Question: Air Cleaner

[minifridge1138]

Hello everyone,

Recently i realized that i had very little clearance between my air cleaner and my hood.

I was thinking that I could switch from my round, 14-inch, open air cleaner to one of these holley triangular filters. Product page: http://www.holley.com/120-148.asp

I'm not thinking about this because i think it is cooler or will improve performance. I'm not even positive it will be any shorter (i'm on good terms with my local parts store and they'll let me open one of the holley's and see if it is shorter than my current setup).

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with these. Do they filter better/worse/the same as a standard paper filter?

Thanks!

 

[milo30]

Mine had one on it when I bought the car with a hi rise intake. I quickly found that the hood was resting on it and blocking alot of the air intake. If you have the stock intake it should work. I went to an air cleaner that dropped down around the carb a little lower than this one did and now have just enough clearance. If memory serves me right, the one you are looking at is a little shorted than most of the round ones.

 

[6880 Mike]

My fiancee has one on her '71 only because it was installed when she bought the car and she likes the look of it. It has a foam element.

 

[Crimson Thunder]

Get a repo LT-1 air cleaner($99 Corvette Central).It gave me almost another inch of clearance over a generic part store air cleaner.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Hello everyone,

Recently i realized that i had very little clearance between my air cleaner and my hood.

I was thinking that I could switch from my round, 14-inch, open air cleaner to one of these holley triangular filters. Product page: http://www.holley.com/120-148.asp

I'm not thinking about this because i think it is cooler or will improve performance. I'm not even positive it will be any shorter (i'm on good terms with my local parts store and they'll let me open one of the holley's and see if it is shorter than my current setup).

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with these. Do they filter better/worse/the same as a standard paper filter?

Thanks!

Sponge element filters suck as far as how well they filter.

Use the 14" air filter assembly fitted with a Green Filter, which is an oiled, woven-cotton air filter element.

The Green Filter will filter the air better than the sponge element in the Holley triangular unit and better than a K&N cotton-gauze filter element and the Green will restrict less than a paper element.

www.greenfilterusa.com

 

[78 Shark]

I agree with everyone else, the sponge filters tend to fall apart after washing a couple of times. The one I used was an Edelbrock foam cleaner which I was very unhappy with the product. I prefer K & N filters above the rest. You can use the bottom stock housing and the 14 in aftermarket lid to keep the air flow increased.

 

[Phill]

i like the look as well but try to find one that doesnt have a sponge filter. someone stated on a different thread to be careful with the triangler sponge air filters as they can catch fire if the carb backfires.

 

[glen242]

I agree with everyone else, the sponge filters tend to fall apart after washing a couple of times. The one I used was an Edelbrock foam cleaner which I was very unhappy with the product. I prefer K & N filters above the rest. You can use the bottom stock housing and the 14 in aftermarket lid to keep the air flow increased.

Why don't you like a good paper filter? Any real life proof-performance data NOT supplied by the filter manufacturers?

I am not running across the BAJA, strictly a cruiser. What DOCUMENTED advantage would I have using an oil impregnated filter VS a paper filter, besides being able to say "I'm using a K&N".

We ran Ford FE 427 engines in our DIRT racers in the '60s. When the engines were torn down, at the end of the season, we found no abnornal wear. In most cases the most that was needed was a light hone, if that. This was using stock FoMoCo double stacked filters. No signs of dirt, which we raced on, 3 nights a week, having any measurable effect upon the internals.

Gotta laugh when all the ricers went to K&N and the hot rodders followed suit.

Hat's off to K&N for marketing/advertising.

WTF, '60s, '70s, '80s '90s stock air filters allowed a engine to go at least 100,000 miles. How many CF of air was that? Now we should run the fancy oil impregnated filters on engines that MAY see 5,000 - 10,000 a year of street driving.

Guess I'm an old fart, but the least of my worries is, the paper filter, that I change every year @3-5,000 miles for about $4.00, is causing my engine to wear out before its time. At 15-20 years, 75,000-100,000 miles, it may be time for a rebuild.

15 years @ $4.00 =$60 for the paper VS the cost of a K&N and the cleaning and oiling supplies. Plus I know I am getting a NEW filter once a year without the mess.

I don't know - are NASCAR Sprint Cup racers using K&N filters?

Car manufacturers are now warranting engines for 100,000 miles. Would it not be to their advantage to use oil impregnated air filter to reduce wear=less warranty pay outs?

