K&n Panel Filter

[The Dark Knight]

I know some on here have purchased this and they are approx £40 direct from K&N. Are they worth the money then guys? Vastly superior to the OEM panel filter?

Also, being as I haven't looked under the bonnet yet, where is it located and is it easy to change?

[bigmunkynutz]

Really easy to change the air box is infront of the battery. Use a flat head screwdrive to undo the pipe from the air box, push the clip up to disconnect the power to the air sensor and unscrew the air box with the four torx screws, lift the lid off and lift out the old panel filter and drop in the new one.

K&N filters have a million mile warranty and just need re-oiling every 50k so it's the only panel you'll ever buy for the life of the car. They do filter air a bit better and allow a little more airflow, I also drilled two 10p size ports in the lower part of the air box to increase the induction noise. It sounds a little throatier and does seem to add a little punch when you floor it. I also think it increases the turbo let off sound a little but that could just be because I've been driving around with my windows down a little more the past couple of days.

I paid £35 for one off eBay I'll see if I can get the details for you and post a link up.

[The Dark Knight]

Sounds good to me mate. Thanks for that.

[iNath]

Guide for 1.6TDCi but can't be that different on petrols?

[The Dark Knight]

Just ordered one today. Should be here on Wednesday. I phoned my insurance company to inform them of the change and they contemplated increased premium or excess but decided that all would remain the same. Will fit it Wednesday evening.

[bigmunkynutz]

You have no legal obligation to inform them of a panel filter change. You can explain that the reason for change is longevity.

[FOCA]

You have no legal obligation to inform them of a panel filter change. You can explain that the reason for change is longevity.

Agreed, the air filter is a consumable, it should not increase your premium any more than a different make of oil filter would,

The performance gains are often exaggerated, (an independant test measured a 1Hp gain) and you may notice an improvement because you are replacing an old, clogged filter with a new, un-clogged filter, or there is a bit more noise, that can give the illusion of more power, on a turbo it often does not increase power but may help the engine pick up a little bit better before the boost comes in

I heard some of the latest Fords can be complicated to change filters because they want you to take it into a garage rather than doing it yourself, if you are the 1st to do it on this car, it would be good if you took pictures/ posted a guide :)

[The Dark Knight]

Whilst there may not be a strict rule stating you MUST inform them, I have studied insurance law during my degree and I can

tell you that an insurance policy is one of uberrimae fidei which means of the utmost good faith.

The insurance company no nothing about us and need to be in possession of all material facts to assess the risk. What they call claims department is in fact an avoidance department and will avoid paying out if possible.

I told them and it is now noted with no change to the policy so I am covered and they have no cards to play. Some insurers may take a different attitude but hey ho.

[FOCA]

Whilst there may not be a strict rule stating you MUST inform them, I have studied insurance law during my degree and I can

tell you that an insurance policy is one of uberrimae fidei which means of the utmost good faith.

The insurance company no nothing about us and need to be in possession of all material facts to assess the risk. What they call claims department is in fact an avoidance department and will avoid paying out if possible.

I told them and it is now noted with no change to the policy so I am covered and they have no cards to play. Some insurers may take a different attitude but hey ho.

It is an interesting one, if you fitted better tyres (same size/ spec), would you inform your insurance? Ive no idea what type of tyres these come with new, but im confident Goodyear Eagle F1s would perform a lot better, probably be able to corner faster, brake later, so a trip down to Quick-fit for new tyres would require informing your insurance,?

What about Wiper Blades? if you put a different type of wiper blade on would you need to inform your insurers? theoretically yes, because what if they came off in the wind/ rain and you crashed because you could not see out of the windscreen.

I think its a case of heads you loose, tails they win as they try to wriggle out of paying up, and informing them about every little thing keeps your "back covered"

Just as well im running a stock air filter! :lol:

[The Dark Knight]

Don't get me wrong, there is a line to be drawn. I have brighter bulbs fitted and haven't informed them and if I changed Wiper Blades I wouldn't inform them. The only reason I bothered here was because I knew full well I was buying it to increase the performance of the car albeit on a very small scale. The fact that it can increase horsepower is another reason I decided to play it safe and tell them. I would tell them if fitting winter tyres or perhaps specialist sports tyres but not just a change.

Lets face it, if anyone had an accident, what's the odds of them finding the panel filter? Even if they did, they might not be able to avoid paying out altogether but it is highly likely that many stressful arguments will ensue over it.

[FOCA]

Agreed, You have studied insurance law during your degree and i have some knowlege on the subject, but, what may seem a reasonable component change/ renual to the avarage motorist may be regarded as a "modification" by the insurance company, a perfect example of this is alloy wheels -

"Joe blogs" has a completely standard car, with alloy wheels, he damages one of the wheels and discovers it is cheaper to replace all 4 of them with aftermarket ones than replace 1 Genuine Ford one, and claiming on the insurance means loosing his no caims and his exess is high

So he buys 4 aftermarket alloy wheels, he does not bother to inform his insurers because they are exactly the same size/ width as the old ones - Is he insured?

