Air Filter Testing

[Gig'em]

This is shocking info to me.

http://home.usadatanet.net/~jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm

I wish I saw it before I bought my K&N

[P's Titan]

very interesting.. that is making me think twice and aftermarket air filters.

[rjspitz]

Good info. Seems accurate enough. I've never liked the idea of a "washable" and "lasts forever" air filter. Filters are cheap. Plus, it seems like it would be a PITA to have to clean the filter, let it dry, and then oil it. Same goes for the billet re-usable oil filter. I'll stick with OEM.

[Flight Test]

Great article and thanks for sharing. Proves there is a big trade-off between airflow and filter efficiency. I always felt engineering would provide the best combination of flow and filtering capacity. I'll stick with my OE filter as well.

[92TripleBlack]

Not sure if it is good or bad for K&N. Small particulates may not be too bad with proper maintainence. Also, the FIPK style filter may be better and then there is maintainence of the filter. But the conclusions at the end of the article are right on the money. More air flow doesn't mean more power, just as less restrictive exhaust doesn't either. Most people lost power by adding those fart pipes on their civics. Without major mods, they lost backpressure that helped the motor make more power. The major mods would bring the backpressure back up to the level the motor needs to make the power. My cousin-in-law puts them on all the time and just shakes his head.

[smoothTitan]

Not sure if it is good or bad for K&N. Small particulates may not be too bad with proper maintainence. Also, the FIPK style filter may be better and then there is maintainence of the filter. But the conclusions at the end of the article are right on the money. More air flow doesn't mean more power, just as less restrictive exhaust doesn't either. Most people lost power by adding those fart pipes on their civics. Without major mods, they lost backpressure that helped the motor make more power. The major mods would bring the backpressure back up to the level the motor needs to make the power. My cousin-in-law puts them on all the time and just shakes his head.

thats why im not on the cia and header band wagon, these trucks make good power but arent choked off like cars in the 80's which were cut down to nothing. new cars seem to have a pretty free flowing system, dont see headers and air filters helping that much.

[NorCal 4x4]

Does AC Delco make an after market filter for the Titan?
Well maybe Baldwin does. I'd like to see OEM compared.

[SWTXTITAN]

yea, i was wondering the same thing.

http://www.acdelco.com/html/catalog/index_auto.htm

[SWTXTITAN]

part # A1267C

[Flight Test]

Originally Posted by smoothTitan

thats why im not on the cia and header band wagon, these trucks make good power but arent choked off like cars in the 80's which were cut down to nothing. new cars seem to have a pretty free flowing system, dont see headers and air filters helping that much.

Could not agree more.

[dhaessig]

An operable filter bypass will move air around the filter when you need the extra power (throttle down). Use a high efficiency filter. Leave the bypass closed for most driving. You get dirty air with the bypass open, and clean air when it is closed. Depending on your driving habits, the accumulated dirt should be much less than using a low restriction filter.

Even the K&N high efficiency filter drops 4.5 iwc. A bypass provides a much lower restriction.

I have not tried this on the Titan because it has enough power for me!

[Armada]

The original post is just some guy's private web page. I'd like to know where I could go to validate the original data and by whom and for what purpose it was generated. It may be selectively used on one vehicle model to show that Delco (GM) is best in a GM diesel truck. You can pay people to produce data for just about any marketing purpose.

Having said that, it is clear that high flow gauze type filters may not trap as much as a high quality paper filter. So if maximum filtration is your goal, go paper. But in that comparison I also would want to make sure the gauze filter is properly prepped, as you can under oil them on purpose to skew the test results.

I believe that you can reach a point in which very fine particles don't need to be trapped in the filter because they may not adversely affect engine life. So, at some point, objective testing would show that filtration increases no longer correspond with longer engine life. Where that point is probably has not yet been established.

The point where increased filtering matters in the real world may not be reflected in these type of comparison studies. My personal experience in using K&N filters on a number of vehicles may illustrate that. Example: I have a K&N on a Diesel 7.3 L. Ford F-250 which has been used as a delivery truck. The filter went on shortly after purchase. The truck just passed 450,000 miles! The Expedition I sold when I bought this Armada had 107,000 miles on it, also on K&N since the first few weeks of life. Neither truck (nor any other I've owned with a gauze cotton filter) has had any engine problems.

Changing oil regularly is far more important than the outcome of the debate on filters. I use gauze cone type filters or drop-ins not as a performance enhancement, but because of the long life and the superior performance in really dusty conditions.

Just one opinion.

[MagLeto]

Originally Posted by Gig'em

This is shocking info to me.

http://home.usadatanet.net/~jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm

I wish I saw it before I bought my K&N

Thank you for finding and posting this. I think it will help a lot of members to make a more informed decision about air flow mods.

[uititan]

As others have said, I wouldn't get rid of the K&N just yet. I would want to see other independent test results that generally line up with this data. Also, how much filtering is good enough? Just my .02.

[sudden urge]

Great thread, It changed my mind about wasting money on CAI and different filter.