What filter type for hard driving? (Long post)

[Intelman34]

I have a 1993 Thunderbird 5.0L V8 and a 1997 Camaro Z28 (high 11s). I drive both cars VERY hard.

The Thunderbird gets driven about 40-50 miles every day on the freeway, but I dont drive easy. I make the motor work hard. It is not uncommon for me to be at wide open throttle.

The Z28 gets driven as a fun car with not many miles put on it. The same goes for that though. I do not just coast along. I love to get it up in the revs.

On the Thunderbird I use the Motorcraft FL-1A. On the Z28, I use the oversized AC Delco UPF1218.

I know both of these filters have exceptional filtering capabilities (especially the UPF), but I am worried they are not flowing enough for my style of driving.

In Bob's tests, the one Motorcraft filter dropped the pressure quite a bit which worries me a lot and I for sure want to use a different filter on it now.

I have not heard anything about the UPF series filters though. Are these the right choice for hard driving or would a K&N be a better choice?

I do not want to be running oil filters that are always in bypass mode and not filtering the oil as they should be.

Please let me know what you think!

Thanks!

 

[kctom]

The test that these guy performed failed to measure flow rates, just pressure. It was their first attempt. My guess is that they were pushing far too much oil through these filters. I don't believe that the pressure drops are nearly as high in real life.

I have always used Fram. They presented the least resistance to oil flow in these tests and they have been measured at 60% effectiveness at 10 microns by Purolator! web page Tom

 

[Patman]

I think that if you drive a car very hard, the K&N will offer you the best protection. It's got a nearly indestructible canister (try throwing it against a wall and see!) and it'll flow incredibly well. And it filters 90% of the 10-20 micron particles in the multipass test, more than good enough to protect your engine from wear.