K&N Air Filter

[twamd80driver]

Is it worth the money to put one of these on my 76 L-82? What will I notice?
Thanks!

Chris

 

[steelblue75]

That it looks Sooooo Cool.

 

[JohnZ]

Is it worth the money to put one of these on my 76 L-82? What will I notice?
Thanks!

Chris

You'll notice:

1. A lighter wallet.

2. No measurable performance difference, but you'll want to, after spending the $.

3. More dirt in your engine.

The laws of physics don't change - more airflow means less effective filtration, and our OEM testing of K&N's has shown that for years; they're nowhere near as effective in stopping particles as the production pleated paper filter.

 

[The73vetteman]

I agree with point 1 from JohnZ - when you look at how cheap a paper filter is and the cost of the K&N, paper works out much cheaper. I do believe the K&N improves airflow and as such you should see a small increase in hp and/or mpg (depending on how you drive). However, is it worth the money? For my tired old 73 L48 with 117k miles I decided that as she's too old to race I'd stick with paper.

The choice is yours.

John

 

[Eddie 70]

I do like the looks and idea of the K&N air filter lid. Whether or not it is of any benefit I have no idea.
I run paper filters on mine for the same reason mentioned above, I can buy a bunch of paper filters for the price of one K&N filter.

 

[BarryK]

from John's response the point that sticks out the most to me is point #3.
As he mentions, more airflow equals less filtration therefore more dirt in the motor. Personally, for the tiny bit of possible performance increase you may or may not actually get the trade off of more dirt in the system overrides that and to me isn't worth the risk or the long term effects.
If the purpose of an air filter is to filter the air, than why go with a product that has less filtration abilities - not to mention paying more money for that.

 

[stxhank]

I just cleaned and re-oiled my K&N. I live in dusty South Texas. One buys a filter for 49.95 a Cleaning kit for 9.95 and what do you get... a mess. But they do filter. In my estimation it is 6 of 1, half dozen of another... performance perhaps a little... I do hear more airflow so the carb does breath better. When you do a filter cleaning you will notice the fine "crap" it does filter.

Bottom line $60.00 investment... It would have been my second filter change... I need 2 more filter changes to break even.

Henry

 

[Chas]

I run both on mine.....

I have a K&N set , top and side....and I have an Edelbrock with a paper side and no top filter....I cant tell the diffrence between the two performance wise.....both look sweet at any show i go to...Im sure the top filter gives it more air down the pipe, but i dont have a dyno to tell the diffrence.
More of a personal prefrence i guess....
Chas

 

[JohnZ]

Filtration effectiveness with a K&N drops off dramatically when the oil dries out, and cleaning them (properly) and re-oiling is a messy PITA; most people don't do that regularly after doing it once. Changing the inexpensive pleated paper filter takes less than a minute, and you don't have to wash up afterwards

 

[Mac]

Most engines are naturally aspirated so the amount of air drawn in won't vary much regardless of the type of filter. Changing to a K&N filter doesn't increase the ability of the engine to pump air. I doubt the performance change made by having a less restrictive air filter is measurable.

If you're worried about the air filter, change it more frequently! I'll take the convenience of a throw away paper filter over the labour intensive clean & reoil K&N any day!

-Mac

 

[JohnZ]

The biggest mistake is to put a K&N on a diesel pickup; diesels are unthrottled, and inhale their maximum air-pumping capacity 100% of the time, even at idle. Doesn't take long to dry out a K&N on a diesel.

 

[Mac]

Compound that by adding a turbo (like my Dodge w. Cummins) and the K&N wouldn't stand a chance. I swap my air filters every oil change.

