Hello new here. I am about to buy a Carter bbd & was wanting to know along with it should I buy an holley 14" open element or would adding a K&N or some other high flow filter be enough? Considering the only other performance upgrade is a dual high flow exhaust with 2 1/4" piping. Also if someone could tell me the specs on my engine I would appreciate it. 1979 d100 225 THNx

Open-element air cleaners are not as good for performance as the stock 2bbl ducted (hot/cold) air cleaner. K&N filters let more dust and junk into your engine than proper OEM-type filters, and K&Ns don't flow significantly better.

i was curious to know where you got that information about k&n filters? ive always heard good things about them.

Of course. Anyone who spends $40 on an air cleaner is going to rave about all the extra power and mileage they (don't really) get.

When you strip away all the hype and marketing BS and pseudoscientific nonsense, these filters just don't do what is claimed. Take a look.

Even with a thorough, careful, thoughtful scientific test, though, there'll always be the True Believers who just have to stand up and defend their pet expensive air filter (or magical engine oil additive, or super spark intensifier, or whatever...)

You da man. I detest marketing and hype, too.

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

Dan you couldn't be more wrong about K&N air filters.
I gained milage and seat of the pants performance switching to an open element K&N. They flow a heck of a lot better than a sheet of paper.

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it's not his data he's touting...

i dunno, the page made good sense to me, have you compared your numbers carefully with your car the way it is? Myself Im not concerned with flow numbers nearly as much as filtration data...

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

Sorry, I disagree. I believe facts and data from controlled tests trump opinions and guesses and results of making twelve changes all at once—every time.

Replacing a dirty air filter with ANY clean air filter improves breathing. The "improvement" seen with a K&N is usually just like the "improvement" seen when replacing dirty old spark plugs with gimmicky new spark plugs (Splitfire, etc.).

Open-element air cleaners, regardless of whether they use a real or K&N filter element, suck in barbecue-hot air from atop the engine. Hot intake are = less charge density = less power and economy. Ducted air cleaners that bring cold air through the filter are better. Colder air = more charge density = more power and economy. If the stock air cleaner presents too much restriction, adding a second snorkel (as Chrysler did on high-performance engine packages) is the best way to reduce the restriction without shooting yourself in the foot by creating new kinds of inefficiency.

The air filter element itself is almost never the choke point in the intake system. Most often, the choke point is the throttle plates! If the air filter itself is the choke point, because it is too small for the job it is asked to do (Chrysler 2.2-2.5 TBI engines come to mind) the solution is a larger filter in a reworked air handler, not a less-effective filter element.

K&N filters might be worth considering if they weren't sold using such blatantly stinky hype. Nonsense about how they magically filter better than real filters despite being made out of cotton woven so loosely you can see right through it. The tests and data show this is a load of hooey. Their filtration ability is markedly poorer than a proper filter; they let too much cråp into your engine. If you care more about an extra tenth of a second than you care about the health of your engine, because you're a racer and rebuild your engine every couple years, then a K&N can be an appropriate choice. If, on the other hand, you wish for your engine to live a long and healthy life, then objective data and scientific tests not manipulated by marketeers seem pretty clear: a K&N seems the wrong choice.

Speaking of hype: Referring to real filters as "pieces of paper" is a favorite tactic of K&N marketeers, as though simply because filter media is commonly referred to as "paper", it's the same as a cardboard matchbook paper or a page out of the phone book. Keep those eyes and ears sharp, folks, and those brains engaged...!

Don't wanna believe me? OK, here're some more links:

Here,

Here,
and
Here.

I have seen my cars either get slightly faster or slower based on pulling off an air cleaner (stock or K&N type). This is related to the jetting of the carb, heat of air entering the carb, and possibly to flow around the carb entrance (weaker effect), not necessarily to the performance of the air filter relative to another filter.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Hey just about the original question. I posted Carter went back to the sight to buy it & it said Holley for Carter applications is the Holley ok or should I look for the Carter BBD. I like K&N filters & have noticed a diffrence but the letting in of dirt is hardley worth it. THNx

That would be a Holley 2280. Some people have decent luck with them. I'm not one of them.