Hi All…my 150 came with the K&N style pancake filters. …apart from looks/originality is there a benefit for refitting an original style cast aluminium and drum type filter…thanks …Steve
I can’t think of one.
Yes: better filtration.
You can find paper elements that will fit in those, to get better filtering.
Paul, I would think that for any environment that car is likely to see, the K&N’s would provide very adequate filtration. No?
As with oil filters, air filters are a bajillion little holes surrounded by a stiff material. The originals were a wire mesh like really coarse steel wool. Modern filters are usually a yellow composite material.
Their job is to capture dust particles, leaves, insects, etc. while still allowing lots of air through. So if the holes are really small, you need lots more to achieve the same total flow area.
There were some models that had what was called an oil bath air cleaner, the idea being that oily mesh captured dust better than dry mesh, and some people would spray oil on their regular mesh filters for the same reason.
You could compare original to modern by counting the number of holes, comparing the sizes of the holes, and judging the ability of the material to capture dust particles.
Well… maybe.
There’s much more dust going into/through an engine compartment than you’d might expect.
If you were to slavishly attend to keeping the K&Ns oiled and clean, and with as few miles as these crates see, you’d likely see nearly-identical filtration. Otherwise, a paper filter will almost always provide better overall filtration than a K&N.
Thanks guys…i suppose i need to also check what needles are fitted with the pancake filters incase they were altered from original…Steve
Probably less noise from the original unit.
It wasn’t just a filter, it was a silencer as well.
On the subject, DKW’s had a silencer and an intake tuner, that also had a very coarse steel mesh as a "filter. "
It was amazing how well it worked, because it was self-oiled by the oil/gasoline mix that the car used, and if that proper mix was used, in addition to low lead or no lead gas, DKWs would easily go 100,000 miles, a feat VERY few cars were capable of, in the day.
Never could figure it out!