-Mac

 

[Mr. Chuck]

Fram now has the "Air Hog" which now competes with K&N; has the same clean & oil requirements; big difference is at least in SoCal, you can get them for about $40 and when introduced; mfgr gave $10 off. I put one on my 81, left the OEM metal screen filter in place. Did notice as smoother running engine & possibility an increase in gas mileage , still too soon to tell for sure. One fact neither mfgr tells you is that when you re-oil, leave filter stand over night to insure any excess oil drains off the filter, other wise you run risk of oil droplets being drawn into the engine and coating the surfaces of the air intake system. If you live in SMOG country and your car has a mass Air Flow Sensor, the oil fouls the sensor and causes mis-fire error in the car's computer, resulting in a check engine warning light.
Dealers usually just replace the mass flow sensor assy at a cost of $300 or more. I experienced this problem in my 98 Suburban, happened to take truck to AAMCO for their free diagnostic test. They ran an industrial grade cleaner through intake / injectors and manually cleaned the fouled mass air flow sensor at a total cost of $100 (special price, normal is $130). I keep a std paper filter on hand, so when I re-oil and need to use the vette, I put in the paper filter for a day. I agree if you go with the total K&N air filter direct air mounting and rely just on the K&N filter capabilities and the oil dries out less dirt in traped by the K&N. Looking at some of the filter mount with the K&N filter surface exposed directly to engine heat, dry out would be accelerated & require more frequent servicing.

 

[nutseynut7]

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[Nut]

I ran four dyno pulls a couple years ago on an installed dyno and not a trailer version. The two pulls with the K&N filter set up rang up +4hp difference each pull. Can I tell any difference while driving the car around? No. But I got a nice piece of paper that says I'm 4hp stronger whoopee....

....... nut

 

[Vette/Berlina-coupe]

BS!! --the notion of a paper-filter is a hugh Money-scam...

--the first Corvettes like my '53 & '54 had NO airfilter (just a metal-screens to keep the bugs out); but the old Oil-bath air-cleaners were the most effective overall (have no screen at all), because they caught anything that might harm the engine, -yet never cost you a dime (you could simply employ used-oil); --then the scam-artists came to the big-three and sold'em on the notion of the paper/air-cleaner--- Whereby the parts-department made lots of money filtering the air we breath all of the time (and we don't really need a filter in front of our face!). So don't be a sucker for the throw-away Pleated-paper airfilter (unless you are driving out on dirt-roads or through sand-storms), as the non-paper washable nifty-looking K&N-airfilter will do a great job keeping anything potentially damaging out of your inherently filthy/carboned-up combustion-chamber! Far far more critical to the life of your engine, is the exclusive use of Mobile-1 Oil (amazing polyester-based SyntheticOil the Germans invented for their WW2-fighters); --never ever change it as it gets even better with age, -so just add as needed, but change your Oil-filter when the Oil starts to turn darker, -be it 1,000-miles or 10,000-miles (occassionally add some of that magic-formula GM-additive that Cadillac carries), --and your engine will never wear-out (unless you abuse it)!! Like STP, Fossile-oil of any brand is sure Death for any engine; --thus besides the filfthy/combustion-process (which the Paper-filter can't help!), that's actually where all of the worst engine contaminants come from, lousy Oil (which carbons-up your combustion-chamber something awful, -and then works past the rings to do bad if fatal things internally).... ~Bob vH :confused :eyerole :ugh :crazy

EDIT by 67HEAVEN: Vette/Berlina-coupe, you've been pushing it in this thread. Now you remove staff comments to cover your tracks. Three-day ban.

 

[JohnZ]

you'll never see in print elsewhere, that which i have just related above; --but it is the absolute truth.

You don't really believe all that, do you? If you did, I'd really be disappointed. :eyerole

 

[Vette/Berlina-coupe]

Affirmative! -John

--Yes, including the part about the totally propagandized News-media & PublicLibrary-sys. --but you are somewhat free to opine here my friend! The facts are on my side, your criminal-Gov'mt. has already usurpt your precious usConstitution yet ignorantly, -few care; so surely you would'nt dwell in fantasy trying to falsely discredit an Engineer who knows whereof they speak, --without the technical facts to back you up, so let's hear it....
~Bob vH

EDIT by 67HEAVEN: Vette/Berlina-coupe, you've been pushing it in this thread. Now you remove staff comments to cover your tracks. Three-day ban.

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

Oh.

Say John, how 'bout them Mets?

 

[JohnZ]

I'm speechless (discretion being the better part of valor)