It's not from your air filter, it's from the engine. Do a search on 'catch can' and you can read all about it. Essentially oil vapors get sucked in (b lown in?) from the crankcase due to the pressure from the supercharger.

 

I had move from K&N intake to Alta drop in foam filter for my MCS 05 and the thing fit just right. no problems. jUst like the look of the stock air box till my warranty expire

 

What if it is not available here in Thailand, can I use the K&N one?

 

Yes, the MCS owners are lucky with the air filter, but the 2005 MC has the change.

 

What about for the JCW intake

 

I would prefer to spend $400+ on a 2hp upgrade only as the means of last resort.

 

The JCW came with the kit... i am looking for a replacement to the stock JCW filter

 

I would not recommend the K&N cleaner/oil. It is made for the cotton filters and MAY not work well on the foam filters. Look for any cleaner/oil available for foam filters or you could try to buy from many of the websites that sell the Unifilter/Alta cleaner/oil kits.

 

Scottinbend is correct, don't use the K&N stuff. It will clean the filter just fine, but the filter oil is way too thin. The oil will "fall" off the part too fast. The UNI filter oil described earlier is the best stuff to use. We sell it for $15 and it lasts roughly 2 years of cleaning/driving.

The 05 standard filter is the only one is different. The S is the same as it used to be. The 05 standard has been out for a while, and the more people ask the more likely we will make the standard 05 filter.

The customer that have have bought an 02-03 standard fitler for their 05, we are sorry but it won't work. Please contact the person you bought it from to do a return.

The JCW intake, IMHO is way too much money, and still doens't have the benefits of ours. Better filters, and larger intake tube.

Back to the foam vs. K&N
No one here has argued for the K&N, but it still seems to be the most popular filter people use for their mini intakes. Why is that? One of the most long awaited intakes out there says it is the best one by far, why is this? We get this question about the filter so much, i am wondering where all those people are?????

 

The '06 MC filter will be the same as the '05. So if ALTA doesn't move fast they are going to miss out on 2 model years of MC owners who may want to buy a drop-in. As it is I want one now, so the ITG is the way to go.

I have already bought and returned the ALTA. Very disappointed in the attitude of "we will only make one if people want one". Alta has made one for the '02-'04 which is 3 model years. But now are not committed to making one for the '05-'06 (2 model years).

Steve

 

Alta2:

I live in a very dusty area of the country, how often do I need to clean and re-oil my Alta CAI foam filter?? – Is it based on miles used, or just when it looks dirty?

And, I am still not clear with the oil in my inter-cooler, it’s coming from the air filter?

 

mielnicki,
Our attitude is actually very good, if you use the industry standard of judging what cars to make parts for, there isn't enough mini's out there yet to make anything. But in fact we do because we like the niche type markets, and how close we are to the customer when it comes to making parts. What i am trying to say prevously, is that there have 3 people ask us about these parts. 3 people isn't enough to make the filter. We use the forums, customer and dealer input to help decide what part the mini community wants. With the 3 people that have spoken up to us about the 05+ Standard fitler, that really isn't enough. Yes ITG makes one, but if we were a filter only company we too would have one. Since we focus on the S car, and we make a few parts for the standard, we don't get to hear form many of the standard guys.

With all that said, the 05 filter is most likely something we will build very soon. It may not be soon enough for some. But with customers that are thinking of purchasing the panel filter, they are generally people that need to replace it. With that said, the filter sales will generally come from people buying them a year after their car was bought. That is the trend we saw when we came out with our S and standard filters a few years back. Hardely anyone bought them until about a year later when they needed to replace the factory one.

Be on the look out for the 05 filter.

 

Fair enough, I will wait, cause I want to support companies that support the MINI, and local dealers like EuroStyles East.

Steve

 

Alta2:

This is obviously just my personal opinion. But the fact that you don't make a lot of stuff for regular Coopers and do concentrate mostly on the "S" may explain the lack of perceived interest in regular Copper parts. Most people, including myself, after looking through you product line will come to a conclusion that you guys simply do not make but a few parts for us. So we end up going to a different after market brand. And will most likely never come back to check if there are new products, since we already formed the first impression, nor will we be contacting you to see if you will be kind enough to make the part for us. After all, we are the consumers and if you want my spending buck, I shouldn't have to ask you to take it. That being said, I personally, do identify strongly with your brand name and just wish there was more product geared towards me.

To summarize what I am trying to say is: "If you build it they will come!"

 

Well, the one parts we really don't make but could very easiy is the intake. This is what i would guess is what most people are wanting. Since our Exhaust, control arms, SS, swaybars, gauge pod, springs, CC all fit it now, the only thing left is the intake. That should satisfy peoples wants, i hope. The intake and or panel filter is something you may see very soon!

Maybe some of this discussion should be in a new Thread. The ALTA Q&A thread? If more of this type of talk is what people want, then we will start the thread.

Back to the filter discussion.

