[Shotimes] 80mm MAF failure, CLEANING procedure and Materials?

[Alan Fanning]

Don M. wrote:

> For the filter to be a restriction, it would have to have a
> very small CU/in cross section in the exit of the filter, or
> it would have to be tiny in total filter area, more on the
> size of a 50's era 2 bbl tiny carb topper air filter.

By definition, any filter will provide some level of restriction. But if we
add the word "significant" to the above statement I would agree.

> Then to figure the filter area needed by a specific motor:
> 
> multiply the Cubic inches times rpm at peak HP and divide
> that total by 20,839.
> 
> For a panel filter to figure Effective Filter Area, multiply
> length by width (only of the filter portion, not the seals).

For a 3.0 engine, I estimate a needed filter area around 50 square inches
using the above formula. In comparison, I estimate 70-80 sq. inches for the
OEM panel filter, ignoring the convolutions in the pleats.

By my data, the OEM panel filter gives up about 0.5% of peak hp compared to
a cone filter when used in conjunction with the non-optimal OEM airbox
geometry (with expansion chamber and horn removed) and assuming use of
equivalent MAF's. Whether that improvement is worth the effort of
periodically cleaning a "lifetime" filter is arguable IMO, but many seem to
believe it is.

    Alan