The K&N is reportedly made by Champion Labs, same as the M1. The M1 is
reported to have a 600 pound burst. K&N advertises a couple of different
media types on their web site. The resin impregnated sounds like paper to
me, tho I could be wrong. I know that the AMSOIL super duty line and the M1
filters use a composite media of cellulose, fiberglass, and synthetic fibers
and are designed to be more of a 'depth' type filter. This is where they
gain their increased capacity.
The Fleetguard centrifugal bypass filter is only about 95% at 10 microns,
AMSOIL's BE-90 bypass filter is 99.8% at 5 microns and larger. Neither of
these filters will handle full-flow duty.
Can you point me to tech info on the K&N? My understanding is that to get
absolute at 20 microns you have to move into bypass filter territory due, at
least, to flow restriction.
Andy
Ahecker at satx.rr.com
What goes unnoticed by the public is:
There are just a few people making spin on filters. Champion, Wicks,
Purolator, and maybe still, Fram make just about all of them. Even some foreign
brands. These and other manufacturers have catalogs that show a cross to everything
on earth, even though they may specialize in one area of the filter business,
Like Facet making water separators for diesel fuel systems. Aircraft Porous
Media (Paul Land and Marine) makes extrema pressure filters for aircraft and
submarines. They have spin on hydraulic filters in their catalog. While this may
have changed since I left Government service, I would say, no they don't. Just
too much competition for APM to make any money at it.
But they have a complete line in their catalog. But they are made by somebody
else. APM can spec the filter to deliver a very high order of performance.
They can spec the paint and color. They may even pull production samples off the
line and test to their spec. So if you need a Vickers XYZ and the Vickers
dealer is out of stock,
check your APM catalog for the cross for it and call the APM dealer. Presto,
a filter with similar? ( or exact) performance. Because 8 times out of 10 it
was made by the same manufacturer at the same time on the same line and painted
to the APM spec and placed in an APM marked box. Donaldson manufactures giant
air filters for over the road trucks, stationary applications, submarines Gas
turbine powered ships, and so on. They have tiny fuel filters in their
catalog. Who makes them? Get the idea?
So that is the overview of how things work. If you can get the spin on for
your airplane for $3.25 each, in any location in the country, why would you. The
spec for this thing is going to be based on how many law suites can we stand
and still make this whopping profit. A wrongful death suit from your wife will
just be one more that year.
Nothing special.
Adding an oil filter to a real airplane engine is a "new" idea. Some did not
even have a bug screen when manufactured. So any micron rating at all is a
world better than what we have had. Be it 20, 30, or 40 micron, absolute or
nominal, we are doing it light years better than anyone before you.
So if a manufacturer will provide the specs for a specific filter, and it
costs $10.00 or $12.00 and the can has a burst oboe 500 PSI. You are on the way
to reliable filtration. Most filters have no bypass valves that you can see if
you take it apart. When restriction makes the pressure drop too high, the
whole element is forced down into the can against the bottom spring. In some there
is an actual coil spring and in most there is a formed flat sheet spring. By
the time the filter is loaded enough to bypass, there are no bearings left to
lubricate. When a filter bypasses, dirt already collected in the element may
be resupplied to the system. So a filter with a high bypass pressure, or no
bypass at all may be a good idea. An over sized can with double the media or more
may be called for in very cold operation. For years, Ford used filter without
a bypass, but had the bypass in the engine. Gag!!!
I called k&N 5 years ago when I built this car, to get my data. But the only
thing that never changes, is that things change. So make any decisions based
on current information.
Resin reinforced usually means paper. Fiberglass and synthetic fiber
reinforced cellulose is also paper.
Lynn E. Hanover
The AirCraft Rotary Engine NewsLetter. Powered by Linux.
ACRE NL web site. http://home.earthlink.net/~rotaryeng/
Copyright 1998-2003 All world wide rights reserved.