So my girlfriend left me after a year and a few months for a shitty reason :shifty. I need a good pick me up. I think a K&N high performance air filter would be good :). Do you guys know where I could pick one up in the beaverton/hillsboro area for the cheapest? So far it looks like autozone on TV-highway doesn't have any in stock (checked online), and napa has it (I'm at Intel Jones farm, which is right next door to napa auto-parts) and they have it for 49.99. Anywhere else I could find it for cheaper? I leave work at 6, so hurry and tell me! I'm impatient and depressed :eyecrazy

Thanks,
Stealthyfish

i got mine from schucks for 39.99 but idk if yours and mine are the same. worth checking out though.

do you want just a filter for a stock intake?

just a thought.. i got a wholesale account at carquest.. they have K&N but i gotta go to class so when i get back i can call and see if i can hook you up

do you want just a filter for a stock intake?

just a thought.. i got a wholesale account at carquest.. they have K&N but i gotta go to class so when i get back i can call and see if i can hook you up

yesh please. You're absolutely invaluable :redspot

oh, and is this the best performance filter for the price with a stock airbox? just out of curiosity before i unload my tiny wallet.

Check GI Joe's if there's one near you, they stock more than Autozone does

Oh, sorry, I mean Joe's :shifty

Check GI Joe's if there's one near you, they stock more than Autozone does

Oh, sorry, I mean Joe's :shifty

srsly now?

I would like to through a couple things your way before installing a K&N. There was a site that has unfortunately dissappeared but I guy with a lot of time on his hands and access to a testing facility compared a ton a filters including K&N. What he found was at 350 CFM a brand new K&N only flowed 1/2" of H2O more than paper. This is not a whole lot and would roughly equate to 1-2 HP at redline and practically no difference in midrange and bottom end HP. Next he started adding dirt to the filters in a very scientific manner and the K&N actually started to flow less than paper with a loading equivalent to 5K miles of driving and thus less HP. So then you say so what a gain is gain and I will just clean my filter every 5K. Now comes the negative aspect of K&N. The oil in the filter will over time foul your MAF sensor and cause your car to run rich no matter how well you oil it. Evidence for this was very clear on another BMW forum. Basically A guy on there cleaned his MAF with CRC MAF cleaner and his car miracuously felt like it gained 10 HP. After this all kinds of people starting cleaning their MAF's and the thread actually had a ton of participation. The responses varied widely. Lots of people felt the gain in HP some with as little as 16K on their cars and others with high mileage like 80K said they felt no difference. Later after discussing what kind of filter they had it came to light that almost all of 10HP gain people had an oiled cloth air filter and all the ones with no change used a paper filter. So unfortunately what you gain in air flow you will quickly lose because of your car running rich with a dirty MAF. The only way to counteract this is to clean your MAF all the time. Finally remember that to gain air flow you have to give up something. That something is what dirt is allowed to enter your engine and if you look at A K&N it has some pretty big holes in it. So basically without a ton of maintenance you will actually lose HP. If you are willing to do the maintenance you will end up a gain that you will never feel and more dirt in your engine.

Sorry I wish I could give you good news that K&N was a good idea, it sounds like you could use it. Unfortunately at least to me K&N filters are essentially a snake oil product.

hmm, I have noticed that I have to clean my afm every 5000 miles or so, and every time it's real dirty in there.

I wonder what a better option is.

To me there is so little to gain from a drop in filter it is just best to stick with paper. Unfortunately the test I saw did not include BMW OEM filters like those made by Mann or Mahle. The Best performing paper filters tested were WIX who also builds filters for the NAPA brand and Purolator.

hmm, I have noticed that I have to clean my afm every 5000 miles or so, and every time it's real dirty in there.

I wonder what a better option is.

Hmm... well, I haven't left work yet, just racking up the hours. I dunno now. That was pretty good though. Ty for the info :). Should I get spark plugs then? ;) NGK IX?

