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Panel Filters


Drew
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OK,

Ive been searching about on here and i'm contemplating getting a panel filter for my gti.

I've read its best to get rid of the cold air feed as its restrictive and replace it with a new cold air feed. I just wanted to know what people recommend from their past experiences? and where to get them.

I've read people saying they dont make a difference, but surely they must and also add a bit of sound on some occasions.

Cheers

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Nothing really wrong with the standard air feed, the restrictive part is just the paper filter really.

The BMC CDA's are very popular with proven results. I run a BMC pannel which is pretty good to. :)

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Nothing really wrong with the standard air feed, the restrictive part is just the paper filter really.

The BMC CDA's are very popular with proven results. I run a BMC pannel which is pretty good to. :)

Unfortunately BMC Is not currently an option in the UK Unless you are willing to spend a fortune importing one from Italy.

The UK Distributor recently went bankrupt and there doesn't seem to be any excess stock for VW Lupo applications.

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What do you both reckon to the K&N and BMC filter? will these get oil off the crankcase filter aswell?

If you are looking for a Pannel filter which is an improvement over standard in terms of performance then we have two options available.

The first being a Pipercross pannel filter at £28+ VAT These are a tripple layer foam element and can be washed at normal service intervals.

The second being a K&N pannel filter at £32+ VAT These are a Cotton gauze filter with a stainless steel overmesh. Again they can be washed at normal service intervals.

The main difference between the two is the fact that the K&N can probably be washed more times than I would want to wash the Pipercross one.

When we have fitted Pannel filters to lupo's in the past we have removed the hot air pipe from the manifold cover and blanked it.

Performance wise you will feel a slight change in the throttle response and probably gain about 1bhp.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Al.

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Get a panel filter K&N is my preference and then take the drivers side arch liner out and you will see a restrictive piece of large polystyrene that you can remove . Route an additional air feed from the original hose in the arch to the lower front grill to complete a better air feed.

I did this to begin with and it was fine, then removed it all and routed air pipe from the air box to the front upper grill for a shorter and cleaner route.........not looked back since.

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AwesomeAl, do you stock a large range of filters from different manufacturers? I would like to see a group test of all of them, but not of the performance gains, testing the actual filtration properties compared to a paper element. Some foam ones dont look to be capable of much filtration

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Make's no noticable difference, no matter how much you play with the cold air feed it barely improves it. Waste of money your better off getting a cone filter or a bmc something like that.

I tried with a panel filter and played around with different intakes but the gain was no where near worth the effort, time or even cost!

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AwesomeAl, do you stock a large range of filters from different manufacturers? I would like to see a group test of all of them, but not of the performance gains, testing the actual filtration properties compared to a paper element. Some foam ones dont look to be capable of much filtration

For the Lupo we only stock the K&N and the Pipercross Pannel filters.

Induction kits are all special order for the Lupo.

We have previously done Side by side comparisons on an R32 which was fitted first with a Pipercross Pannel, then a K&N Pannel, then a K&N 57i Intake kit, then a Neuspeed P-Flo kit, then a Carbonio CAI kit :)

The pipercross and K&N both came out pretty much bang on the same. Both of these gave a slighly faster rise in torque in comparison to the standard paper filter but didn't really add much to the top end (1 or 2bhp.)

Make's no noticable difference, no matter how much you play with the cold air feed it barely improves it. Waste of money your better off getting a cone filter or a bmc something like that.

I tried with a panel filter and played around with different intakes but the gain was no where near worth the effort, time or even cost!

I'm not certain about that myself. It doesn't cost anything to blank off the hot air feed pipe.

I've been at a rolling road day where one gti had either a K&N or a Pipercross Open cone filter fitted and lost power from standard!

During our R&D on the Lupo 1.4 16v Maps, we were able to get another 5bhp on top after replacing the paper filter with a K&N Pannel and blanking the hot air pipe.

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I'm not disagreeing with the fact that there's a gain, because there is but its only a little one.

In my eyes that does not make it worth it. if its worth doing, its worth doing properly.

I can vouch for a power gain because i had a K&N filter in mine (albeit with a poorly laid out cold air feed at the time) and it brought the standard power up from 123bhp as standard to nearly 126 bhp on a 70k mile engine, and thats on your rolling road.

I've gone for a BMC cone filter fed through a 90degree silcone hose bend into the throttle body and it works a treat, yes it may not of gained much power but the greatly improved throttle response and engine 'pick up' under load is worth the penny's. I only did this as an experiment to see whether there were any gains and i've not looked back. I now dont see the point of trying to gain any more power because the engine responds very well and any more power will mean big bills which brings me back to my origional point of is it worth it cost wise?

Sorry for the essay.

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I'm not disagreeing with the fact that there's a gain, because there is but its only a little one.

In my eyes that does not make it worth it. if its worth doing, its worth doing properly.

I can vouch for a power gain because i had a K&N filter in mine (albeit with a poorly laid out cold air feed at the time) and it brought the standard power up from 123bhp as standard to nearly 126 bhp on a 70k mile engine, and thats on your rolling road.

Some people can't afford £100 or so for an Induction kit or £200 or so for a BMC CDA Kit (which currently aren't available over here).

£41 all in for a K&N panel filter delivered isn't going to break the bank in the majority of circumstances and can make enough difference for what some people want.

One of our old Demo Cars ran 340bhp and still used the standard airbox with a K&N Panel filter! No induction kits, No Cold Air Intake kit! Obviously that's a slightly different thing though with the car being Turbocharged.

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For the Lupo we only stock the K&N and the Pipercross Pannel filters.

Induction kits are all special order for the Lupo.

We have previously done Side by side comparisons on an R32 which was fitted first with a Pipercross Pannel, then a K&N Pannel, then a K&N 57i Intake kit, then a Neuspeed P-Flo kit, then a Carbonio CAI kit :)

The pipercross and K&N both came out pretty much bang on the same. Both of these gave a slighly faster rise in torque in comparison to the standard paper filter but didn't really add much to the top end (1 or 2bhp.)

Did you just test the power gains/losses or how well the filter actually filtered the air

Like this - http://www.mkiv.com/techarticles/filters_test/2/

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To be fair, We can't afford to go buying equipment to measure how well a filter filters air.

That's just something you have to trust the manufacturers on.

Lets just say if the filter's allowed harmful bits of crap to go through, then the manufacturers for them wouldn't still be around today...

Results were not issued and unfortunately the recordings are no longer available.

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It does serve a purpose as Treblet said, the hot air pipe helps warm your engine up on very very cold days but if the engine is cold to start with it doesn't make all that much difference. However when the car has been running for a while, You will be feeding heat directly into the air intake pipe which has a bit of a negative effect and can sap precious horse power.

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I blanked mine off, i noticed a bit of a gain but regret it on these cold mornings when i am waiting for my heater to warm up:(.

That's a bit odd Luke... Your heater doesn't draw any heat off that pipe! It draws heat from a small radiator (Heater Matrix) inside/under the main blower motor!

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Stuck a K&N on mine cause its washable and the standard fit paper ones get killed with oil from the

crankcase breather.

I don't mean to hijack, but this point interested me. My g/f Loop has an issue with oil clogging up a sensor or something and the light comes on on the dashboard. It doesn't affect the drive and we just ignore it now. But would a panel filter help? It's only a 1.0 BTW.

also...

plus you dont have to update your insurance with panel filter so that is a bonus.

is that true?

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