Hey folks, I have a quick question for anyone out there that owns a Pipercross Viper intake. I just got mine yesterday from the UPS truck and am excited at installing it. The unit came with install instructions but no instructions on cleaning. I know you should clean it about every 6 months, but what do you use to clean it? And does the foam filter come out for cleaning or is it fixed inside the intake? If any one out there has the answers could you please inlighten this Newbie Gearhead. Thanks

 

FYI-

The Viper Kit consists of a Foam Filter element that is secured in a Carbon Fiber Housing. The Carbon Fiber does not retain the heat that is radiated under the bonnet. Thus, allowing for cooler air to reach the throttle body. The inlet hose allows for more air to pass through to the throttle body. The Viper is the one of the first only CAI on the market. In the UK this same set up has been ran on WRC for years. The foam element is a high flow filter that filters consistently .1 micron.

Now, I have been running the same filter element for over 25,000 miles with no problems. I will not clean it until I reach 50,000 just to see what will happen and how it will perform up to that point.

The filter element is a life time filter with suggested cleaning every 20,000-30,000 miles and that is on the low side.

The foam filter element was never meant to be pulled out of the Carbon Fiber Housing. Both, inlet and outlet are made of spun aluminum. Each end cap consists of two separate pieces. All of which: the Filter Element, Carbon Fiber Housing, the two, two piece spun aluminum end caps are manually fitted and put together at the factory.

Tracy

 

to answer the question
soap and water.
take the whole unit out and wash it in the sink let it dry, re oil and put back on.

 

Just be careful. The filter does not come out. I found that out the hard way.

 

>>to answer the question
>>soap and water.
>>take the whole unit out and wash it in the sink let it dry, re oil and put back on.

I've had good success using dishwasher detergent with lots of hot water to clean foam sock filters, the Viper design makes it a bit more cumbersome to clean. Soap & hot water is good. I knew a guy who washed filter socks with kerosene & then set them on a space heater to dry off. Bad idea. In the Viper instructions it said to refer to the cleaning directions on the box. There were none... Here's a link from UNi-Filter that may help;
http://www.unifilter.com/caremaintenance.htm
Please make sure you oil the filter before you use it. Don't run the filter dry! :smile:

 

Thanks for all the replies folks. I thought it would be something easy like soap and water but as Slidewaysmini noted there are no intructions that came with the unit. Very disapointing for a $300 piece of kit ($550 by the time I pay the exchange on the American dollar to Canadian and add the import duties). I also think my kit came incomplete. I've heard the is suppose to be a aerosol can of some solution in the box, there wasen't, and I definately was missing a 60/80 clamp. Thanks again to all!

 

There are multiple suppliers of this filter system. Most of which are outside of the U.S. Meaning they are taking an overseas product and repackaging it for the U.S. and Canada.

Which accounts for the missing bottle of oil, certain instructions, etc. The aerosol spray bottle can not be shipped overseas by air.

All of these issues is what Pipercross USA will be addressing. Until Pipercross's involvement with the Mini's in the U.S. this product line was known in N. America only in certain European markets.

The Mini created a new market for Pipercross. As the U.S. market expands and grows, the way these products get produced, packaged and shipped will improve.

Diamond Racing has had similar issues with contents missing as well. We try do our best to prevent this from happening. But, also at times we have fallen short on our Quality Assurance Duties.

For all of you that don't have any Pipercross oil, I would be more then happy to send you the correct bottles with oil.

For those of you that do not have cleaning instructions, just make sure you use a Mild, non-abrasive, dish soap with water.

As for re-oiling the filter. This filters to .1 micron. So, oil is really only recommended if you live in a real dry dusty climate. These filter were originally used on WRC cars for rally races.

Any questions or concerns please contact Pipercross USA at info@pipercrossusa.com

Please be patience with us, as the Pipercross USA site is not fully functional.

Thanks



_________________
Diamond Mini

 

You absolutely need to oil the filter before use. The above advice on how to clean it is great. The oil is what traps the dirt - it won't filter to .1 micron without the oil.

There is a cleaner for the Pipercross line, but you could go to any motorcycle shop and get foam filter cleaner and oil - for pretty cheap.

As diamini said, your kit should have come with the oil and cleaner bottles, but being in Canada, I think I'd just go to the local motorcycle shop.

I also prefer to clean the filters every 5-10 thousand miles.

Hope that helps!

Randy

 

Thanks again Randy and Tracy,

It turns out that I had the oil just not in aerosol form for the reasons you pointed out. A little over reaction on my part. You notice one thing missing(a 50cent clamp) and you assume the worst. The intake is great and I look forward to installing it. I'm holding off because I'm going in next Thursday to get the software update to fix the cold idle/stalling prob., and I didn't eant to argue with them that it was the intake causing the prob. Past experiance with other dealers(ie X/ ) has taught me to never give them an excuse to deny warrenty work. I'm sure BMW/MINI won't be a problem but just the same...

 

The latest shipments of the Viper Kit is not missing any clamps. A decision was made at the factory that we can use our stock clamp that is used on the stock box. While this is a good option it lead towards the customer having to either have the knowledge of how to properly remove this clamp or in most cases requires the customer to purchase a special tool.

Either case can lead towards the destruction of the stock clamp. Which then means the customer would have to purchase a clamp anyway.

This change was done without consulting Pipercross USA. So, we went with it and shipped the product. We wanted to see what the feedback would be as a result of this change. Which was not all positive.

So, we will be fixing this problem.

In the near future all U.S. ordered kits will have new hoses, the proper amount of clamps and the Pipercross USA website will have install instructions in PDF format.

Those of you who ordered a Viper Kit form Diamond Racing and are in need of a universal hose clamp let me know.

Anybody who did not order from Diamond Racing fax (877-781-7282) me a copy of your receipt and Pipercross USA will send you a universal hose clamp as well.

Also, if you feel you missing anything else or need questions answered please let us know. As we are the factory representatives in the U.S. for this product line.

info@pipercrossusa.com

 

Any dyno results out there with the Viper? I've been holding off on doing the intake on my MC, I know there is no magic wonder pill that will turn it into an MCS...just looking for more fun and maybe power...

 

I'd also like to see an independant dyno test on the Viper. I believe the Pipercross UK website used to advertise 12WHP & Diamond shows 12HP as well & I've also seen 10HP advertised. I installed a Viper about 1500 miles ago & really like the results. It made a distinct difference in performance. The Viper seems to have taken quite a beating in this forum due largely to it's price but I wish I could find an exhaust for my MINI that would deliver 10HP for $300 (and not be over 100 decibels at WOT!).