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MG MGA - K &N


Oh boy, just when we think we've found something good.

http://forum.mnautox.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3759

Ok, this is from the technical thread on my autox club website.

Ok, I admit, this is just another shameless plug.
But if something new comes along that really works, why not take a look?
Hmmmmmm?

Do we stop at pointless/distributorless ignition, radial tires, long life coolants, electronic fuel injections, and so on?
Of course not!

Sf
Dwight
Dwight

Things change. Probably the reason we don't still use many of the things our grandfathers did, simply because they had no better at the time.

The K&Ns do work, and I am not convinced from the copy written at the website Dwight mentions doesn't spring from the same well as many of our most prevalent urban legends. But I also think that it 'could' be correct and to test out the grease test, would not be a bad thing for an old semi retired shadetree mechanic like myself to do in those off moments when I got nothin' better to do. I will post at my website, http://www.cibolas7.net/27301.html , a photo I took a few years back of the mouth of one of my SUs immediately after removing the K&Ns I use. At the time, they were about 10 yrs old but had been cleaned and reoiled more or less regularly every year. The photo is unretouched, just as it was taken, and you can judge for yourself. When the grease test photos become available, we can see what the truth of the matter is.

I would be interested to see the "results" of a similar set of photos taken with the Amsoil filters. They just might be the next hot thing!
Bob Muenchausen

Dwight

I see this is another abuse of this BBS to get free advertising for your network selling. I have reported it to the webmaster and asked him to remove the thread.

If you want advertising, it's normal to pay for it.
dominic clancy

What is the photo of your carb inlet supposed to show?I wonder if K&N know you are rubbishing their product and trying to get sales of your own instead?
C Cunningham

C. Cunningham,
If you are referring to my photo of my carb, you are confusing me with Dwight. My photo is of a carb which has used the K&N filter for the MGB application for about 14 months before I removed the filter for cleaning and reoiling. What the photo attempts to show is that after that length of time, used in a fairly dusty area of the USA, the carb is pretty darn clean.

Also,whatever the inquirer's questions were about the K&N's ability to keep the carb clean, it is a real world demonstration of what a carb looks like after having used this brand of filter. As often said, someone else's luck may vary, but this has consistently been mine.

I make no claims for the K&N's ultimate filtering ability, but I offer it as one way of answering some of the urban legends surrounding their use and to help others make up their own minds as to whether this is a viable alternative or, like some other offerings, just something that keeps out only the big chunks.

I offer nothing for sale, only free visual info for personal comparison. And the fact that these same K&Ns are still on my GT since 1989 with proper cleaning and reoiling is hardly rubbishing K&N's reputation or product.

However, my point in answering Dwight's comments is not to reinforce his "advertising" but to let others have something by which to compare the claims made for all these products. It is always possible that there are better things on the market over time and I am more interested in knowing about them and their comparison to what we all know and respect than whether there is any advertising going on, even tho pure advertising does belong in its own baliwick.
Bob Muenchausen

Hey Cunningham, read more carefully. Bob's one of the good guys.
Mark

A guy in the other thread wrote,"It has been long discussed. More air flow will always mean less dirt protection".

Not if you use a better filter in relation to grit particles that has a much greater surface area.
Fred H

Thanks Mark and good guy Bob -I am relatively new to this BBS and don't recognise everyone's names yet.I couldn't see what Bob's photo was showing - in fact it wasn't showing anything which is the point Bob was trying to make ( rather too subtley for me ).I was getting worried as I have K&Ns on my MGA - fitted by the previous owner and I must admit I had not noticed any dust or dirt getting through in the 2+ years I have been running it. Cheers Cam Cunningham
C Cunningham

No offense taken, I figured there might have been some confusion. The same basic comment was made by Dwight on the MGB Tech board, and one of our other good guys, Clifton Gordon, brought up this filter comparo done a while back by yet another Bob (not me!), http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest3.htm

There is some worthwhile info there and it is still worth reading. That Bob is to be commended for doing this sort of work for free and putting out on the internet for the rest of us to share in.
Bob Muenchausen

Excellent article from Bob the oil guy - but not sure how scientifically valid his results are. Cheers Cam
C Cunningham

Thanks, Bob Munch, for the link.

I'm regularly amazed not only at how much info there is on the web but how you guys find and relay it.

I can't think of any other mechanical device, other than maybe the computer itself, that is so poured over, discussed, analyzed, loved, hated, pampered, abused, as the automobile. We exult in the minutia, spend countless non-productive hours messing with them. Spend senseless amounts of money on them.

What a great hobby/obsession. I love it.
Wray

Would I run K&N on my MGs? Sure.

Would I clean and oil them more frequently than recommended? Yes.

Would I run them on my Lamborghini when paper filters pick up more small particulates? No, I use original paper - MGs are cheap to rebuild; Lambos are not. The general opinion on the Lambo groups is that Baldwin paper filters do a better job and you don't need to change them often anyway.

If you drive your MG 2000 miles a year, the engine on K&Ns will probably outlast you.
Bill Spohn

Bill- you mentioned oiling of K&N filters. I've had my K&N filters on for a few years without oiling. What is their maintenance for oiling?
John
J H Cole

From the K&N site:

"17. Do the filters come pre-oiled or must they be oiled before using?