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

Guess I'm an old fart,

That makes two of us, and thanks for the post chock full of real life experience- and common sense.

 

[minifridge1138]

hey everyone,

Thanks for your replies.
Allow me to re-iterate. I was not looking to debate the advantages of KN v.s. Paper.
I was just wondering if the foam filters were any good.
Some people say they don't filter very well.
Some people say that the foam doesn't last very long.

I've got my answer.
Thanks everyone!

 

[Bill75]

That makes two of us, and thanks for the post chock full of real life experience- and common sense.

Three of us, I agree also. Good info

 

[401KVet]

Why don't you like a good paper filter? Any real life proof-performance data NOT supplied by the filter manufacturers?

I am not running across the BAJA, strictly a cruiser. What DOCUMENTED advantage would I have using an oil impregnated filter VS a paper filter, besides being able to say "I'm using a K&N".

We ran Ford FE 427 engines in our DIRT racers in the '60s. When the engines were torn down, at the end of the season, we found no abnornal wear. In most cases the most that was needed was a light hone, if that. This was using stock FoMoCo double stacked filters. No signs of dirt, which we raced on, 3 nights a week, having any measurable effect upon the internals.

Gotta laugh when all the ricers went to K&N and the hot rodders followed suit.

Hat's off to K&N for marketing/advertising.

WTF, '60s, '70s, '80s '90s stock air filters allowed a engine to go at least 100,000 miles. How many CF of air was that? Now we should run the fancy oil impregnated filters on engines that MAY see 5,000 - 10,000 a year of street driving.

Guess I'm an old fart, but the least of my worries is, the paper filter, that I change every year @3-5,000 miles for about $4.00, is causing my engine to wear out before its time. At 15-20 years, 75,000-100,000 miles, it may be time for a rebuild.

15 years @ $4.00 =$60 for the paper VS the cost of a K&N and the cleaning and oiling supplies. Plus I know I am getting a NEW filter once a year without the mess.

I don't know - are NASCAR Sprint Cup racers using K&N filters?

Car manufacturers are now warranting engines for 100,000 miles. Would it not be to their advantage to use oil impregnated air filter to reduce wear=less warranty pay outs?

About 20 years ago I use to work for the National Automobile Parts Association, which we all know as NAPA. One day a Rep from Wix Filters came to the store to give a class on filters. Back then Wix made the majority of Napa's air, oil, and fuel filters, and still do today.

One of the things he said at the beginning of the class surprised us all at the time. He said it was not healthy for your engine to change the air filter to often. A new air filter lets in more containments than one that is (Seasoned). Seasoned being once it starts to get a little dirty, it filters the air better.

Well my take on that is that if the Seasoned/dirty filter does a better job filtering, it has to start restricting the air flow.
From what I understand on the K&N filters, they do the job right out of the box that a Seasoned paper filter will do, and maybe a little better, but will not restrict the air flow and actually let a higher volume of air pass thru than a paper filter will.

Another thing that was said, it is not good to open up your filter housing just to inspect your filter especially in COLD weather. It was said if you think you have to do that, change it. The reason being when you take your filter out the rubber gaskets at the top and bottom or formed to what it was in. Putting it right back in it may not seal properly, especially in COLD weather. The filter gaskets need time to relax and then reinstall to make sure it makes a good seal.

 

[73shark]

I don't use these but found their video interesting.

Air Filters, Permanent Air Filter, Air Filters for Performance and Racing, True Flow

Video: YouTube - Automotive Air Filter Test

 

[401KVet]

Yes it is. I had never heard of True Flow. Do you know of anyone using them?

 

[73shark]

Sorry to say I don't. But then only know of a couple of guys that use a K&N.

Not sure but seem to remember that the '63 to '65 FIs used a foam element filter.

 

[Drjohn]

Hello everyone,

Recently i realized that i had very little clearance between my air cleaner and my hood.

I was thinking that I could switch from my round, 14-inch, open air cleaner to one of these holley triangular filters. Product page: Holley Performance Products Free-Flow Air Cleaner 120-148

I'm not thinking about this because i think it is cooler or will improve performance. I'm not even positive it will be any shorter (i'm on good terms with my local parts store and they'll let me open one of the holley's and see if it is shorter than my current setup).

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with these. Do they filter better/worse/the same as a standard paper filter?

Thanks!

By the way, you can now buy those directly from the link you posted.