1,airaid 2,green high perf 3,accel kool blue 4,holly powershot 5 k&n or 6,slp blackwing

im buying a lid and when i put it on i want a better air filter to go with it. but i`d like to know how long yours lasted or how long you`ve had it, & does it clean well. i`ve heard of some fallin apart after you clean it one time i`ve heard that kool blue or green cant remember what one but one of them you can clean with water and let air dry. anyone know about this? any help or feedback on these filters would be great. thanks everyone.

I've never had a problem with a K&N. Easy to clean, holds up well. The one on my car now has been there for six years.

http://www.injuneer.com/images/photos/Engine/AirBox02.jpg

I'd go with K&N, it's pretty much the industry standard. cleaning takes a few minutes, but you need about a day to let the filter dry after you re-oil it. For that reason, i have a cheap-o FRAM paper filter to run in my 98 TA while my K&N dries. I've only had to use it once since I clean my K&N every 15k miles or so. The company says something like 50k between changes, but i think thats too long. Good luck!

ive never used an air box but i have a question, is it possible to install an air box on a non ram air hood? I have the stock intake with a filter on it but not the stock box that sits behind the drivers headlight. I was just wondering.

whatta you mean, like convert your intake to a stock LS1 intake with the air lid and such? if ya wanna try i'll ship you my stock Air box lid, but you'd need the bottom piece sill. I'd reccomend getting a Fast Toys Ram Air, too . I think it'd be a pretty cool conversion, but im not sure you'd see any gains.

If you're lookin to get a Ram Air box without the Ram Air, i dont think that'll work, since you'd just be sucking in hot air from munder the hood. Just my $0.02

well my thoughts were that i could cut out the wholes in my non-functional stock hood where the scoops are and it should be directly aligned with the box...i think

K&N's on ALL my vehicles (ok except for the new Sunfire and the current bikes--I've run them on bikes before). I've had them on just about every vehicle I've owned and no complaints about them (other than the cleaning/oiling process...a bit tedious). The biggest pain is my wife's Trailblazer...that thing sucks in junk like you wouldn't believe! Takes forever to clean it out. I've thought about just running paper filters on it since it's no hotrod.

thanks everyone for the info

i'd say K&N. Holley is supposed to be good too, but like the people say... i've had lots of K&N over the years and have never had a problem.

K&N

I've got a cool blue since she was new and it is still in great shape.
I have a holley power shot on the truck.

There is a cleaner and re-oiler kit you can get. I use the cleaner and water to wash it, dry it then re oil. Be sure not to put excessive oil on any of these filters K&N too. Bad for the MAF. Sometimes I use the holley oil and cleaner sometimes K&N. It doesnt matter as long as it is applied correctly.

ya one pass per pleat works for the oil, no more. Also Formyla- is the holley oil blue? I figured it must be since the K&N is red . I have a Fram Air-HOG on the Denali. Seems to work just fine. Hard to compare to the formula, since the cars are so completely different, but I think the air flow is definitely improved on 6.0 in the truck.

Has any one tested k&n vs paper air filter ?on dyno or track times .

Never tested on dyno. But i can say the K&N does flow more CFM. Our local auto zone has a demo on the counter with a flow meter and you can change out the paper fram filter to the k&n and it flows almost 2 times as much air,

+1 for K&N! They dominate the market, and it's for a reason

There are some out there that claim their "dry" filters do a better job than the K&N. K&N is just the standard because they were the first to do it. Do not get me wrong, they are still one of the best if not the best.

Matt

K&N

I haven't changed out the K&N filter for a paper one with any of my cars on the dyno but I do run a paper one while I'm waiting for my K&N ones to dry and I can tell with the paper one in that my cars don't seem to have the same seat of your pants fast feel as they do when I've got the K&N's in them.

vs. a regular air filter it will choke. I was saying like AirRaid and Amsoil. They say theirs will flow better and trap more dirt. That's all. I personally have the K&N in my cars and the Volant in my truck.

Matt

I've got a K&N buried in the fender at the end of a Lingenfelter cold air intake on my Bird. It's not the most convenient location for servicing, but I don't put that many miles on so it goes a while without cleaning. I've also got K&N's in my Grand Am and in our Envoy.

...I've got a glorified metal screen on the ZZ4 in my boat.

