K & N Filter
 

Hi Can anyone help has anyone fitted a K & N Filter i have tried today and failed the filter just would not push on to the flange in the airbox and can you get the airbox out with the engine in the car

I have a 2000 and the K&N filter went in without too much effort if I remember correctly. I might have fiddled with it to make it seat properly. With the engine in place, I don't think you can remove the airbox without destroying the mounting tabs. I know someone did remove a box intact, but they lowered the engine to allow removal...so it can be done on a 986.

When I fitted my K&N the box it came in had a small tube of grease and instructions stating that the filter was a very tight fit.

The grease was put on the sliding carrier that the panel filter sits in to ease it back into position, there should be no need to remove the airbox.

no need to even take the air box out to install a filter!! and if you do need to take it out , after taking the outside grille of and de snorkel it you loosen the intake manfold and then you can manipulater the airbox out in one piece.

Same here
 

The K&N is a tighter fit but mine went in just fine.

Hi thanks for the advise on fitting a k & n but could you tell me the benefit of de snorkelling

Desnorkeling
 

I don't have numbers to prove it personally but I thought when I first desnorkeled my car, the engine sound noticeably better when I throttled it past the 3k rpm range.

Mostly sound but if you could measure it you actually increase power - more air getting into the engine. To really make it "breathe" better you need to install a cold air system and tuned exhaust then you will feel and be able to measure the increase in power. If power is not your thing then leave it alone.

I de-snorkeld and found (by my sensitive butt dyno) a decrease in low down torque. Replaced the snorkel and the torque came back - so its still in place.....

I've thought about de-snorking, but I've seen so much debate on it, power increase/loss, MPG loss, etc, that I've just decided meh, leave it alone.

I've seen this said a lot in regard to our cars, and it doesn't really apply. To understand why, let's answer the question, "What is a Cold Air Intake?"

In the old days, car manufactures allows the engine to breath air from inside the engine compartment. Anyone but me remember the old days when the air cleaner was under a wing nut....? Look at this example.

http://home.comcast.net/~michael.souza/Temp/engine.jpg

You can clearly see where this engine is breathing from. It's getting it's air from the front right side of the engine, right behind the radiator. Guess what...? The air in that area is hot, and hot air going into an engine develops a lot less horsepower than cooler air. That's where the whole 'cold air intake' thing started. Folks started routing the air supply from a place that was cooler than the engine compartment.

Well, guess what....? All Boxsters get their air from the left side vent opening in front of the back wheel. You can't get any better than that. All Boxsters come with a cold air intake. I've see 986s with aftermarket kits that open the airbox up so it can get more air. You might as well call that a hot air intake and say goodbye to some horsepower because those kits allow the intake to pull from the very hot engine compartment.

Nice Chevy small block; from what looks to be a single tank brake reservoir, this is a pre 1967 GM car. which one?

That wasn't exactly the point. We all know that stock air is cold air but it is very restrictive the way it comes from the factory, cold air refers to opening the intake to allow more air to get in quicker. The cold air systems come supplied with an open box to seperate the engine heat from the intake. In my case I made my own. In addition to the intake you also need less restrictive exhaust which I mentioned. My HP did just fine. I'm making 310 which is up from 256 with that and softronic tune.

Good eye man... 1966 Chevy Nova....


Sorry Harry. I didn't mean to challenge your intake. I was speaking more literally about the 'Cold Air Intake' and where that whole idea got its name. I didn't realize you were usign the term a little more losely, What you're referring to would be better described as 'Intake Enhancements' of 'Intake Improvements'.

It's funny how in today's US automotive culture that no matter what make or model of car you're talking about, folks go right to the intake and exhaust to look for more horsepower. The exhaust makes some sense. The auto manufacturers have strict requirements to meet in regard to noise and pollution. Meeting those requirements sometimes requires the loss of a little power. But the intake, this is an area where I don't believe the manufacturers leave much on the table.

Let's face it. Car manufacturers are looking to get as much horsepower as they can from their cars. Horesepower sells cars. If they could get more power out of them by putting in a K&N air filter or a plastic Y splitter in the intake pipe, don't you think they would? They can make these changes to the car at virtually no cost. Sure they would....

I am not a big believer in intake enhancements. I've tried so many of them over the years with no measurable improvements. I believe that the manufacturers get it and know how to make an adequate intake system. Now of course, if you make all sorts of other mods to the car that produce more power, there will come a point where the stock intake is no longer aqequate because you are flowing a lot more air than it was made for. I get that.

Conversely, I've had 3 different aftermarket exhaust systems on my Cayman S. All with the stock intake. All dyno tested. All of them produced more than the stock (~15 RWHP / ~20 BHP), and all were within a few HP of each other (can be dismissed as testing error).

You mentioned Softronic. I know Scott pretty well. He's in my PCA region, and he's very active. He's a pretty smart guy. He has tested cars on the dyno snorked, desnorked, with air filter, with performance air filter, with no air filter at all and he could not see a measurable difference.