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Air filter question

htjph

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What good air filters are recommended for a stock TBI setup? I was doing some routine maintenance on my 91 Jimmy 5.7 this weekend and discovered that the filter I wanted to run is a bit too tall - NAPA Gold 2098 (specs attached). The lid doesn't seal when tightened and has at least a 1/8 inch gap around the perimeter. It had a NAPA Proselect #22098 in it and the lid tightens down perfectly. The Gold 2098 looks to be just a hair taller than the Proselect. Unfortunately NAPA discontinued the Proselect line. I searched on this question and only found an old post on this issue but on a different stock air cleaner setup. Any quality air filters out there that are guaranteed to work with the stock TBI air cleaner assembly?

NAPA Gold 2098 air filter specs.jpg
 
Napa filters are Wix filters, not sure why there is a difference between the 2 they should be the same. Base 2098 I think I have 3 in the garage I can measure height. We can compare. Mine are old old thou.
 
IMG_20230523_151353.jpg
My stock. White and yellow box could be from the 90's. Black and yellow boxes are @2015.
IMG_20230523_151517.jpg
Filter from white/yellow box.
IMG_20230523_151552.jpg
Filter from black/yellow box
 
Hmm...something's going on. Looks like they might have changed a bit. I tried 2 different gold filters with the same outcome.


Gold box
Gold box.jpg

Gold filter
Gold filter.jpg

Proselect filter
Proselect filter.jpg
 
Mine is not tbi, good ole Qjet, they fit fine in the stock 77 air cleaner.
 
It probably within the drawing tolerance but thats a loose tolerance. My ‘91 Suburban does the same thing with the small gap. I also pulled the heat stove out of the cleaner 2 days ago and apparently it had not been opening up from the way it drives now.
 
Guess I'm not the only one with the tolerance problem. Think I'll stop by O'Reilly in the morning and measure the Wix filters they have on the shelf. If it's the same, I'll try some others I've used in the past - Delco, Baldwin, Purolator, and Donaldson. Surely one of them will work. If not, I'll live with the gap and run Wix.
 
Did the wing nut/s run out threads ? is that why you have a gap ? If so what does the air horn gasket look like ? Is it there ?
 
Still had plenty of threads and the gasket looks good - old but good.

Tried the Purolator A50091 and it works. Lid locks down tight like with the Proselect. Good amount of pleats like the Wix/Napa Gold. It's just a hair, probably 1/32 in. or less, taller than the Proselect. Didn't check on the Baldwin or Donaldson filters but the specs for those filters on their websites, if accurate, would probably work as well.

Purolator A50091
Purolator A50091.jpg
 
The napa gold 2098 should be 3.489 inches and the pro select 22098 should be 3.49 inches. They have not discontinued the pro select line we get them in all the time. The pro select may squish down easier it is a more budget line filter.
 
When I asked to see the proselect filter like the one I have, my parts guy said all they had was the proformer line below gold and proselect was no longer available. I wasn't going to run that same filter. Just wanted to check the dims. Looks like you can search for the proselect filter specifically on the website. They both show the same part number listed - SFI 22098. The proformer also lists a height of 3.48 inches. It'll be interesting to see what you find.
 

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