I run a plain old paper Fram. I used to run K&N's, but the oiling process is a PITA, and if you use too much oil you can foul your MAF, which I think happened in my Jeep.

If I was going to use a re-useable filter, I'd go with the Amsoil, you just have to blow it out, no oiling.

I saw somewhere a dyno sheet where they LOST 3hp with K&N compared to paper, but I don't remember where I saw it.

I think that unless your filter is disgustingly dirty, you're not going to notice a difference either way. I NEVER noticed any difference on ony of my other K&N equiped vehicles. K&N just has a great marketing dept., that's all.

K&N in my bird.

K&N in the Firebird, regular paper in the Civic and the Scoobie (nothing can help either of those cars ). K&Ns flow more air than paper. Some years ago read a test on which element flowed the most--I think K&N won that one, but barely. All the oil /gauze types beat all of the paper elements). K&N flows more air than paper, becuz the holes are bigger. When it comes to trapping dirt, the paper elements win hands down becuz the holes are smaller. For the oil type cleaners, the K&N held it's own with the others of its type. The moral of this story, is that paper elements flow less air and trap more dirt. The oil/gauze elements flow more air and trap less dirt. That said, after running the K&N for more than 80,000 miles, miked the cylinder walls and couldn't find any wear when the heads were off, so whatever was getting thru wasn't hurting anything.

Several years ago, somebody posted on this forum that he had to clean a MAF that was dripping with K&N oil. I guess that is possible if the filter is over oiled, so that is the only caution I can think of. K&N says to use the oil "sparingly". I did have to clean the MAF hot wires with denatured alcohol once in those 80,000 miles, but it was impossible to say if it was normal dirt or some combination of dirt and K&N oil. I think it was more like regular dirt, becuz I found no trace of K&N oil anywhere within the air intake tubing.

Most people over oil the filters. I find it best to let it sit for a day or two before installing it. Then i gently wipe the excess oil off if I see any. Those spray cans are not that good. Plus you have to go back and hit the light spots. The oil is what catches the dirt in the K&N, not the gauze.

Matt

I agree with Matt, with the oil type of filters most people use way too much oil on them (label does say to use sparingly) and then wonder why they have problems. What I do with mine is oil them, let them sit for several hours, then use a lint free cloth (like you'd use on electronics) to remove any excess oil that I see, then I go over the filter again lightly with the oil to make sure that the filter has gotten a good even coat and that all the lighter spots are filled in. Then I let it sit again (usually overnight) to give the oil a really good chance to soak into the element and then in the morning I once again wipe everything including the rubber down again with the lint free cloth to remove any excess oil. So far over the years I've never had any issues with oil getting into/onto anything but the filter element doing it that way and I've been using "oil" type air filter for more years then I care to admit to.

I never did any of that, sitting or blotting...just spread the oil very lightly and stuck the thing in the air box. Over time, the oil spread on its own. I did soak the filter in detergent for several hours, though...to get all the gunk off.

Problem that we have with the Firebirds is that the stock paper filter and airbox is way too small. The slightest dirt trapped in the paper filter really restricts the air flow. So, in this case, either a K&N or another type of filter really helps. However, the bigger the stock filter, the less of a difference there is. For instance, Car & Driver did a test on a K&N filter for a V6 Accord and only found a 3 hp difference--the Accord uses a larger air filter for its much smaller engine. On the SLP Firebirds with the Ram Air, have seen testing that showed a zero hp difference between the paper element and the K&N, although I would still go with the K&N, becuz it is reusable.

While building the engine, paid the builder to run a flow bench test on the paper element and the K&N thru the stock plumbing and airbox. Sorry, can no longer remember the exact flow rates--it was done at 20 inches vacuum...but the paper element barely flowed enough to keep up with the engine--in fact, it was almost restrictive when brand new. The K&N flowed something like 75 cfm more. The stock engine will breathe a max of 490 cfm at 5,900 rpm and the stock airbox with the K&N was able to flow more than 600 cfm. The stock, 48mm throttlebody will flow at 640cfm with an airfoil, max...measured at 20 inches of vacuum. And, for those that are curious--the stock, unported MAF will flow a whopping 800cfm!

What those tests showed was that a K&N with the stock airbox, is more than enough for even a modified engine--but not too modified. Do a good cam, head and tubular header mods, with a good exhaust system and the owner should be looking for a much better induction system.