Re: Those Crappy K&N Filters

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Simon Juncal 23 years ago

This Just In...

>
> An excerpt from this week's Staging Light section of National Dragster
> (NHRA's official weekly publication) provides this:
>
> "...K&N makes filters for the Apache helicopter and a number of tanks
> (surprisingly, the tanks also use K&N filters to keep dirt out of > their computers)"
>
> Can you believe that the engineers for such machinery would allow such
> a second-rate filter to be used on their equipment? Maybe it was the
> military budget cutbacks in the Clinton era that forced them to go to
> a re-useable style filter. We should all be ashamed of the depths our
> military have had to sink to... a K&N of all things.

I doubt very much that K&N designed the filters for the Apache, Abrams, Bradley etc. and their computers, with added horsepower over stock filters in mind. They are proprietary filters that are as big as they need to be to allow sufficient air flow, with an emphasis on filtering out MASSIVE amounts of crap from all sorts of climates. Obviously they did a good job, how much those filters resemble the filter in your Mustang remains to be seen. But I'm guessing there's a WHOLE LOT more to the filter in a 60 ton MBT than the ones you can buy at Autozone for 40 bucks :)

It should also be noted that all of those vehicles (especially the Helicopters) are PM'd, inspected and worked on daily, in some cases more. And will never be expected to drive the equivalent of 100,000 miles, or anywhere close to it in the case of tanks.

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Kirby 23 years ago

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Fero1 23 years ago

If you had seen the valves on my brand new set of heads after about 5000 miles, you'd understand how crappy K&N filters are. Only paper for me. The few extra HP a KnN gives is probably quickly negated when the valves are dirty and gummed up with garbage.

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Backyard Mechanic 23 years ago

Kirby opined in news: snipped-for-privacy@boeing.com:

Here's what's so bad.... every newby that's trying to increase his car's performance but has no idea what to do gets a K&N first.

On advice of OTHER guys that have no idea.

HAs nothing to do with real performance of the product.

Get my drift.

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Michael Johnson, PE 23 years ago

K&N filters perform well above OEM specified requirements and their use will not void any warranties. The more air your engine flows the greater the hp return is from using one. As for them causing accelerated engine wear I have seen it in my engine after using one for

145k miles. I do know of numerous pe> If the K&N is second rate, what is the best? And please tell me why the

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Michael Johnson, PE 23 years ago

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bill 23 years ago

I have a buddy who flies CH-53s for Uncle Sam now, he told me several years ago that for every hour of flight time in the Blackhawks the ground crew spends

*18* hours of PM/inspection time. Considerably more than the most anal "car guy" spends on the ole daily driver. Also a reusable filter would be WAY more cost effective than a replaceable filter in the long run.

bill

64.5: 260, 3 sp, a/c, SVO cam, Performer, Holley 390, Pertronix, Hi-Po exhaust, 1.5" front & 1" rear drop, Jacobs wires, Torq D's

66: '93 5.0, C4, a/c, ps, Performer RPM, Holley 600, Pertronix, bench seat

Colt SP1,Sig P220, Moss. 590A1, Marlin 70P

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Anthony S 23 years ago

Well K&N air filters, don't filter as well as paper. They do flow a little better, but not much. As a matter of fact on any car with a properly sized air filter, changing the air filter will yield very little if any power.

Check my flow data if you don't believe it.

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Also the filtration tests will be reperformed in a couple of years weighing the test filters before and after and with a higher mileage duration.

I've been trading e-mails with someone at K&N concerning my results as well. They definitely back their products. I don't agree with everything they claim, and they don't agree with me. That's fine. Ultimately, everyone must decide for themselves. I'll be using OEM style filters in all of my cars though.

AnthonyS

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AZGuy 23 years ago

----------------- Jim '88 LX 5.0 (now in car heaven) '89 LX 5.0 vert '99 GT 35th Anniversery Edition - Silver Mods to date - Relocated trunk release to drivers side, shortened throttle cable.

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Walt 23 years ago

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C. E. White 23 years ago

Of course the smart K&N filter owner would just swap in the OE filter before taking the car in for warranty service.

I'd hate to get in a debate with Ford over whether a K&N meets OE specifications or not - especially if the engine was using a lot of oil because of worn cylinders. I can't see how it does but on the other hand, Saleen installs them (or something like them) from their factory. On the other hand, the warranty on the parts Saleen adds or modifies is only 12/12,000. This pretty much makes it unlikely that the air filter will result in any warranty concerns. Also Cobra R's came from SVT with K&N Filters, but then they were a very low volume product intended for racing.

Regards,

Ed White

Walt wrote:

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Re: Those Crappy K&N Filters

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