Now you are going to get me started on spark plugs. :) If your car needs them then it is a very good idea. If not getting a fancier plug is not going to make a difference. Platinum plugs are actually designed for longevity. Plane old copper actually conducts electicity better than platinum. Unfortunately there is no such thing as cheap HP. Your best bet is to head on down to the dancing bare and pick up on a stripper :bj

Now you are going to get me started on spark plugs. :) If your car needs them then it is a very good idea. If not getting a fancier plug is not going to make a difference. Platinum plugs are actually designed for longevity. Plane old copper actually conducts electicity better than platinum. Unfortunately there is no such thing as cheap HP. Your best bet is to head on down to the dancing bare and pick up on a stripper :bj

haha, great. I'll think about it ;). My car needs pimpification though... :shifty... it's completely stock other than the suspension.

Get a chip, or an m50 intake manifold, cheapest power/$ you can get

Maybe look into the ITG Foam filter :dunno

They test I saw also included a foam filter. They actually had worse flow than the paper.

i know with the s54 most of us are staying away from Kand N and going streamline filters. not sure if they have one for the e36

Streamline= better construction than K&N, slightly better filtering of particulate, and same oil on the MAF problems.

I have looked at this issue from every angle. I really enjoy researching things and have a lot of experience and am always in search of any possible way I can improve my car. As far as filters on street cars are concerned in my opinion there is just nothing that improves upon plain old paper. If you were racing professionally then you would go to something else. I used to use just an open velocity stack with no filter when I raced.

It is pretty simple logic if you look at this way. If you put a media that is coated in oil in a high vacuum environment right in front of a sensor that does not work properly if it gets any oil on it you will have problems. So all filters that use oil- foam or cloth, streamline, K&N, BMC, ITG will all cause the same problem.

Streamline= better construction than K&N, slightly better filtering of particulate, and same oil on the MAF problems.

I have looked at this issue from every angle. I really enjoy researching things and have a lot of experience and am always in search of any possible way I can improve my car. As far as filters on street cars are concerned in my opinion there is just nothing that improves upon plain old paper. If you were racing professionally then you would go to something else. I used to use just an open velocity stack with no filter when I raced.

It is pretty simple logic if you look at this way. If you put a media that is coated in oil in a high vacuum environment right in front of a sensor that does not work properly if it gets any oil on it you will have problems. So all filters that use oil- foam or cloth, streamline, K&N, BMC, ITG will all cause the same problem.

Yea, and increasing airflow means your increasing flow of everything else that wants to go in

Streamline= better construction than K&N, slightly better filtering of particulate, and same oil on the MAF problems.

I have looked at this issue from every angle. I really enjoy researching things and have a lot of experience and am always in search of any possible way I can improve my car. As far as filters on street cars are concerned in my opinion there is just nothing that improves upon plain old paper. If you were racing professionally then you would go to something else. I used to use just an open velocity stack with no filter when I raced.

It is pretty simple logic if you look at this way. If you put a media that is coated in oil in a high vacuum environment right in front of a sensor that does not work properly if it gets any oil on it you will have problems. So all filters that use oil- foam or cloth, streamline, K&N, BMC, ITG will all cause the same problem.

Could I do that instead then (run a velocity stack)? I was suggested something like a scoop filter instead for more power... so right now, we're essentially turning the filter into... an intake? I don't see how the filter could filter air if it's still drawing air from the same area the airbox drew air if the filter is not obstructing airflow in one way or another.

And I see some obvious problems running filterless, but how did you pull it off on your track car? This car might see a few autox events, but I don't think I'll ever strip it down and make it a track-ready spec-built car. I am putting higher-grade parts into my car as I upgrade though just to feel special and have the safety in knowing that my components can tolerate more stress.


Also, would doing a 2.5 - 3.5" tubing upgrade be worth it?

* scoop filter = cone filter.

streamline is a good product, they have actually released their flowbench numbers and there is an increase in flow over paper but you can still run into the oil problem on the MAF.

I still run paper cuz its cheap, but i may go streamline later on.

Running no filter was easy I just tore down my engine and rebuilt after every race. My motor went through rings every race and needed main bearings every other. There is a very big difference between serious racing and making your street car go fast.

On the tubing upgade remember that there always tradeoffs when it comes to tuning. Larger tubing is going to mean lower velocities at low speed and more flow at high speeds. A smaller tube will actually carry more velocity and thus more HP at the low end. So for low end power you want the smaller tube if you need top end then go with larger.

I'm currently using an ITG filter JC60/86 (3.5") and after recently washing it, the other foam is deteriorating. I also noticed oil on my HFM... so now I need to replace my filter.

What filter do you recommend I replace it with if I currently have a CAI?