Cleaning the CAI Filter

[DriVer]

After running about ~30,000 miles on my S&B CAI I decided today to dismantle the unit and clean out the filter. I went and retrieved my - are you ready - K&N Filtercharger Kit! I bought the Filterchager Kit in 1998. I never had a chance to use because we sold our truck with the K&N.

I went under my rig and disassembled the 2 - 1/4"x20x1" bolts holding the unit in-place. I found that the bolts I used - this was the 1st unit I ever done, I used zinc plated bolts.

During the initial assembly, I bolted the intake tube to the box so when I loosened the huge screw clamp on the MAF intake hose and I removed the bolts, the CAI box came off all in one piece. Current CAI installs do not require that the intake tube be bolted to the enclosure.

Well those heads and flat washers rusted and I was glad to be able to put a wrench on the bolt heads. The bolts and fender washers inside the CAI housing were very rusted and particles were flaking off. Once I had the filter box out I removed the filter and looked into the inlet pipe and it was clean as a whistle.

The filter on the other hand has a lot of garbage stuck in the pleats including rust particles. Some of the ridges in the metal screening are dented on the filter but the fabric is intact.

I jumped in the car and went to Lowes and purchased all new hardware to secure the filter this time using stainless hardware. No more rust.

The instructions suggest to tap the filter to dislodge the bigger particles from the pleats. Lots of stuff fell out on the driveway. I took the cleaner bottle, pump spray, and used about a 1/2 of it and soaked the filter. It smelled pretty much like Fantastic or 409. I allowed the filter to sit for about 20 to 30 minutes and then I took a garden hose with a spray nozzle and from the inside out I rinsed off the cleaner. I ran the hose stream through the filter until the water was clean. It was initially brown.

I took the hose and rinsed out the inside of the box. That thing was pretty dirty as it had all types of debris and stuff stuck on the bottom of the unit. Once I finished flushing out the box and dried it off - it all looks new.

Once the filter is completely clean the filter needs to be allowed to air dry overnight. I allowed the filter to dry out in the sun for a little while and at the moment I have it in front of an electric fan. At this time I can look inside the filter out through the pleats and see some light. That's a good thing!

Tomorrow it'll be the "oiling" part which will be the most important process and the easiest screwed up. You can easily over oil the filter and that will kill the MAF. The trick here is to apply the red charger oil so it is evenly distributed over the entire surface of the filter but not to the degree where the cotton media is soaked.

I'll write a little more about the re-installation of the filter tomorrow.

[DriVer]

After running about ~30,000 miles on my S&B CAI I decided today to dismantle the unit and clean out the filter. I went and retrieved my - are you ready - K&N Filtercharger Kit! I bought the Filterchager Kit in 1998. I never had a chance to use because we sold our truck with the K&N.

I went under my rig and disassembled the 2 - 1/4"x20x1" bolts holding the unit in-place. I found that the bolts I used - this was the 1st unit I ever done, I used zinc plated bolts.

During the initial assembly, I bolted the intake tube to the box so when I loosened the huge screw clamp on the MAF intake hose and I removed the bolts, the CAI box came off all in one piece. Current CAI installs do not require that the intake tube be bolted to the enclosure.

Well those heads and flat washers rusted and I was glad to be able to put a wrench on the bolt heads. The bolts and fender washers inside the CAI housing were very rusted and particles were flaking off. Once I had the filter box out I removed the filter and looked into the inlet pipe and it was clean as a whistle.

The filter on the other hand has a lot of garbage stuck in the pleats including rust particles. Some of the ridges in the metal screening are dented on the filter but the fabric is intact.

I jumped in the car and went to Lowes and purchased all new hardware to secure the filter this time using stainless hardware. No more rust.

The instructions suggest to tap the filter to dislodge the bigger particles from the pleats. Lots of stuff fell out on the driveway. I took the cleaner bottle, pump spray, and used about a 1/2 of it and soaked the filter. It smelled pretty much like Fantastic or 409. I allowed the filter to sit for about 20 to 30 minutes and then I took a garden hose with a spray nozzle and from the inside out I rinsed off the cleaner. I ran the hose stream through the filter until the water was clean. It was initially brown.

