And not for airflow or horsepower. I fitted them because i wanted access and visibility to the carbs and fuel lines. I feel certain the stock box and filter works really well but it really obscures the carbs (which look great) and it is quite a process removing the box to gain access. Not to mention the thought of dropping one of those carb nuts down a trumpet!!!! I like to take a good look at the engine before and after driving, looking for warning signs - this improves vision a lot. I drive relatively few miles, on generally clean roads and am not overly concerned that the filter is less superior than a new paper filter (which i'm willing to believe). I may wrinkle black the tops. Not digging the chrome. I placed a small filter vent on the crankcase vent. The carbs draw the vapor in as they are supposed to. And the sound is the money shot. Chalk and cheese. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Kind of how it should look, imho. And the sound.. i get the 'they are worse than oem in respect of power and filtration' argument...but when you see a 250tr with open trumpets and a forward air intake...I think 'live a little' Shoot me, but I have actually driven the car without filters - terrified more of an errant stone than a fire - but frick it sounded good. Let your horns sing...
I remember that well but have been unable to find it in recent years. I wonder if K&N pressured them to take it down. If anyone knows where to find it please post or PM me. I'd like to have a link handy for when someone asks me about K&N. I did experiment with them in a couple of cars way back when-- zero difference in seat of the pants power so I reverted back to paper. Still run one in the track car, but only because I've been too lazy to chase a better replacement for its aftermarket intake.
I use the K&N on my 328, got a new one for around the price of an standard UFI paper air filter. I struggle to get the paper filters around where I live and if I get some they want to rip me off with the price, for now I'm happy with the K&N, I wash/clean and reoil with the K&N kit, easy, I noted after one year the filter looks like new so I'll clean it every 2 years or so, no dusty roads of air here so they work for me, I like the loader sucking sound as well, reminds me of a carbed 308, LOL cheers Johnny
I had a similar K & N setup when I got my car from the PO, I removed them and replaced them with the stock air box. I agree, it did expose the carbs and made cleaning easier. The K & Ns look cool but in reality decrease performance as compared to the stock air box. The reason, the exposed K & Ns suck in hot air rising from the engine as opposed to cool air from the external duct routed to the air box. There can be some airflow loss due to the baffle on older carb cars but the baffle can be removed with little effort.
yes that is true but many of us has fuel injection and use the flatbed K&N filter that also fits in the air box, exactly like the original.
I use the K&N simply because I can get it into the airbox without removing the trumpets. Which is a serious advantage. Heck, I am heading out to the garage now to work on the brakes so may just remove and clean/re-oil for the heck of it. I run a K&N on my EFI tripower vette simply because they would make me a custom filter that was 3/4" taller than stock. Worth the $$$ for that alone.
Sorry, but I can not understand, why K&N filters in general should decrease performance ? (only talking about the original air box with a K&N filter insert vs. OEM paper filter insert, not about any modifications) If your carbed car is running too thin with the more of air through the K&N, you could re-adjust the carbs. After changing the paper filter for the K&N in my GT4, the mechanic has had to re-adjust my carbs also. It's the same if you drive without the top of the filter box (so with filtering at all), the carbs would get too much oxygen and would not gas perfectly.
Agree, the K & N that installs in the air box is as others have stated. I am referring to the four separate K & Ns as pictured. They suck in very hot air as opposed to the stock air box. I run a paper filter. I have run K & Ns on other cars but other than being reusable I do not see much benefit.
I had K&N filters but just switched to the ramflow filters because of the lower profile. I had designed the Micheloto style hinges so the decklid just cleared the filters when opening the lid. Then I put in new motor mounts ... OOPS. So if they just dramaticlly suck, I'll modify the decklid. Otherwise they stay in, I won't squabble over 3-4 horsepower.
I wrote above: I fitted them because i wanted access and visibility to the carbs and fuel lines. While awaiting a clutch cable i was running the car on the lift, warming it to bleed the cooling system. A bit of standing around as the temperature climbs, blipping throttle, hypnotized by the whirring belts, popping carbs, opening and closing bleed valves, watching temp gauge. Then I noticed the U shaped fuel line at the back of the engine was shiny...fingers out to touch and back to nose. Fuel. For whatever reason, a nick or bad clamping, fuel was leaking and by osmosis traveling along the hose. A minute after shutdown it had evaporated so you couldn't tell. I'll let it cool then change it. With factory air box this leak is invisible. You may smell it (more terrifying than seeing it as you then have to find the leak). Even if I didn't pick up the leak, the open filters drawn in that unwanted fuel vapor and burn it, a loss of power as the air is warmer, but I'll take that. Just wanted to give an example of why this shade tree mechanic likes a filter set up like this. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Properly serviced leaks there are not a problem. If you are saying K&N is better because you can catch your own bad work easier I suppose you have a point. For me the advanced engine wear due to poor filtering and loss of power is a more important consideration.
UFI. I am going to pick up the phone and order a bunch of stuff. I don't have time to call 20 different places for parts on every job. Every Ferrari parts supplier I know of sells UFI.
EXACTLY K&N filters suck ! The oil quickly attracts dirt, and then they clog up --- far easier and faster than a quality paper element.
Deliciously condescending! Like being back in boarding school with a teacher highlighting my myriad of failings! What fun! I would agree that 'proper servicing' reduces negative outcomes (in the vein of preparation prevents poor performance) but *i cannot agree it eradicates all negative outcomes. In a perfect world perhaps.*In a 40 year old car being awoken after a long winter, no. Regardless, there was a seeping fuel leak, it was observed and rectified and no burnt carbed car. The leak would not have been seen with the oem set up. I may have smelt the last of the fuel evaporating after shutoff, but may have brushed it off. After all, many people say these cars smell (mine generally does not). If i am saying anything it's that the Oem setup does exactly what it should and does it very well, but isn't perfect. On a carbed car *I'd love a paper filter in an air box set up that can be removed quickly and easily by the everyman, at roadside for instance.* And after thought, i traded performance and reduced engine wear for much improved sound, ease of access and visibility to carbs, fuel lines etc. Doesn't it make sense to retrofit older cars with better, modern paper filters than keep their oem set ups?
ABSOLUTELY! We did a TON of Dyno tests on this sort of stuff over the years and in NO case did a KN filter add any power over a new OEM paper filter in an OEM airbox with no other changes. IOW, replacing the paper filter with a KN did nothing except allow more dirt into the engine. The claim that a KN "flows more air" at a given pressure drop than an equivalent size paper filter MIGHT be correct in some situations. But what they leave out of that advertising information is the question, "does it need to?" IOW, if a 3x8 motor needs (say) 450CFM of air to make maximum power, the engine cannot make more power just because a filter CAN flow more than that. The engine can't use more. Heck, do a Dyno run with a clean OEM filter and then take the filter out and do another run. Usually there is no difference and a KN can't flow "better" than NO air filter. (actually, a filter CAN provide more engine power than no filter under operating conditions in some cases but that's a different issue and has to do with the dynamics of the car moving through the air and the way the air enters the system as opposed to sitting on a dyno ) As far as an article claiming a 3 HP increase at the several hundred HP level, that is within the error of any Dyno not to mention the difference caused by the time/difference in temp/air pressure/humidity etc. I have seen HP ratings change by 15-20 HP at the 400HP+ on the same engine/same day with no engine changes at all.
