i have heard from some people that the insert k&n air filter is better than the cone. and from others that the cone is better than the insert. i was wondering what you guys thought. the places i asked around told me the cone would be $100 more expensive, and at a specialty shop i was told $200 more, needless to say i won't be going there to buy it but i was just wondering what was better and by how much, if the cone is better, is it 100 better? thanks

 

well no the oe replacement isnt better the reason is it sits in a box, then it must get air from a tiny little scoop in the front.

if you have a cone you eleminate that junk in the bay, and you get a little cone

200 more? what are they smokin? what year is your car? if its 89+ then just get a K&N cone, they run around 40-50 depending on where you get it. then just clamp it on the end of the air flow meter.

if you have a 87-88 then you'll need the hks adapter plate. it makes the end of the afm round so you can put on a cone. so add 25$ for that.

those can be found at:

http://www.k2rd.com

 

You can get a cone and adapter off E-Bay for less than $30.
Not K&N name brand but gets the job done. Then you need a breather filter for the airpump hose ( $8). Get from local parts store. (i.e.. Autozone, Advanced Auto Parts, yadayadayada) Then go to hardware store and get stuff to make some kind of bracket. There has been about a million posts on upgrading to cone intakes in the past two months. So put it together yourself for say .... $51.64 or so. The ones they must be talkin about are like Apex'i, Blitz, HKS.

 

I like the drop-in filter better for an NA because it is simple, and you can use the stock "cold air" intake and air pump plumbing. Unless you are porting the engine, the stock intake will provide quite enough air for an NA.

I think that the cone filter is better for turbocharged or ported engines because of the increased airflow. The cone isn't quite as simple as it looks, as you will need to figure out some way to mount it (hose clamp, wire tie, etc.), you will need another smaller filter if you retain the car's air pump, and like RX-7 GT said, the 86-88 models need an adapter plate for the cone. The $150 USD Nopi K&N cone kit for 86-88 RX-7's is entirely too expensive, much like everything else on their site. You can get everything for much less if you look around, and K2RD may be a good place to start.

There is no substitute for a K&N brand filter. Yes, the other filters may cost less initially, but the K&N is good for 10 years, and I don't think that you can beat the K&N quality and performance.
www.knfilters.com

BTW, if you put the year and model of your car in your signature or profile, it will be easier for others to help you out.

 

Why do you need another small air filter? I am in the process of buying all the parts to make my own. Please give pics if you have any. Thanks.

 

well, you dont really need the little filter on there but its best. you only need it if your going the cone route. since your removing the whole airbox assembly. you'll notice there is small hose going from the airpump intake pipe to the airbox. its getting its "filtered" air from there.

so when you get the cone your eliminating the airpumps filtered air too. so you get the little filter and plop it on the airpump

sorry for the long post i couldnt explain it in a nutshell.

 

The biggest problem with the cone filter on a NA is it pulls air from the engine compartment, WARM AIR.

On a Turbo car or modded car there is a big difference using the cone because the flow is much better with the cone.

But just dropping in the cone on a NA without blocking off the engine compartment (like the new mariaha kit does) will generally give you less HP on warm days.

Remember the stock airfilter airbox was designed for the turbo, so the flow is about 20HP better than the stock NA engine requires.

 

Where can you buy the small filter? Can I see some examples? Thanks.

 

autozone ~$5

Id guess any decent autoparts store would have some

 

You can see an example on www.fc3s.org plus it is in the how-to cold air box section which will provide a way to eliminate that warm air problem.