Edit - typo

[The Dark Knight]

I would definitely inform them. Products like that can be contemplated when looking at the value of the car in any claims and as I said earlier, they might not get out of paying altogether but if you give them cards to play, they will sure enjoy playing them and causing you much agro.

Aside from obvious sundry items such as bulbs and wipers, look at it this way: If you install a panel filter and don't inform them because you think it is trivial and they won't be interested, then there is nothing to worry about by ringing them as they will just say thanks and goodbye.

If you are not informing them because you think they will view it as a modification and might charge for it, then you know in your mind there could be trouble if they find out about it when you claim.

Don't give them an excuse to not pay out or be awkward about things.

[FOCA]

Yes, there was a case where the insurers refused to pay out because the motorist had changed the make of the (same size) alloy wheels, thinking it was un-nessesary to inform them - an example of where it would seem reasonable not to bother informing your insurance company

[The Dark Knight]

Just fitted it tonight but won't be driving the car now until morning. There is no doubt in my mind that this will bring benefits however small because rather than this superior panel filter replacing a basic paper panel filter, it is replacing a breeze block!

Honestly, the size difference is amazing. The standard filter is a real chunky monkey lol! Looking forward to noticing the difference.

[AleXander]

Looking forward to noticing the difference.

Waiting for some info :-)

[FiestaZS90150]

any update on the panel filter??

[The Dark Knight]

No test drive until the morning guys as I head to work. I had already cracked open some Guiness before I knew it had been delivered while I was out at work lol

Will let you know in due course

[bigmunkynutz]

Just fitted it tonight but won't be driving the car now until morning. There is no doubt in my mind that this will bring benefits however small because rather than this superior panel filter replacing a basic paper panel filter, it is replacing a breeze block!

Honestly, the size difference is amazing. The standard filter is a real chunky monkey lol! Looking forward to noticing the difference.

Lol I was amazed by the size difference! It took a week or so to bed in and with the panel filter and additional ports in the airbox it's a noticeable difference.

[FOCA]

Just fitted it tonight but won't be driving the car now until morning. There is no doubt in my mind that this will bring benefits however small because rather than this superior panel filter replacing a basic paper panel filter, it is replacing a breeze block!

Honestly, the size difference is amazing. The standard filter is a real chunky monkey lol! Looking forward to noticing the difference.

Pictures would be good - has someone already done a guide?

[The Dark Knight]

The job itself is easy. I didn't go down the route of unclipping the air sensor or the air pipe. I fetched the screws out, lifted the lid, took the old one out and dropped the new one in. Piece of cake.

I haven't got pics of the new filter but it is dark in colour and nice and oily lol. It is only slightly deeper than the orange rubber edge to the chunky standard filter in the pics below. (Toes encroaching the shot lol)

[FOCA]

It will be interesting to see what difference it makes - when i changed anything i always tested the acceleration (0-60/ 30-70 etc) and changed one thing at a time - like when i was racing - sometimes a change would feel faster but be slower, or vice-versa

The reason the stock filter is so thick is to increase its surface area, if you took the filter and streched it all out it would be many times the size of the "frame" of the filter, the greater the surface area, (the deeper it is/ the larger the number of "folds") the less restrictive the filter is

In this way the stock filter could be as big as a manhole cover, (but folded up) so has an advantage over a K&N cotton or pipercross foam type filters (that are only as big as the "frame")

On the Mondeo i tested all types of filters, velocity stacks, open turbo, open turbo with bellmouth massive K&N cone filter of a race car - stock airbox with/ without filter - it was best with the stock airbox, gas flowed/ de-logged, the element made no difference, because the (50mm) pipes leading to the airbox were more restrictive than the filter element, now i have the insulated 80/90mm CAIS, it would be interesting to see if a different filter would actually improve gas (air) flow

Mostly, the changes to the intake help the flow/ power before turbo spools up, helping the engine pick up better from low down

You may have to add more feeds/ ports, like bigmunkynutz has done, to get an improvement

[Lester1102]

Hi I looked on the k&n website and the only filter they do is for the preface lift and I was just wondering if it should still fit if nt what was the code for your air filter so I can order mine thankyou

[bigmunkynutz]

Warning: ini_set() has been disabled for security reasons in /home/fordowne/public_html/forums/conf_global.php on line 2

Hi I looked on the k&n website and the only filter they do is for the preface lift and I was just wondering if it should still fit if nt what was the code for your air filter so I can order mine thankyou

33-2955 is the code. I'm not sure there is any difference between the airbox pre & post facelift.

[The Dark Knight]

I can report that it seems more eager at low revs but not noticed anything higher up the rev range. Seems to be a touch more throaty and one thing it's doing that it wasn't before is making that hissing sound when lifting off to change gear when accelerating briskly. Is wastegate or dump valve the word I'm looking for? It's nowhere near that loud but audible with window down

[dah]

hi just found k&n filter on line 33-2955 they have them listed Diesel 2008/2011 £39 but 33-2955 petrol mk6 2007/2009 1.25cc is only £26 but they must be the same? they have lots of them different price but all ford fiesta but all 33-2955 WILL £26 one be ok for a Diesel?