Effective add-on's for better air filtration

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by Garak
Originally Posted by StevieC
Because I'm crazy.

This reminds me of back when I had my old 1983 LTD. I once picked up a Canadian Tire air filter for it. Of course, that was a round filter, old style. If you could stretch the material an extra two inches, I'm sure there would have been no pleats whatsoever. It looked liked they used less than half the material of the competition. A Motorcraft went on there shortly thereafter.


Yeah CTC has had some less than stellar stuff over the decades. I remember their MotoMaster engine oil was clear for about a year. My grandfather was a service advisor for one location and used to get us free bulk engine oil. Didn't seem to affect anything but it looked weird. I think this might have been before Shell was bottling it for them.

 

[Garak]

I sincerely don't know what was with their air filters at the time. And it's not like they were an absolutely irresistible price. The F-150 has the same type of air filter, so it has traditionally gotten a Fram or Wix or Motorcraft; I never bothered with the CT ones again. Of course, seeing that air filter never got me interested in a Canadian Tire oil filter. At the time, AC Delco was like $2 or under at Walmart, so the temptation was never there.

 

[Shannow]

But wouldn't it make it to the junkyard the same with the OEM filter...just like millions of cars before it...and after it ?

Install a filter minder gauge and trust it. As the filter loads up, it becomes a better filter.

A hepa filter (spores and asbestos fibres filter) will be overly restrictive and prone to pluggage at only a couple of square inches of effective area.

 

[Ducked]

Don't really understand all this "add a better filter" stuff.

As far as I can tell, you don't necessarily need to add better (which seems to be interpreted as finer) filtration, but you could, with advantage, add more filtration.

The OEM filters generally offer low restriction, so they won't clog in short service. If you are going to monitor the restriction, it makes sense to add filtration until its just on the right side of the limit, and then keep it there. That'll mean your filtration is optimised.

Comments above that you can't easily improve on OEM seem unfounded. You can if you can be bothered.

Lots of possibilities, cyclonic, various "wet" systems, foam (probably the best), textile, but whatever, it'll need monitored.

I tried paper towel a while back and may do again.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by Shannow
But wouldn't it make it to the junkyard the same with the OEM filter...just like millions of cars before it...and after it ?

Install a filter minder gauge and trust it. As the filter loads up, it becomes a better filter.

A hepa filter (spores and asbestos fibres filter) will be overly restrictive and prone to pluggage at only a couple of square inches of effective area.


Sure but I like trying new things. It's more of a hobby.

 

[widman]

Quote
-Stuffing breathable material in the air box on the dirty side of the air filter to limit what makes it to the air filter.


This is difficult without restricting flow. Because the only filter sold for my 60 Corvair is a K&N type, I have tried a few ways to add filter material, and it was restrictive.

The PowerCores in my 2002 Hilux (with 570,000 km on it) and my T100 (with 400,000 miles) seem to be the best overall option when it can fit.