I finished my engine transplant with a 280zx/P79 with a stage II cam and wanted to keep it all looking original and I am wondering if the stock air box is limiting air. I  do have a K&N filter installed to help. Any thoughts?

 

 

No problem with air flow using a stock air cleaner on a modded 280ZX. Your engine looks great!

Good to see another 280zx engine with SUs! That's a beautiful engine bay. 

 

I'm running a Stage III cam, E88 head, K&N air filter. Seems to breathe wonderfully!

 

Thanks! I have seen Guys and yours looks great also! It was a great winter project. I have about 350 miles on the engine, I think after 500 I am going to drive it like I want. BIG difference from the 240 engine for sure.

If you are using a K&N air filter you can go to their site and get air flow specs for their filters by the square inch.  For other brands of filter the flow might be different.

I run a stock filter on my SU-fed modded P79 engine.  It runs great.

Just an FYI and please draw your own conclusions, but....

K&N filters are one of the biggest marketing Hype jobs ever made. Like everyone else I bought into that Hype until I was warned by a couple of Diesel and Industrial engine builders of the short comings of K&N style filters.  I started reading articles ( other than the Paid Marketing Hype in Hot Rod and Super Chevy )..... and the truth started to come out.

K&N filters ( and all similar Cotten Gauze air filters )  are great on Race cars. Not so good on Daily Drivers. They flow a lot of air compared to paper Element filters but K&N filters do not Filter air as well as Paper Element filters. Cotton Gauze style filters tend to catch the big stuff, but cannot stop the very fine particulate matter.

I found this out for myself in the early 1990's when I noticed fine particulate dust gathered on the inside of my Moroso open element air cleaner, after a trip through a dusty desert region . The air cleaner flanges were sealed with K&N grease and the filter was properly oiled.  So the dust was only getting in one way. This was confirmed by my engine builder when we pulled the engine down for a " Freshen ". We found evidence of very fine particulate dirt lightly scoring the bores and bearings. My engine builder advised me to run a Paper element filter on the Street and only use the K&N for racing.

You will NEVER find a Big Rig or Bus Diesel engine equipped with K&N style filters from the manufacturer. EVER. Big Diesel engines use Paper Element filters and are monitored with a flow gauge that tell you when the Filter is getting clogged. Obviously, operation on a dry dusty Logging road is going to vastly different from a Hwy hauler. I've been driving Big Rig Fleet machinery since 1992... and have talked to Detroit and Cummins mechanics about this very subject. They all recommend Paper Element filters for the Big Diesels. Factory air filters are very good for what they are designed for. And the Nissan Air ( and Oil filters ) are very good.

Here is one of the best Independent papers available on Air filter medians. Very good reading and no BS.

Edit: Compared to the AC, the K&N “plugged up” nearly 3 times faster, passed 18 times more dirt and captured 37% less dirt. See the data tables for a complete summary of these comparisons.

http://www.dieselbombers.com/chevrolet-gmc-diesel-tech-articles/16611-duramax-air-filter-testing.html

 

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 20169 yr by Chickenman

Here's what I did for more air plus keep the critters from storing acorns in my filter box.  It pulls a lot of air!

Sounds like there should be a class action lawsuit against K&N to me. Dang things are expensive too! Well I'll have to decide what to do once I fire it back up this spring. Not to worried as I put less than 500 miles a year on it.. at that rate, after 10,000 miles I'll be almost 80 years old and wont care! But for you young whipper snappers... hmm

The thing is...K&N never advertises about it's ability to filter extremely fine dirt particles. It's always about more airflow, more HP or never having to buy another air filter because you can clean it. And that's all true.... even if the HP gains are minimal. 

I work at Ford Performance, previously known as SVT, and about 18 years ago while working on the supercharged SVT F150 Lightning program, we performed extensive flow testing on various production and service/aftermarket air filters.  As it turned out, our SVT paper panel filter flowed more air and filtered much better than any aftermarket panel or cone filter including the K&N.  I never even considered a K&N after that testing for any of my personal cars.  The gauze filters rely on the oil to capture the fine particles.  If the oil isn't perfectly applied, there is either lower flow or lower flow.  Even when correctly prepped, they don't perform that well.  YMMV and it's quite possible that we screwed up the testing and they really are the best thing since sliced bread (disclaimer added just in case they find this thread  )

Can we fit the SVT F150 filter on to our Z cars.  How big is it?  I'd take a shot at it.

And is the same technology used in other Ford filters or just the SVT?

Good stuff, real world, thanks for sharing.