I took the hose and rinsed out the inside of the box. That thing was pretty dirty as it had all types of debris and stuff stuck on the bottom of the unit. Once I finished flushing out the box and dried it off - it all looks new.

Once the filter is completely clean the filter needs to be allowed to air dry overnight. I allowed the filter to dry out in the sun for a little while and at the moment I have it in front of an electric fan. At this time I can look inside the filter out through the pleats and see some light. That's a good thing!

Tomorrow it'll be the "oiling" part which will be the most important process and the easiest screwed up. You can easily over oil the filter and that will kill the MAF. The trick here is to apply the red charger oil so it is evenly distributed over the entire surface of the filter but not to the degree where the cotton media is soaked.

I'll write a little more about the re-installation of the filter tomorrow.

[oemtech]

Man way to much work...

I just remove the plastic cover, loosen the clamp on the filter and it is out. I clean out the trash out by hand, spray the cleaner on, let set for 30 mins, rinse in a bucket or water, let dry, re-oil and reinstall.

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by oemtech:
... re-oil and reinstall... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Dale, Would you care to share the technique you use to re-oil the filter? I think that would be helpful.

[Bob (WA0MQE)]

Glad to hear you guys discussing the cleaning process on these S&B filters. I did mine last April just prior to coming back to home to Colorado from our gulf coast Texas property.

I did mine almost exactly the same way Dale does his. However, when I put the oil on I followed the instructions as best I could interpret. But I'm still not sure if I put too little or too much oil on the pleats. How can one be sure? Driver, hopefully your further discussion will help, (or Dale) if you come up with a good method to know what's not too much, please let us know.

I suppose if you do get to much oil and clog the MAF, then it's a remove the MAF effort and clean it, correct?

[oemtech]

When I get home I will pull my filter and take before and after photo's.

But, I spray a light coat over the filter and stand it on end. This allows the oil to migrate to the bottom and be absorbed evenly by the gauze. The next day I check it for color, a light red. If it is pink I spray a 2nd coat and stand it on end in opposite way from the first time.

[DriVer]

First oiling - waiting 30 minutes before inspecting filter for bare spots.


S&B Filter oiling stand.

The instructions state to spray at approximately 3" from the filter and to direct the nozzle vertically. I went from top to bottom and attempted to direct the oil inside the pleats as much as possible.

There was a lot of over spray I believe however this filter is coated. The over-spray can been seen on the sheet below the filter.

I'm going to go and flip it over now and stand the filter on its head for an hour or so.

[RocketDork]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">You can easily over oil the filter and that will kill the MAF. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

K&N has done extensive tests on this claim. They haven't found ANY evidence that its true. Of course, this is just K&N, so you can choose to believe them. This link explains in great detail the testing they have done to disprove this. A good read!

[DriVer]

Right before dinner, I checked the filter. I looked it over and it appeared to be a light pink so I accomplished a final application of oil on the filter. My focus was to apply oil sparingly so I backed off to about 5 to 6 inches away from the filter and again sprayed from top to bottom.

The filter immediately turned a deeper shade of red and I kept spinning the filter and applying oil.

I'm going to let the filter sit overnight and I'll install it in the morning. That's it for this project.

Now where did I put those new SS nuts and bolts I bought?

[DAN L]

i made adapter plates from plastic and sheet metal so that i can dry my various k&n filters with a vacuum cleaner hose. about 1 hour on the vacuum cleaner dries it nicely. if you have a maf and you over oil a filter, you will have to clean the maf. the engine will not run or will run poorly with a contaminated maf. it will light the check engine light. you can disconnect the maf plug to get the engine to run in backup mode while the air filter is sucked clear of excessive oil. i ran with the maf disconnected for about 100 miles. i then cleaned the maf with crc electrical cleaner with good results. i should have used a special maf cleaner. i know this because the k&n filter i bought for my moho came over oiled and contaminated my maf sensor in about 5 seconds when i first started the engine. my moho maf is mounted right next to the air filter in the rf wheel well. imho if i had more duct work between the filter and the maf this probably would not have happened. check http://www.knfilters.com/MAF/massair.htm i have been using k&n air filters in my motorcycles, cars and trucks since 1972. they are great filters. i haven't worn one out yet. imho my experience with my moho is a very unusual incident. the new filter came with loose oil in the sealed plastic bag, so was probably over oiled at the factory.

