[DML] Re: K&N Air Filter can work!

["Gus Schlachter" <gus@xxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: jrobbins@xxxx [mailto:jrobbins@xxxx]
> Sent: Sunday, November 07, 1999 2:20 AM
>
> Does anyone know the proper K&N air filter number for the DMC12?


The correct answer is: there isn't one.

But if you're determined (like I was) to have a K&N filter, it can be done!
It will take a little work, though. Before I attempted this, I saw in the
archives how someone had taken a close-fit K&N filter and found that it fit
perfectly upside-down in the air cleaner assembly. DO NOT DO THIS. While
it seems to fit, there is no air seal around the filter and there will be
plenty of blow-by (and thus, DIRT in your intake).

Now, I did use that K&N filter with the closest fit, which turns out to be
model 33-2002. (The 33-2043 would be WAY too big, btw). It is almost
identical to the correct filter, except it is about 1/4 inch smaller in each
dimension. This means that when it is correctly installed, the upper and
lower halves of the air cleaner assembly do not seal against the outer
rubber gasket on the filter. It looks like it will, but because of the
smaller dimensions it tends to just get pushed off-center or down into the
lower half (and again you'll have blow-by).

So what I needed was a way to take up the extra space created by the smaller
filter. I tried to take the outer gasket from the old filter but it made
the whole thing too thick, and didn't really work anyway. Having watched
many episodes of MacGuyver, I started tearing through the garage and settled
on some plastic lawn edging. ("Better Homes and Gardens," part number
WIN-20) Please don't run out and buy the 20 feet of this stuff, you should
be able to find something similar.

The way I used it was to cut two lengths of it that matched the shorter
dimension of the lower half of the air cleaner assembly. The idea was to
wedge the filter into the box along the shorter edges, and propped up to the
top of that lower half so that the seal would mate with upper half and get a
good seal. The lawn edging was initially too thick, but the tubular section
of it could be compressed and reformed until the filter fit inside snugly
without being crushed. Then I trimmed to bottom of the edging until the
filter sat at the correct height.

It was tricky reintegrating the two halves of the air cleaner assembly, due
to the slightly smaller size of the filter, but I eventually got the filter
to seal. Or, at least, it felt like a seal since there was adequate
resistance of compression of the two halves. I suppose the truly paranoid
amongst you could throw some RTV in there for good measure, given that K&N
says you can go 50,000 miles before you have to take it out again to clean
it.

Anyway, the trick is to prop up the filter to the correct height and
centered in the lower half, so any material that can be cut to fit would be
good for this purpose. I guess the real solution would be to have some sort
of collar or sleeve that would fit around the filter and help provide the
seal, by my garage is regrettably not that well equipped.

I really don't know if the K&N is worth all this trouble, but this should
give a few ideas to those of you that wish to try. But keep in mind that
ANY air leaks around the filter will negate any of the K&N's benefits and
contaminate your intake. So be careful, and good luck.

Gus Schlachter
Austin, TX
VIN# 4695