K&N air filter

[hdkeno]

Just wanted to get opinions on the K&N airfilter. good or bad.
Anyone have or had one in their 81's?

I was thinking of maybe putting one in my 81.
Right now,I have a Purolator Pure One in there.


As always, thanks in advance. Ken

 

[WONKABOY]

K&N

Just wanted to get opinions on the K&N airfilter. good or bad.
Anyone have or had one in their 81's?

I was thinking of maybe putting one in my 81.
Right now,I have a Purolator Pure One in there.


As always, thanks in advance. Ken

Hey Ken what's up? I dropped my car off last sat and met clark , seem's like a smart guy , still have not heard from him yet i don't want to bug him , after he's done with this work i'm keeping it up there for more work (front springs,) and dashboard lights they are dim maybe it's the circuit board, he said it will be ok to leave it , so you say yours runs smooth ? i cannot wait to see the difference , he is probraly rebuilding my carb too , how long did he have it?
As far as the K&N I use them in all my toys , but i did not buy one yet for this vette yet , hey 1,00000 mile warrenty!! RICK

 

[22229stingray81]

I have one in my '81. No difference in performance; I got it because it lasts half a million miles before you have to thoroughly clean it. For $40, why not.

-Tatortot

 

[Nut]

I had a 5-6hp increase on successive Dyno runs with and without the K&N top plate air cleaner. Do I feel the difference? No. Do I get any better gas mileage? No. But it was at least validated as a horsepower gain.

......... nut

 

[muddywaters]

Hey Nut, just give me a window (when the revolution occurs), the SKS w/ 40 rd clip. I use K/N filters in all the toys, paper in both the daily drivers, I'm glad to hear that there is some performance gain w/KN.

 

[BarryK]

I've been flamed for saying this before but I'll throw my two cents in........

I wouldn't use a K&N airfilter if it was given to me.
The idea behind an airfilter is to filter out particles in the air from getting into the motor. K&N loves to advertise HP gains by using their filters. How can they do that? Easy - the more air intake into the motor the better the motor is going to run and the more HP it's going to make but than it comes down to very simple physics. To get more air into the motor the air filter has to pass a greater amount of air. The ONLY way to pass more air is to reduce the filtering capacity.
sorry, I won't compromise filtering capacity on my airfilters to gain a couple of HP. Whatever additional HP gains there may be aren't going to be enough of a different to warrant allowing extra dirt particles into my motors.

JohnZ from the C1/C2 section used to work for GM in the engineering dept than after he retired went to work for Chrysler and was the plant manager for the Viper plant. I recall a post a while back during a previous K&N airfilter discussion and the posted that while he was the Viper plant manager Chrysler tested various airfilters for OEM use in the viper. Obviously for the Viper they wanted a good performance filter. If I recall correctly the K&N had one of the lowest filtering capacities of all the filters they tested.
i'm sure that if they were testing simply for whatever filter gave the most HP gains it may have been selected but as an OEM filter is failed because of poor filtering capabilities and Chrysler didn't want to have poorly filtered air going inside an expensive Viper motor.
Based a lot on these test results John usually recommends a good quality standard paper filter. Much better filtering capability and still plenty of air for the motor.
I use standard paper filters on both of my Vettes.

Not to mention that the for the cost of the K&N filters I can buy a good number of paper filters to replace them once a year and still have much better filtering.

 

[vet'svette]

K & N Filters

My 90 has one and my gas milage improved 3 to 4 miles per gallon.
Very happy with it.

 

[Peer81]

Nice discussion Barry has started.
The first question that rises in my mind is: "how much / what size 'dirt' can a pass the airfilter WITHOUT being harmfull for the engine?"

You can put and airfilter on your engine that even rejects 'thick air' so your engine has very little damage and could run about 800.000 miles. But and average camshaft is rounded off after (about) 400.000 miles max. so what's the point?
I don't have any engine rebuilding experience. But normaly the problems are your bearings when you didn't change the oilfilter to much and the camshaft letting you down IMO. Please give me some example's of an engine failure caused by dirt getting into the cilinders by the airstream.
Oke, so you get some carbon dioxide deposits on the cilinderwalls. But is that caused by the airfilter of the imperfect fuel/air ratio's much cars run with?

Groeten Peter.

 

[BarryK]

Peer
I don't have the answers to your questions.
i don't pretent to know much personally about the subject not do I have any engine building or rebuilding experience.

I know John's background as a GM engineer (working in the corvette division ) and than of his position as a plant manager at Chrylser.
needless to say the man knows more about cars than i ever will hope to.
based on his experience and knowledge I follow John's advice as i'm smart enough to listen to qualified people smarter than me.
That doesn't mean that when he's posted himself in this subject before that everyone agrees with him and when i've posted on this subject before many people (usually K&N owners) disagree with me but to *ME* the difference on both sides of theargument is that John has the actual engineering experience and the factory OEM testing experiences and results to form his opinion on the matter compared to most people on the other side of the 'debate" that are basing their opinions on simply deciding that they may have felt a slight difference in power on their cars from installing a K&N filter, or from the fact that they installed a K&N filter and their motor hasn't been destroyed after 10,000 miles.
I'm not trying to tell anyone that the reduced filtering capapicty of a K&N filter is going to cause their motor to fail on them because of some extra dirt particles, but I look at it simply that if you are going to use an air filter (most people won't argue the good sense to use a filter rather than run the car without any air filter at all) why not use the best filter you can in terms of what an air filter is designed to do which is filter out dirt particle.

