mx5cartalk.com

Greetings, forumites!

I've been through a number of air filters in the 18 months of owning my mx5..

A no brand el cheapo bling pod filter; a K & N pod filter; an HKS Sponge filter, and the standard oem filter.

Apart from the oem filter, my money would be on the k&n pod filter (for sound and filtration), then the el cheapo bling filter.. I haven't had the HKS sponge filter long enough, but I hear it has very poor filtration yet gives good power returns..

Silvermiata has kindly donated his NOS pod filter to me.. Has anyone had any experiences with these filters? Good? Bad?

I'd be keen to hear how simota feels go, same with the spongey monsterflow ones..

Thanks in advance.

sliq.

+1 for 3A Racing - I've been using the 3A filters since the distributors have been stocking them. Had a 3A racing filter for the 20psi 300+rwhp tune as well.

Now the following personal account is all about dyno power and not filtration:

Even before the 3A Racing, I was using a china filter called 'Hurricane' back in 2002/3 which when dynotuning my car, I had the opportunity to test out many other big filters such as the HKS, A'PEXi, K&N, new local manufacturer. Steve, the owner of the dyno, was also very interested in their application on our 4 cylinder turbo. By the time we were on to the last filter, all the surrounding mechanical workshops and their staff/owners had come by to see the results unfold.

Now I can't remember the exact figures I pulled but I remember the important DIFFERENCE was in power. The Hurricane filter was by far the most horsepower produced, next was Blitz Metal filter, the Airinx by TRUST, K&N, local manufacturer, *HKS SPF then A'PEXi.

*Please note that the HKS filter was my original filter and after seeing the edges of the foam pull away up to 1cm (enough for pebbles or small rocks) from the edge of the bell housing on full throttle - I took it off & sold it on ebay.

We took the dyno pulls with 15min intervals and went with the china filter last.

Just for laughs, the turbo rebuilder guy from next door took everything off the intake off my turbo and just left it to suck straight from the atmosphere ala 'JDM style yo'

We were all shocked when it lost power

Put the intake pipe and china filter back and hey presto! Power went back up! When the Hurricane was no more, I went to Simota and then the 3A Racing when it started coming through.

Just goes to show:
1) cheap (in the airfilter sense only) does not mean bad
2) the airflow from some filters always made more horsepower then just leaving the turbo sucking straight from atmosphere

Here is the Air filter shoot-out article in Auto Salon magazine in Issue 51, 2007
->Clicky

$3o of a 3A racing filter?! wonder where they sell it for that price..

Sliq, I used 3A before...they are good. If you cant find retailer selling them, you can get it off eBay.

thanks AB7. will do.

That's what you get isn't it (I have the A'pexi in my car...)
OH WELL... you live and you learn

If you were wondering sliq.... I found this
Link to Carbling.com.au NSW Wholesaler

Is the 3A a dry type filter?

dry , correct purist.

thanks for the link

I installed my cold *Cough HOT cough* intake today, I used the K&N Pod, it sounds great, lol......(AND OMG BRO, CHEKC-ITTT!, I Just did a 9sec 1/4 with it bro, stock everything elsee.....OMGGG!)


Hahaha, the lols, but yeh....nyways....bit awkward, lol

But yeh I really did put the K&N in and it does sound good

I had a drift stainless pod filter on my celica, prior to purchasing my mx, and I was particularly happy with it. However, they're not cheap. from memory it was $90 for the filter.