K&N airraid results

[pullinpower]

Well took a trip with the K&N intake and all I can say is WOW what a differance,It really helped the turbo spool up and my mpg is the best it has ever been.Going to look into the slip on foam filter that goes on over the stock k&n to help fight the dust. But I give it a thumbs up. :D Oh yea you can really hear the turbo whine now more than ever.

[ 04-14-2002: Message edited by: pullinpower ]</p>

[Mike Vonada]

Pullinpower,
What did the K&N set you back. And did you do any mods to the air box?

[george morrison]

My standard lube engineer advisement with the K&N air filter system. To be absolutely certain that the K&N is working in your vehicle, your driving conditions, your environment, run an oil analysis. I review hundreds of oil analysis results a week and in most cases the K&N does not do a sufficient job of capturing airborn and causes very much elevated wear rates, dirt levels. And yet, in some cases the K&N works adequately.
I share this information as an advisory because of the overwhelming data indicating there are potential problems. I do not work for an air filter manufacting company, reseller, etc.
George Morrison, STLE CLS

[pullinpower]

Mike,I paid $167 bucks to the door.If you look their is a pic of my intake kit that replaces the whole air cleaner assembly in my 2500hd folder.

[sonofagun]

Pullinpower,
Where did you get the K&N for that price?

Thanks,
Bob

[Alli-max]

he bought it used s.o.a.g...... check posts maybe 2-3 pages back....

[wangotango]

G. Morrison:

That's good info, thanks.

I assume that when these oil tests are done, some of the information you get from persons seeking this testing is the type of air filter they use?

w/t

[george morrison]

When I contact the end user with an alert for the high dirt, we discuss possible dirt sources. Honestly my first question is "what air filter element are you using and when was it changed last?" Additionally, there was a test run on one single vehicle (Toyota Tundra) that has recently been plublished on the Tundrasolutions.com web site. That test was run with K&N then switched to paper. The test is continuing now with an Amsoil filter. There was a significant drop in dirt and associated wear metals when the truck went from the K&N to the paper element.
There was another test performed by http://www.seansa4page.com/resource/airfilter.html
which was interesting, different.

Also, I worked with several mining companies that spent on the order of $20,000+ each month on air filter replacements. They have tested each of the aftermarket re-usable filters and in every case the test failed to provide adequate dirt filtration. These conditions are admittedly 'the worst' in terms of dust, environment. Moreover, the aftermarket filter manufacturers would have you believe that their filters are actually *better* than paper elements; I can assure you that they are very effective in keeping out bricks and birds but that is about all..
My only reason for sharing this is from a professional commitment as a CLS. I do not work for any filter manufacturer, have no axes to grind, only to share what I see on a day in day out basis.
If these aftermarket air filters provided increased filtration or even equal filtration to paper elements it would be a tremendous savings for companies that spent 5 and 6 figures a month on air filter replacments.
George Morrison, STLE CLS

[Plasticfantastic]

George, do you have any data (or opinion) on adding the extra foam surround that many aftermarket filter manufacturers reccommend for "extreme" use?

[george morrison]

Regarding the extra foam surrounds. No, I do not have much data for the affect of the foam surrounds, nor opinion. Two companies I work with did use the extreme service foam surround on several service trucks but it did not seem to make any difference as the filters were pulled after the first oil change. Not enough data to comment on as compared with the standard K&N, etc. setups.
Correspondingly, if the foam surround IS working from users who I am not familiar with, then I would not know as the results would not be out of the ordinary.. The oil analysis results do not indicate the type of air filtration used..
That is a good question....
However, I am not going to find out the answer on my Duramax... OEM AC only and changeddregularly. George Morrison, STLE CLS

[mackin]

george morrison.

Interesting reading...Have you done any thing to your stock airbox? 01 or 02? Just curious.......


MAC :D

[mdrag]

george morrison,

Thanks for the test info links, interesting reading. I'd like to hear how the Tundra tests with the Amsoil filter.

BTW, I purchased my last round of supplies from AV Lubricants on01/27/02, including Delvac 1. :D

[wangotango]

George- again great input, thanks.

I have been thinking about this for the last 48 hours. oil analysis can prove materials that could only have been introduced thru the air intake system.

I also believe that some K+N or that style of filter can have a different rating after the initial install. In other words, the stock product from manufacturer is designed for a particular filtration rate. After a guy, or even a gal, removes, cleans, re-oils, and reinstalls his or her unit that filtration rate is going to change.

Maybe they over or under oil it. Maybe they over clean or clean too frequently and upset the design of the product. This could alter testing results.

The beauty of engineering, research, and design is trying to allow for the unknowns. Of course, the only constant being change.

The K+N info tables say:

OEM filters are tested with ISO dust which consists of mainly 5-10 microns in size, some to 20 mic's. This test shows OEM minimum spec of 96% overall efficiency.

OEM cumulative efficiency is 99.29%.
OEM initial pass is 96.47%

K+N says they use the SAE J726 air filter test code. Their data is:

99.05% cumulative efficency
97.11% initial pass

I'm sure I can can change all those specs by just cleaning and re-oiling.

I would also bet that just paying attention and showing a little common sense would be a benefit.

But my advantage is the 7 years of high school.
So I got that goin' for me.
Which is nice.

have fun/relax

w/t

[BobW]

George M. Reading your comments on air filters it seems you are seeing best results with the paper air filter. Is this the stock AC filter or are there others - better and/or cheaper - out there?

[george morrison]

Regarding experience with air filter brands; I deal with just about every brand of paper/OEM type construction and all do a good job. The AC brand air filter element has yielded the lowest number of defects through the years for the fleets I works with. However, the predominance of fleets, construction, mining companies do NOT use AC Delco due to cost issues. And we see occasional air filter failures due to construction quality issues. The supervisors of these same fleets run AC Delco in their own GM vehicles, however..
George