I'm not looking for, or expecting to change anyones mind on the subject, or "convert" current K&N filter users, i'm just stating my opinion which if i'm not mistaken was the original thread posters question, on K&N filters based on how it was explained and presented to me in previous threads on the subject and based on the logic of it I happen to agree with it.

that's it - no more and no less.

 

[bmotojoe]

I am not Pro K&N but:
The one thing we should keep in mind here is two completely different fuel delivery systems between the 1981 Corvette and any of the Dodge Vipers. As with any carbureted fuel delivery system these systems are much more forgiving if impurities are introduced into the system vs. an injected system. A carbureted system using a K&N round filter open top or OEM style will help in the air flow and consequently give you a slight increase in performance. On the other hand, if the car your driving is a daily commuter car I wouldn’t spend the money on a K&N. Remember the price of a recharge kit alone for the K&N is going to be the price of about 3 AC Delco air filters without the hassle of cleaning and re-oiling the K&N filter.
Brian

 

[hdkeno]

Hey Rick,Glad to hear you got up to see Clark.
He does do nice work,rebuilt my carb also since I did have a faulty TPS (throttle posituion sensor) which is in the carb. Plus the carb mounting gasket was dried out and leaking air.

When he was done, the carb looked like new and runs like new.

Let me know how you make out. later Ken

 

[hdkeno]

Hmmm, now that Barry brought up some interesting points, Im going to give it a second thought,on the K&N swap.Other good points,pro K&N also.

Actually I have seen in other forums, the Purolator PureOne which I have now is a good filter in its own right.

Later, Ken

 

[WONKABOY]

SPRING STREET

Hey Rick,Glad to hear you got up to see Clark.
He does do nice work,rebuilt my carb also since I did have a faulty TPS (throttle position sensor) which is in the carb. Plus the carb mounting gasket was dried out and leaking air.

When he was done, the carb looked like new and runs like new.

Let me know how you make out. later Ken

Hey Ken , i just got off the phone with Clark, there still checking it out , he said i had a couple of codes come up , and also my base gasket might be bad, and he's checking all my vacum lines also, i had a list of things for him to do and he did them , he must be saving the carb work for last , that's okay let him take his time , he also said he's keeping it inside for me , i'm glad because it somewhat leaks and i always have it garaged when i know the weather is going to be bad , i told him about checking all my front and rear suspension for any worn parts , i did have new shocks installed back home like 3 weeks ago and it is alot better but i think it needs something else , he going to check my springs for the correct height , this guy sounds real technical , about time i found somebody who knows what he's doing !!! My dashboard and center console lights are very dim (always were ) he said it might be the circuit boards , i know i have a tranny leak and according to my another mechanic ( who's pretty decent too) it has to come out for a $5.00 seal!! i will wait for that one , i think the car might be there for awhile , i will pay him for what he does and just keep adding things for him to repair after each payment, I'm having it painted by a friend of mine at his shop he does excellent show work , told me $5,000 for a color change and that includes all fiberglass work if needed , he's taking off everything outside including bumpers, door looks , you name it , my windshield does leak after washing so he said he will take it out also to repair the rust, I'm going with "torch red" and also want to change the interior to black or red he does that too, he must have owned over 50 vettes in his lifetime so he knows what he's doing as i was told by numerous people, i'm going to change the rims also , i have a few choices , he told me it it will definably be a show paint job , that's why i might as well keep going with the mechanical work with clark , all and all it is a great car with only 66,000 miles but it's 25 years old and did sit for almost 5 years before i got it , i can't wait to see how it runs , that will give me more incentive to go for the paint job , oh i even got new front and rear emblems , front and side grills the corvette logo for the back, i still have to buy a lower valance panel and the spoiler pieces , all in time i guess , so you said it is a big difference from when you first bought it?

Peace, RICK

 

[Peer81]

I see your point Barry and appresiate your replies. I still have the original AC Delco airfilter and a new one in as backup so i don't need to pro or con K&N for a couple of years

Groeten Peter.

 

[Scott Watkin]

I have to say I'm pro K&N air and oil filters. I have used K&N air filters on my daily drivers, my vettes and my race cars for over 20 years. I also use the K&N oil filters on my vettes and race cars. I build my own engines and my race cars race on dirt. I have never had an engine failure cause by dirt, nor have I found dirt in the engine when I tear an engine apart. I had engines failures due to crank or bearings failing, but these were cause by defective material and one case when the oil pump died. That the day I learn why you are suppose to watch the gauges, oh well your are young only once. I

 

[401KVet]

I had a 5-6hp increase on successive Dyno runs with and without the K&N top plate air cleaner. Do I feel the difference? No. Do I get any better gas mileage? No. But it was at least validated as a horsepower gain.

......... nut

I have a 80 L82. Which K&N top plate filter are you using on your Vette?