air filters
 

I've got a greddy rip-off primarily because that's all I had space for. I've heard bad things about these filters coming apart after they get some mileage on them due to degradation of the foam. I've also heard that the cotton gauze types increase flow, but at the price of reduced filtration. I read this on the "oil guy" page. That combined with reading some other material has convinced me to go back to a paper type panel filter to reduce potential engine wear from unfiltered particles.

My plan is use the stock airbox to build a flat panel filter setup with an open face. Similar to what guys were doing on 1.6s when they rotated the lid and zip tied the filter to the lid. That'll keep the closed area of the box towards the hot area, and face the open filter area towards the air source. I've got the room for it- actually it appears as though it would fit my available space perfectly vertical or horizontal. Diagram below shows my plan. For construction I'll use whatever parts I have laying around and either the plastic epoxy at parts stores, or rivets and rtv. btw- that plastic epoxy is amazing stuff- glued all the pins back on to my gauge pod cover and it's held.

Any other filter idea/solutions? - rob

http://home.comcast.net/~fe3mx5/FE3/filterOEbox.jpg

There's nothign really wrong with foam element filters. They just don't filter as good as a K&N style (which dont filter good anyways) So they most likely have increased flwo to begin with. You just have to maintain them properly. OlderGuy just mentioned he still has his GReddy filter on his kit after 25k.

three letters come to mind agianst your setup AFM. How are you going to fit the flapper in there? There realy isnt a whole lot of room for it also the effective filter area will not be that much graeter or maybe even less than a cone filter setup depending on the specs.

I keep the AFM on a shelf in the garage. ;) I swapped it out for the MAP sensor.

So you guys think my fear of foam is uncalled for?

Any filter is better than no filter. Or so they say, I'm sure if/when your foam filter comes apart it'll be worse than no filter. Regardless, I would not use a chinese filter. Yours sorta looks like a $5 ebay piece, is it?

It doesn't look like you have much room there. :mad: I feel your pain. You could try to run a pipe across the front of the motor like I did with my 1.6 setup:

http://www.shoremotorsports.com/pics/cai/IU1.jpg

I'm not sure if you have room between your radiator and your FE3 though.

I Keep telling myself that I'm going to make a setup like Tim did, btw it looks beautiful like always. I think that would get the coolest air, and a K&N filter is just fine IMO.
-Michael-

It's not that cheap- I paid .99 for it and $8 shipping. ;) I knew it would fit the hole so I bought it. I've already stuck some OE air box lids in there and I know they'll fit- it's just another project. And it'll take a back seat to installing my soft top this weekend since I've been driving around with hard top and no a/c for three months.

The reason I'm keeping it up there is that I've created a good air source to feed it. When I was sealing up the mouth of the car for controlling air flow through the rad/condenser/IC sandwich, I realized that the front end has two potential air paths, which if you seal the mouth off under the rad support, leaves the hole through the bumper area to feed some air to engine bay. I doubt this path through the bumper is high pressure, good so it won't push against the air coming through the sandwich. But it will provide a static source of fresh air for the intake. The pink area is where the plastic shielding is to seal off the main area of the mouth. The gap between the bumper and metal support is the source for intake air. -rob

http://home.comcast.net/~fe3mx5/FE3/airsource.jpg

I closed that gap on mine! What about the same style mushroom filter but an HKS verison? Would a brand name make you feel better about it?

You see what I'm saying though about it being an air source right?

I checked mine at lunch and it still looks fine - though it's only got 100 miles on it. I'm going to keep an eye on it for now. I like it because it matches my cam cover. :gay:

Here's shot showing where the air enters.
http://home.comcast.net/~fe3mx5/FE3/airentry.jpg

I put a cooling plate on mine to get that air to go in the radiator. Even the fans turning should get the filter pretty good airflow where it's at now.

Foam filter manufactures will tell you foam filters better than gauze, and they may be right, but neither type will work well with out oil. Its cheeper to get a good quality pre oiled foam filter than to buy an ebay filter and some good quality foam filter oil. Foam elements should be cleened/re-oiled/inspected regularly and replaced when they start to deteriorate.

thanks mecha- had some amsoil foam filter oil from a amsoil foam panel filter I ran in my SSC Miata. good stuff.