000 filter will fit in the original oil-bath air cleaner housing and will make it work like a regular air cleaner without oil?

I run K&N as well and I love them. Keep them properly maintained and they do a great job.

P.T. Barnum Special- - - - -"There's a sucker born every minute!"
Jerry

I had one mechanic tell me that the oil in the K&N filters mess with the oxygen sensors in late model vehicles. Have any of you heard of that?

I do know that the filter voided the warranty on my 1998 Dodge Cummins untill I threatened to sue the B#$%^!*s

I'm not impresed with a filter with big enough pores in the element to need oil to function properly. There's only two ways to make a filter get the increased airflow K&N claims to allow - - - -bigger holes for the air to flow through, or a huge increase in square inches of filter media. Since the K&N is usually SMALLER in area, that tells me they're using bigger pores, and trying to trap the small particles with oil on the filter media. Why not just run an original-equipment oil bath filter in the first place? The fix on the dirt track was to run two tall paper filter elements stacked together, with a couple of turns of duct tape to seal the joint in the middle. Plenty of airflow, and it could get big clumps of mud on it without strangling the engine for air.
Jerry

Builder, yes I have heard that the oil can mess with oxygen sensors on late model vehicles.

Jerry, that is exactly what they are doing, larger pores w/ oil to trap small stuff. That's the only way it could work to increase air flow, as you noted. It's exactly like running an oil bath only not quite as messy. It's also fantastic where I'm at since I sometimes spend lots of time on gravel roads with fine dust. That oil catches more of it than a dry paper filter does. For that kind of application I highly recommend it. Now, if all a person is doing is tooling around in town then it's probably not worth it.

There is another aspect as well. They are durable filters that produce less waste. The K&N filter I have on my '71 was originally purchased over 10 years ago. It started out on my '63 C10 until that bit the dust and then it went on my '71 and is still filtering on just fine. In this throw-away society I prefer having things that will be around a long time.

Got them in about everything I own-even my kids Yamaha 4wheeler-they are cheaper in the long run IMO-not tossing them into the trash each time they get dirty. I got one that's about 20 yrs old.
I don't buy them for the "performance" aspect, just that they are reusable. Oil bath are rather restrictive with the turns the air must make. I'm sure if you overoil them it couod cause probs w/O2s, but I'm sure on mine more oil goes past the rings on my daily driven GMC w/232K miles...

Plus they sound killer if you have a Quadrajet...

Here's a similar thread on a diesel forum, they for the most part don't like them.

http://www.4btswaps.com/forum/showt...d&s=33f88590020243d2347b6c5705224065

I think a good properly sized paper filter is a better choice. I have used some K&N filters but found no advantage, don't care for the risk, and won't use any in the future.

Grigg

I dunno-I just sold my spousal unit's car last spring-250k miles on a gas-burner Nissan 2.0l, didn't burn or leak any oil between changes. K&N ever since 26k miles. I also used any brand of oil in it, usually the cheapest. Changed it every 3k. Yep-any brand-that really screws w/folks. My buddy runs a Come-along in a one ton Dodge-450K so far using a K&N.

tomctomc, Yes I have some pics you can look at. The photo is of a fram but here you go.

http://talk.classicparts.com/picture.php?albumid=180&pictureid=1462

And you can still put your oil bath filter rright back in.

thanks for the tip!

Happy to see that filter is made in Canada and not China! Our canuck friends are good friends!!

Gimmick.

I used them on a Porsche 914 a few years back, problem was,when the filters are about 18" behind you,the induction noise was terrible!
Initially I quite liked the noise but after a few weeks it got really annoying.....

I do have them on the '55, but I used them more for the reusability rather than any sort of "performance gain". To answer Jerry's question of "why not just use the original oil bath?", mine didn't have the oil bath, but rather the base air cleaner, and it was mssing the original element. It had a very ill fitting paper element in it. I originally wanted to run the oil bath, though, but at the time (this was before I had internet and discovered the Stovebolt), I couldn't find any original oil bath setups. So I went with the K&N, as the housings I did use take an odd size filter. The ability to clean and reuse the K&N appealed to me.

NOPE
here's why DON'T worry about where this came from
the research speaks for itself !!

http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/K-and-N-filters.htm

Jim Carter most likely has a variety of used oil bath air cleaners and could match the air cleaner to the year of a standard carburetor.

JC sells a very nice reproduction 1950-1959 "spark arrestor"-style air cleaner with a paper element.

This style of carburetor was standard on light trucks for many years (it clamps on the carburetor; you'd have to remove the center post on later Rochester air cleaners - 1960 and later, I think).

JC also sells a very nice original-style oil-wetted replacement element for that air cleaner (works over many years) 1936-1940 and 1941-1955st.