With Chris142's rant on cars he hates, thought I would bring up a huge pet-peeve of mine: modern 'airboxes' and the filters used in them.
I had a 1985 Buick Skyhawk (TBI), and a 1986 Honda Civic (carb) that had nice, round 'pieplate' air cleaners on top of the engines. Just unscrew the centre tab, remove a couple of clips, lift the lid off, and then easily pop the air filter out. The round air filter itself had a nice solid frame around it, and could be held up and inspected with ease.
On most modern cars, you have an 'airbox' that the air filter is in, and you usually have to undo some weird clip, and the 'separate' the two halves of the box to get at the air filter. The halves usually do NOT come apart easily, so you have to wrestle furiously with it, and try to get the air filter out w/o ripping or crushing it. When you DO get the air filter out, it is sometimes a very flimsy thing, with open pleats that flap about.
Then, after you put an air filter back into the airbox, you have to get the two halves of the airbox back together, which again is a wrestling match, and you never really know if they are together properly, b/c the airbox is often sideways, or tucked down low...
Finally, the price! AF's on the two cars I mentioned were about $3-4 a peice. I replaced the one on the Skyhak every oil change, it was no big expense. But, as many know, modern panel air filters can be $30-$60 easily for some. I fell 'lucky' that the one for my Tribute is only $12...but stil, getting to it is a hassle.
Why can they not make small, round pie-plate air filters again that go on top of the engine, and get ducted to the TB, like modern 'air boxes'? Those round air claners can be made to seal just fine, I never had dirt problems with the two cars mentioned above...is anyone out there with me????
I had a 1985 Buick Skyhawk (TBI), and a 1986 Honda Civic (carb) that had nice, round 'pieplate' air cleaners on top of the engines. Just unscrew the centre tab, remove a couple of clips, lift the lid off, and then easily pop the air filter out. The round air filter itself had a nice solid frame around it, and could be held up and inspected with ease.
On most modern cars, you have an 'airbox' that the air filter is in, and you usually have to undo some weird clip, and the 'separate' the two halves of the box to get at the air filter. The halves usually do NOT come apart easily, so you have to wrestle furiously with it, and try to get the air filter out w/o ripping or crushing it. When you DO get the air filter out, it is sometimes a very flimsy thing, with open pleats that flap about.
Then, after you put an air filter back into the airbox, you have to get the two halves of the airbox back together, which again is a wrestling match, and you never really know if they are together properly, b/c the airbox is often sideways, or tucked down low...
Finally, the price! AF's on the two cars I mentioned were about $3-4 a peice. I replaced the one on the Skyhak every oil change, it was no big expense. But, as many know, modern panel air filters can be $30-$60 easily for some. I fell 'lucky' that the one for my Tribute is only $12...but stil, getting to it is a hassle.
Why can they not make small, round pie-plate air filters again that go on top of the engine, and get ducted to the TB, like modern 'air boxes'? Those round air claners can be made to seal just fine, I never had dirt problems with the two cars mentioned above...is anyone out there with me????