 

The rumor that i always hear was that the foam filters had issues with the foam detreitorating and falling apart into the engine, is this true or is it a thing of the past? Also why doesnt the Alta have a pipe to go from the intake inlet above the radiator to the place where the air box is like the K&N style.

 

The worries about the foam being ingested by the engine is really just a myth. Some of the original filters (decades ago) would dry out and fall apart and cause problems but not anymore. Also by making sure to clean and oil regularly you will increase the life of the filter.

I have attached an image of the intake path with the Alta installed. You will notice that the air intake in the grill is still utilized. The lower section of the original air box is still used with the Alta (and most other CAI too).

 

On the subject of drop-in filters, what are your thoughts on my testing that showed negligible pressure drop across the stock paper filter, even at high load/rpm?

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ead.php?t=8329

"The pressure drop across the air filter was then measured. At WOT, approaching redline, the maximum pressure drop is ~4 in. h2o. So, the pressure drop across the air filter is a non-whopping 0.14 psi. "

 

If you had one, you'd know it's more than 2HP The difference above 4500k from stock is very noticeable.

 

i think we need a new acronym PSRDD = please show repeatable dyno data

 

IrishCooper,
Scott is right, the old foam filters people use a long time ago weren't oiled and they would dry out, and start to fall apart. I have seen some old motorcycles with foam filters and after sitting doing nothing for 10 years the foam is prettybrittle. The oil used in the foam keeps the foam from deteriorating, so there really isn't any worry.

Andy,
because there wasn't any pictures of how you had it setup, did you have 2 different gauges at the same time, one hooked up inside the box before filter, and one in the box after? I seems like you had a differential gauge, showing only the difference in the box. What would really show the difference is your sensor after the filter, and measure the vacuum at redline. Remove the filter and measure again. This would show a couple of things. The actual restriction of the filter (stock or aftermarket), or the restriction of the actual air box.

I belive there is a little of both going on. This is the reason why there are small gains from the panel filter and huge gains from the Alta intake. (8-10 with no silicone, and 10-12 with silicone tube) The other test that would prove this is remove one of the bottom half of the air box and zip tie the filter to the top.

If we are trying to compare filters to filters, the only way to do it is put the filter on a flow bench, and flow them all. I would also agree that a brand new OEM filter flows pretty good. But with a small amount of dirt really starts to hinder the performance. This is why people feel a difference when they install them. They have some milage on their stock filter(dirty and hindering flow) then install a new Alta panel and feel a difference.

We have seen and had customers report 2-5WHP from the foam drop in filter. The gains from just the panel filter are not as great as the whole ALTA intake, this is because of the surface area of the filter is bigger on our intake.

 

If the someone would take the time to design and manufacture a HEPA filter for car intakes, then I would buy that over any other filter.

We use HEPA filters at my place of business for various purposes, these are filters with 99.99% efficiency down to a size of 1 micron. Nothing else out there does a better job then this. We test these filters every 18 months for permanent installations and 6 months for mobile installations. They must pass with a efficiency of greater then 99.95% or we trash them. The flow rates are in the neighborhood of 2000 scfm for the permanent installations and 750 for the smaller mobile units. These are paper filters by the way.

We use pre-filters on all of these installations to gather the "big bits" and usually this is a foam or cotton element on the mobiles and foam or paper on the permanent installations. I have not tested a foam or cotton element capable of this level of efficiency alone, or when coupled with a pre-filter.

I often wonder why someone doesn't make HEPA filters for cars? It would save on the mess of oil and cleaning, just pop the old one off and put the new one on.

 

First, why would you need to filter something that small out of the engine...my lungs yes but not an engine.... HEPA was origianally designed for removing airborn contaminents for a medical and research environment... Dust can get that small but wouldn't it burn up in the combustion?

Also, to get the same volume of air thru a HEPA filter as a motor filter in the same time would require more suction (assumption) so going under the idea that the suction would remain a constant, wouldn a HEPA filter reduce the amount of air entering the combustion chamber, thus reducing the performance?

Now I am not an engineer, so I am sure some one with much more technical knowledge of things like this will chime in.

 

The HEPA sounds like a good idea, but i think it works in the industry you are talking about because of the surface area of the filter. If you took that same filter and made it 5" round and 10" long, i think the CFM rating would be significantly less. If it is a blocking type filter, the air passages still have to be pretty small to stop the dirt. The smaller the air passages the more restrictive. The foam and K&N get away with the larger air passages by using the OIL to catch the dirt. The larger the air passage the more flow!

There is another type of filter that works like this one, in that it blocks down to some micro size peice of dirt. These are the stainless steel mesh type filters. These are not use on any intake in the mini world, but some use it in the honda world. The filtering is great, but their flow is bad when it is dirty. Basically it is like an paper filter in that the dirt blocks the air flow. They are not oiled and they are cleanable.

 

Good to hear - I'll take two and imagine other 05/06 owners would be interested not only in the flow/performance aspect but also the reusable/ability to clean attributes. Thanks for supporting MC owners