It's All In The Mind! Repeat: It's All In The Mind!

[ULVER]

After K&N cotton, Amsoil foam, Air-Hogg, Green,

I just think for the most part, any feeling of increased power is all in the mind.

Is there any doubt, quality paper filters the best?

 

[Big O Dave]

No.

 

[MN Driver]

A cold air intake with an oiled filter shows better dyno results than a stock airbox with a paper filter.

Putting an oiled filter into a stock airbox or using different paper filters may or may not make much of a difference, if any, because there is more restriction in a stock air intake then there is in filters.

My 2 quarts...

 

[y_p_w]

quote:

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Originally posted by MN Driver:
A cold air intake with an oiled filter shows better dyno results than a stock airbox with a paper filter.

Putting an oiled filter into a stock airbox or using different paper filters may or may not make much of a difference, if any, because there is more restriction in a stock air intake then there is in filters.

My 2 quarts...

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I remember I saw an analysis on the pressure restriction in a certain Mazda car. The paper filter barely made a difference. The biggest (by a large margin) restriction along the flow of air was the resonator (i.e. air silencer).

Motor Trend once did a test on a K&N cone filter on a '94 Integra. It actually lost a bit of low end power and torque, but regained it in the top end. Honda DOHC engines were often matched with a dual-stage intake, which opened up the intake at high revs.

 

[Jonny Z]

FWIW this is my experience:
02 Camry 2.4 4-Cyl, which shares the air duct, box with the 3.3 V6. So for the engine the intake system was pretty good sized. Took out the factory Denso, and dropped in a K&N. Zero HP gain, Zero MPG delta. BUT, it came with a bonus that there is very noticably less engine brake in 2nd gear (I have a manual).
I like to downshift before setting up for a turn and I hated how the engine brakes too much when I let go of the gas doing about 3000 RPM.
After reading the efficiency tests I want to go back to paper, but I sure hate to lose this bonus effect! I don't know what the cause is, but I don't think the resistance in the filter can drag the car that much. The car is drive-by-wire if it makes a difference.

 

[RedWolf4000]

No, its not always all in the mind. How about a 6.8 hp gain on my turbo charged 93 MR2 Just by replacing the stock box with the K&N cone. The actual K&N kit for this car is just the cone and hardware to mount it on the stock tubing. Because the car is Turbo charged and has side ram air inlets near the intake head, clearly shows why this car made 6hp so easy and NA cars cannot in most cases.

Want to say to me: "try the dyno with a paper cone filter in place of the stock box, you will still see 6.8gain" ?

I did. 2.4hp gain, If you even want to consider that a gain at all.

Almost all turbo charged applications that use a stock paper filter and box can be improved upon, sometimes by even 10-12hp in a T'charged 4cyl.

Where there is restriction, K&N always flows better the paper.

Of course its all in the mind if you throw a K&N drop in filter in vehicles that are not restricted by the box or filter.

The K&N drop in has been known to make power, (rarely) One of the few examples in the LS1, of course it was very very neglagable but what would you expect? Im pretty sure it was used in Horse Power on TV and they made somthing like 2hp in an LS1 Camaro, they had tested the filter prior to the Dry-Nitrous kit they were intalling.

If your looking for cheap power, you cant spend $50 and got a drop in. You must first check to see if K&N has your car dyno'd in there intake section, if they do, and it makes decent power, then you have to spend the $200-$300 bucks for the kit. This is where it doesnt become worth it for alot of people, but when a $200 kit makes 10hp on a honda civic Si, thats about the cheapest horsepower you will ever see next to NOS:

http://www.kandn.com/dynocharts/69-1009.jpg

You gotta pay to play gentlemen.

 

[T-Keith]

I agree posting, I gained or lost power doesn't mean a thing without a dyno. Even then a 2-3hp may be within normal variation.

quote:

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A cold air intake with an oiled filter shows better dyno results than a stock airbox with a paper filter.

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Yes but what about a CAI with a paper filter?

-T

 

[Schmoe]

In the mind. I personally feel the oil soaked cotton type of filter does the best job. Just look at old Briggs and Stratton engines that use the foam filter soaked in oil, intakes were always clean and the thing always ran.

 

[goodvibes]

It's hard to always say a K&N if responsable for a large power increase with an intake swap. If you've got a MAF, it's often placed in such a way as to lean out an overly rich mixture at WOT. It's often a big portion of the increase and your also not comparing the filter to a similar size paper cone in the same format. I know that my car can get a couple of hp from a K&N drop-in but it can take lots of air(secondary butterfly opens to the box at 4k) and revs to 8k. This is an optimal situation for K&N drop-in performance and it only gets me 1% in a situation when filter size is a bigger issue than aftermarket intake. I just pretend it's a couple of degrees warmer outside or that I'm carying a 6 pack of my favorite oil. If you can feel those things then you need a K&N. I use a paper filter and no longer have to clean my MAF or worry about dirt.

 

[forcedtalon]

In a superchared/turbo aplication you can feel the diffence!!! I agree the natually aspired engines really dont benifit from them except better MPG but thats it.

 

[tom slick]

keep in mind there is a difference between an aftermarket oem replacement filter element and a replacement air intake. when you are talking a replacement air intake v. stock you can't really say it was the air filter alone that made the improvement when you changed out the tubing also.

 

[ALS]

I've got a question?
Who drives around at 5000 to 6000 rpms all day long to get the benefit of a K&N style filter.
Heck I rarely see 3K rpms in my Turbo 4 cylinder or the 24 valve 6 cylinder. I seized a Turbo at 247K miles and all I remember was all the dirt that was coating intake turbine when I pulled it.
Oh by the way I was running a K&N for close to 5 years before it died. I never saw any dirt or dust in the intake through out that period of time. I'm not blaming the K&N for it's death it did live for 247K miles on Dino and 3K mile OCI's. It may have lived longer if I had run Synthetic oil and Auto-Rx through it. But that was before I knew about BITOG.
Needless to say the new turbo and new engine only get their air filtered through an OEM paper air filter. Funny how the new Turbo's intake turbine doesn't have that dirt coating the old one had, even after 79K miles of a paper filters.
I know I read somewhere that you should not use a K&N style filter under forced induction situations. I just can not remember were I read it. Maybe here on BITOG?

 

[Ram_in_Texas]

I put a K&N filter in my stock 1998 jetta TDI and lost 3 mpg over a 6,000 miles. I kept telling myself the lower MPG figures were all in my mind. Afterwards I replaced the "superior" K&N with a stock paper element and my I got my 3 mpg back. The filter is now resting in the land fill. I couldn't bear to burden someone else with the ***.

 

[kingrob]

My naturally aspirated CVPI didn't benfit from a K+N setup, HP or MPG wise. However, my brothers 4-banger '93 Nissan P/U gained a few MPG and 1 or 2 extra HP.