K&N filters come pre-oiled and ready to use. The filter medium is made from layers of white cotton gauze. The oil has a red dye added to show how much is being applied. If the filter looks pinkish-red, it is oiled. It is important that K&N air filters are never used unoiled. This would greatly degrade their filtering ability. "
Bill Spohn

The K&Ns do come pre oiled when you buy them but required routine maintenance for them requires that you use a cleaner (they recommend their own, sold in their "Recharger kit", I have used Simple Green for years) and then re oil them with their red spray oil from the same kit (which I have always used).

If you go to their site, http://www.knfilters.com/ , you will find all the info I think you are looking for about their maintenance and what to use, http://www.knfilters.com/clningacc.htm .
Bob Muenchausen

I've had K&N's on for 9 years. The car breathes well and I've still haven't cleaned them.
Arthur DiLello

C. Cunningham,
You've done it now!
You will learn if you visit this site often, not to print anything negative towards certain contributors or others will jump down your throat. Notice how your sentence was worded. Just slight negativity towards the "selected few" results in a hand slap!
Bad boy, Bad boy…
Eric

Eric, "certain contributors" have earned the respect and gratitude of many members on this site. For Example, if you visit Bob M's site, for instance, you will see just how much he has contributed to us all. When you take into account his help in diagnosing problems on this bbs, and the fact that he is ALWAYS civil, you can begin to understand why some of us might come to the defense of, "certain contributors".

Fred H

Eric, I hope you're joking around a bit. Now this is not a flame, this is just my point of view. If you had posted a picture on this board to shed some insight on the topic at hand, and then Cunningham had posted his comment about you (sorry C- I know it was an honest mistake) I would have come to your defense too, even though I don't know who you are and don't recall any threads with your name on them. As nice as Dwight up there at the top seems to be, and even though I think this discussion of K&N filters is valid and useful on this board, I don't at all like his shameless plugs. I don't care if it's "certain contributors" or one-time contributors or just dedicated readers, I don't want any actual enthusiast on this board to be confused with a persistent salesman.
Mark

Oh dear- sorry if I have stirred things up a bit. I too dislike product placement in the BBS in the guise of an owner and my negative comment was actually aimed at the starter of the thread ( even though he posed the question that we were the friendliest BBS in another thread.) I am sure Eric's comments were tongue in cheek. I will continue viewing and contributing to this BBS - it is certainly very useful to me and the time and effort that contributors put into their responses never ceases to amaze me and is much appreciated -Cheers Cam a relative newcomer to the MGA ranks ( after 35 years of midgets and Bs)
Cam Cunningham

I'm baaa--aack!

To quote;
dominic clancy, Switzerland, dominic@clancy.ch
Dwight

I see this is another abuse of this BBS to get free advertising for your network selling. I have reported it to the webmaster and asked him to remove the thread.

If you want advertising, it's normal to pay for it.'

Well I got my status back.
Now lemme see, is this a technical discussion?
Or a way to put down a fellow member?
Was this thread started as a shameless plug to sell my products?

To put the record straight, I need to make sure you'all know, Amsoil filters are made froim a nano-fibre, synthetic material.

Unfortunately the air filters are not yet available for MGB's.But the oil filter is.
If you want more information, email me.

And yes, you can buy at the same price I pay!
SF
Dwight

DCM McCullough

Dwight, if you were just writing that this product was something you bought for your car and were pleased with, you might not get any flack.
But you keep writing that we can pay the same price as you, That's advertising.

"To put the record straight, I need to make sure you'all know, Amsoil filters are made from a nano-fibre, synthetic material."

This is just another advertisement. I really don't need to know this, if I thought it was important, I would research it. I'm glad your so happy with this, I'm happy with what I use, and while I may recomend something to someone if I have been pleased with a product, I'm not trying to sell it to them.
John H

I don't think he'll be back for long.....

dominic clancy

Dwight said recently on this thread:

" Well I got my status back.
Now lemme see, is this a technical discussion?
Or a way to put down a fellow member?
Was this thread started as a shameless plug to sell my products? "


Dwight also said in his first post on this thread:

" Ok, I admit, this is just another shameless plug. "


Ian F
Ian Fraser

And we keep making comments to bring this thread to the top of the board! (OK, guilty as charged) Maybe someday it will just fade away.
Bill Young

What was it I said about the MGA page?
Oh yeah, how friendly they are!

Well, here is the ultimate insult;
MGB's are waaaay better car than A's!

Maybe we should move to 'Flame Wars'?


Oh, I'm just kiddin', MGA's are a fine automobile.

Safety [friendly] Fast
Dwight
DCM McCullough

I use K&N's on my '77 MGB with 1 1/2" HS4's
Grass Roots Motorsports [magazine] did a piece on a rubber bumper 'B' with twin SU"s, K&N"s and short velocity stacks inside.
Which is what I have done with mine.
They tried several different ignitons sytems, such as Pertonix,
[which mine has] and a set of headers, etc.

The K&N's with velocity stacks showed a increase on the dyno of 3-4 HP. Not bad!
But other studies show that though K&N's flow well, they just don't filter as well as paper elements.
To say nothing of synthetic fibre.
AEM has those.

I think perhaps more power could be had by using a TWI cold air box, witha cone filter in front of the radiator.
Next project.
SF
Dwight
DCM McCullough

This thread was discussed between 13/02/2006 and 28/02/2006

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