[TR] K & N air filters

[TeriAnn J. Wakeman]

On 5/19/12 4:10 AM, spook01 at comcast.net wrote:
> This "k&n won't filter anything" is a myth, unsupported by any 
> objective scientific study.
I have a friend who shipped his Land Rover to South Africa for the Land 
Rover 50th anniversary  festivities.  He has about 40 or 5 months of 
Land Rover club travels throughout South Africa with various Land Rovers 
planned out.  In preparation he had his engine completely rebuilt by a 
well know reputable Land Rover engine specialist.  To which he added a 
fresh K&N filter.  There are parts of the South African bush where the 
dust kicked up during travel included diamond dust.  About half way 
through his travels he had to stop for an engine replacement because his 
truck did not have enough compression to run.  Diamond dust got through 
the K&N filter and destroyed the engine's rings & badly scored the 
cylinder walls.  ALL the locals used the stock LR oil bath air filters 
without problem.  My friend completed the trip with a stock Land Rover 
oil bath air filter  After being side lined a week because of a "myth".

The expedition travel style 4X4 crowd that uses a vehicle for long off 
road miles in dusty situations do not use K&N filters.  Only newbies and 
people who venture off road on relatively rare occasions.
> Oil bath filters are great if they are serviced and you can put up 
> with the mess.
Service intervals depends upon use in heavy dust but is usually about he 
same as with a paper filter.  It consists of pouring out the old oil, 
wiping the inside of the reservoir clean and refilling to the line with 
either fresh oil or used engine oil that has been run through a paper 
filter.  Having lived with one for about 20 years, it is not any messier 
than changing the oil & oil filter yourself.  With a cartridge oil 
filter usually less messier.
> Since most of us aren't driving earthmovers, I'm pretty certain using 
> a spinning disc is overkill.
Yes it is overkill on a street vehicle unless you are running a 
commercial vehicle and have to figure engine maintenance into your 
profit & loss columns.  Most commercial long range trucks run a 2 stage 
filter system on the road to squeeze every mile out between engine rebuilds.

But the original post was about a K&N filter used off road in dusty 
situations.  Under those situations a paper filter can become clogged in 
a day or two unless there is an effective prefilter in front.  a two 
stage filter system is not overkill for off road travel in dusty trail 
situations.

With 34 years experience with long range travel off road in a Land Rover 
I thought I would throw in my two cents.

Teriann
>
> ----- Reply message -----
> From: "TeriAnn J. Wakeman" <tjwakeman at gmail.com>
> To: <triumphs at autox.team.net>
> Subject: [TR] K & N air filters
> Date: Fri, May 18, 2012 19:09
>
>
> On 5/18/12 7:16 AM, Geo Hahn wrote:
>
> > Not for a TR... I prefer to not use them on those engines but for my 
> rear
> > engine vehicle that sees a lot of dusty mountain roads I thought it 
> might
> > make good sense.
> >
> Say what????????????
>
> For an off road vehicle your #1 choice should be an oil bath filter.
>
> Your #2 choice should be a spinning prefilter in front of a paper 
> filter (think Donaldson earth mover 2 stage filter systems)
> Your #3 choice a box of paper filters
> Your last choice before no filter would be an oiled foam filter such 
> as a K&N. A k&N will filter out low flying birds, rocks, gum wrappers, 
> small children, but not fine dust.  Them folks who get paid to race 
> off road with K&N filters completely rebuild the engine after each 
> race. Breaths really well but foam filters do not filter out fine 
> dust. You can use one as a first stage to a 2 stage filter system but 
> they are not as good as the spinner 2 stage systems.
>
> Teriann
> TR3 with itg oiled foam filter
> Land Rover with Donaldson 2 stage earth mover type filter system
...