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by DAN L:
i made adapter plates from plastic and sheet metal so that i can dry my various k&n filters with a vacuum cleaner hose. about 1 hour on the vacuum cleaner dries it nicely.. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>OK let me see if I can do this on the S&B ....

[DriVer]

S&B Over Oiling Technology Demonstrator
(Patent not-Pending)

OK went out to the recycle pile and came up with 1 neat little vacuum hose adapter. I am using a 4HP shop vac so it does have a little power - wish it were bigger like 20HP however the technology is proven.

Now I turned on the vacuum and placed the adapter in place over the opening on the S&B and the vacuum motor didn't even change pitch or sound at all. No wonder!

I allowed the vacuum to draw for about 5 minutes and I shut the thing down. I wiped my finger on the inside of the nozzle and there was a trace amount of oil. TaDa!

Although not a perfect device the technology will work given a large enough vacuum and whatever oil is removed by the shop vac is oil that won't get trapped on the MAF.

I think I'm done now ..... (maybe)


Need Is A Mother of Invention
(or something like that .... )

[DriVer]

CAI Back In Service

I reassembled the CAI box and found my stainless hardware and I got the box mounted back up on the frame. One thing about using the existing holes on the front bumper is that the inside hole in the CAI is a lot difficult to get at. I had the unit in place only to have to take it down and insert the bolts into the CAI box and then mount the thing.

Once up there I located the bolt holes in the bumper and aligned the bolts with the holes and the box fell right into place. I'm using fender washer inside and out and the bolt is secured using a SS nylock nut.

I mated up the CAI feed tube with the inlet collar on the MAF and pressed them together. A screw clamp hold everything together.

I started up the engine and everything is great! Now I'm ready for that trip to Forest City, IA.


Taylor Extremes

While I was at it I installed a new set of Taylors. The reason why you want these is - take a close look at the boots. These new Taylors are redesigned in that the Nomex boots now extend all the way over the spark plug shield and practically lie up against the engine block.

What does this do for you?

The point of failure on any spark plug wire has typically been observed to be at the point where the wire is tied onto the spark plug clip. The failure point is right above the boot where the wire enters the boot. The Taylors completely shield this vulnerable area with the new design.

The number 6 wire was the most difficult to deal with because there's no room in between the dipstick tube and the manifold shield for the sock. I had to pull the sock back, push the boot on the plug and then prod and or persuade the sock with a screwdriver. What you see is about as good as it gets. All the other boots are very close to the block so they're good to go!

You can see the top of my Koni FSD shock absorber. Still working great!

[dieselclacker]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by DriVer:


S&B Over Oiling Technology Demonstrator
(Patent not-Pending)

OK went out to the recycle pile and came up with 1 neat little vacuum hose adapter. I am using a 4HP shop vac so it does have a little power - wish it were bigger like 20HP however the technology is proven.

Now I turned on the vacuum and placed the adapter in place over the opening on the S&B and the vacuum motor didn't even change pitch or sound at all. No wonder!

I allowed the vacuum to draw for about 5 minutes and I shut the thing down. I wiped my finger on the inside of the nozzle and there was a trace amount of oil. TaDa!

Although not a perfect device the technology will work given a large enough vacuum and whatever oil is removed by the shop vac is oil that won't get trapped on the MAF.

I think I'm done now ..... (maybe)

_
Need Is A Mother of Invention
(or something like that .... ) </div></BLOCKQUOTE>



Down Baja way while crewing for race cars, we called things like that "Mexicaneering".

Dieselclacker