Best air Cleaner?

[Mudder]

Just what it says. What should we be using? I have a K & N.

[Longhorn Man]

our oil lab at the shop swears K&N is only good for stopping bricks and birds.
They say a good paper filter is the best you can do for your engine *for normal operating conditions*

[Texasbigblock]

Sure K&N brags about more horses, but runnin with no cleaner will give u even more! lol, kinda takes common sense to realize that all your getting is less filtration and more trash. If you have a strictly street truck and clean the filter all the time i guess K&N would be okay but if u ever hit a dirt road or dont feel like cleanin it often, just go with a good WIX or other good brand paper filter.

[Jim_PA]

There's nothing wrong with a properly maintained K&N

You're grille is supposed to stop the bricks and birds.

[68chevy68]

Originally Posted by Jim_PA

There's nothing wrong with a properly maintained K&N

You're grille is supposed to stop the bricks and birds.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Texasbigblock]

well, im not really sure how an air filter could give you more power without letting in more air.....and if it lets in more air it has to let dirt and dust in also. My uncle works at a f*rd dealership and he says he has seen more "dusted" engines beyond repair with k&n filters that you could imagine....i dont know, id rather sacrafice the few horses and be safe. just my 2cents i guess

[Jim_PA]

Originally Posted by Texasbigblock

well, im not really sure how an air filter could give you more power without letting in more air.....and if it lets in more air it has to let dirt and dust in also. My uncle works at a f*rd dealership and he says he has seen more "dusted" engines beyond repair with k&n filters that you could imagine....i dont know, id rather sacrafice the few horses and be safe. just my 2cents i guess

I've seen cars/trucks from texas, and I'm not sure there's an air cleaner out there that would withstand the dust storms down there I could see problems with K&N failures with all that dust due to the set it and forget it mentality.

[Longhorn Man]

Originally Posted by Texasbigblock

well, im not really sure how an air filter could give you more power without letting in more air.....and if it lets in more air it has to let dirt and dust in also. My uncle works at a f*rd dealership and he says he has seen more "dusted" engines beyond repair with k&n filters that you could imagine....i dont know, id rather sacrafice the few horses and be safe. just my 2cents i guess

That is EXACTLY what our oil lab says.
Also the oil that you put in the filter gets sucked into the engine and can mess up sensors on the late model vehicles.

[67CHIP72]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

That is EXACTLY what our oil lab says.
Also the oil that you put in the filter gets sucked into the engine and can mess up sensors on the late model vehicles.

Interesting info most never consider.

[motopatzo]

Originally Posted by Texasbigblock

well, im not really sure how an air filter could give you more power without letting in more air.....and if it lets in more air it has to let dirt and dust in also. My uncle works at a f*rd dealership and he says he has seen more "dusted" engines beyond repair with k&n filters that you could imagine....i dont know, id rather sacrafice the few horses and be safe. just my 2cents i guess

I agree with that. I used to work at a GM dealership on the 6.5's, and did see a lot of "dusted" engines that we traced to big holes in the K&N filters. I am sure a bit of that was due to owners not "servicing" their K&N's and the fact that diesels have no throttle plates, and always are breathing the maximum amount of air. The paper filters work best in a diesel, because they required no maintenance and were designed by factory engineers to keep the grit out.

[Texasbigblock]

yea, your prolly rite. its funny how farm kids down here put K&N on their cowboy caddy diesel trucks and live down 10 miles of gravel roads.....ive seen many brand new diesels get screwed up like that.

[dan42]

I can't imagine that they are all that bad if you are driving with them under normal street conditions. To be honest, I didn't notice a power difference when I put mine on. But since I paid the money for it, and I don't really get off paved roads, I'm gonna use it.

[GREASEMONKEY72]

this is one of those questions like the ford vs chevy and bigblock vs small block deal, just run what you want kinda thing, i personally run a paper filter on mine

[Longhorn Man]

odds are you'll never lose an engine to a fram oil filter... but they are still the least filtering filter on the market.

[Mudder]

So what I am taking from all this is if I don't drive in dusty conditions with my K&N I should be alright as long as I keep it maintained?

[Jim_PA]

IMO, Yes Don't use an air gun to blow it out, oil it lightly after cleaning. I think the stuff is just ATF...

[Mudder]

LOL I have always cleaned it in the kitchen sink.

[Jim_PA]

Here, check this out: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest3.htm

[Yukon Jack]

I ran a K&N on my 95 GMC Yukon and it sure got the TBI dirty quickly. Maybe I was putting too much oil on the filter, I don't know. I do know that one day I had the filter out and held it up towards the sun and I was amazed at how many holes I was seeing at the base of the pleats. The filter had about 120,000 miles on it but I always cleaned it as directed. I took the filter off that day and went back to a regular style filter.

Now, having said that, I'm still running K&N's on my 69's 454 and my 70's 400 sbc. I will continue to inspect them and just might go ahead and replace them rather than continue running them due to the problem with the one I had on my 95.

[jfiljr]

my oil bath air cleaner works pretty well here in texas..ha ha ha

[crazy longhorn]

At 140 mph, my old longhorn "sucked up" Big Bird through the K&N....that little Chev stroker just hiccoped a couple times.......then all you could see was feathers out the tail pipes! LOL! IMO, the K&N is not to be used in a gravel pit dump truck, but in the proper "street app", is not a bad filter. If you are worried, add the foam prefilter to the outside, that the roundy pounders run on that K&N That should keep the bricks & birds out. I run a 14x4 K&N on my 69....street bound, & no fear.......crazyL

[jfalesi]

I've heard of bird strike tests on jet engines, but never SBC's. You should write a paper. Then write one explaining how to get an old Chevy truck to go 140 mph. Mine rarely sees the high side of 60.

Originally Posted by crazy longhorn

At 140 mph, my old longhorn "sucked up" Big Bird through the K&N....that little Chev stroker just hiccoped a couple times.......then all you could see was feathers out the tail pipes! LOL! IMO, the K&N is not to be used in a gravel pit dump truck, but in the proper "street app", is not a bad filter. If you are worried, add the foam prefilter to the outside, that the roundy pounders run on that K&N That should keep the bricks & birds out. I run a 14x4 K&N on my 69....street bound, & no fear.......crazyL

[jkeady]

Part of getting decent filtering out of a K&N or other reusable filter is doing the maintenance correctly. That is to say, clean it when it's dirty and oil it with the proper amount of oil. I do know that on the Tbird board I'm active on, K&Ns are usually blamed for dirty MAF sensors and poor running cars because of it.

[mudpuppie]

i like the ideal of the oil bath . truck not back together , but 72 super bug has oil bath .......
they pick up big and small stuff allways some bugs and dirt in it when it get cleaned

[crazy longhorn]

Originally Posted by jfalesi

I've heard of bird strike tests on jet engines, but never SBC's. You should write a paper. Then write one explaining how to get an old Chevy truck to go 140 mph. Mine rarely sees the high side of 60.

Downhill, with a good tailwind,in overdrive, and all 10 toes in the carb.....still caint figer how Big Bird fit through that carb with my toes there tho? L