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Re: I'd Like Some Advice/Opinions

Some time ago, I changed the air filter in my 07 malibu SS to a K&N.

> I religiously change the oil etc. at 5k intervals (the car now has > about 11000 miles on it. What I was wondering specifically is whether > it might behoove me to put a cone type filter on. Assuming that the > filters behaved as advertised, does the extra air allowed into the > engine have the possibility of making it run more efficiently?

It will not allow any "extra air" to flow into the engine. If you do the math on 99% of the engines out there you will discover that the factory paper elements flow about 4 times the amount of air than the engine can ever use. And they filter better than the K&N as well because they have smaller passages through the filter media. They have also caused failed sensors and SEL lights due to the oil on them.

Secondly, since the air intake is essentially "cold" coming through > the fender well, would the mixture of warm and cold air (the mix > between the fender well and engine compartment) help or hurt > performance/mileage?

Warmer air will always hurt performance and mileage. Colder air is denser air. The denser the air charge is into the engine the more power it can make on the same amount of fuel. The factory airbox also silences a LOT of intake noise. If this wasn't the case why would 99% of racers use ways to funnel cooler air to the filters and avoid underhood air.

Reply to
Steve W.
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Agree with the previous two posts.

Reply to
HLS

Thanks for your input. So I guess the "cold air intake" craze that the kids talk about is more about sound than actual fury. The young guys in the neighborhood all swear that their cars are quicker, faster, etc. since putting in their new intakes. To me, they look like 50 dollar replicas of a 4 dollar piece of pipe from Home Depot. but then again, I'm old.

Reply to
Ted
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Yes, you (and I) may be old, but when we did things like that as kids we swore our cars were faster too. It was not uncommon to remove the air cleaner in the quest for better performance, but the reality was it just sounded cool when you floored it. My first car was a '53 Mercury Monterey with a flathead V-8

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Thanks for your input. So I guess the "cold air intake" craze that the kids talk about is more about sound than actual fury. The young guys in the neighborhood all swear that their cars are quicker, faster, etc. since putting in their new intakes. To me, they look like 50 dollar replicas of a 4 dollar piece of pipe from Home Depot. but then again, I'm old.

As was previously mentioned, colder air is denser air, and you definitely CAN get some improvement in performance this way. But the K&N is more sound than fury. In itself, it does not guarantee a denser air stream, has been shown not to give the filtration that an appropriate OEM filter will give, and does not result in substantial improvements in either economy or power.. It perhaps sounds more gutteral.

A stovepipe cold ram air induction system can sometimes work pretty well.

Reply to
HLS

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