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Cold weather driving and air cleaners??

badmix

badmix

1/2 ton status
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Im running an 360* open element K&N, I believe its 4" high. Im going from Mild Florida to Cold azz WV during Thanksgiving.

Would it hurt or hinder or even benefit if I were to block off the front of the air cleaner, like Nascar style. Id only block about 1/3 to 1/4 of the direct front. Is it even worth the bother?
 
Don't worry about it, virginia isn't that cold anyway.
 
folkenheath said:
Don't worry about it, virginia isn't that cold anyway.
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X2. In my younger days I have run those air cleaners year round in summer and winter driving conditions. My 79 Z28 had one of those and I ran it from Mass to Chicago, all winter in Chicago while going to school out there and it was really friggin cold, and back to Mass in the summer. These days I like factory air cleaners or modified versions of the same. No more open elements for me. But it will work fine.
 
Any reason you dont like open elements? Im running the 4" K&N with a PreFilter wrap on it. I havent had any issues per se but always willing to listen to arguements about open element versus stock.
 
It's just ingesting all of the under hood (hot) air. There is a reason the factory air cleaner was piped to intake air from behind the grill. The same reason you see all these "cold air kits" on the market for cars and trucks these days. Cold air for the engine to breath means better performance. That's the basic theory anyways.
 
I would ditch the open element air cleaner for a factory one or a CAI kit. Why would you want to block a portion of the air cleaner anyways? Cold air produces more power.
 
Dunno why I thought it would be better, lol.

Ive thought about going back to OEM on several occasions. Ive used the spot for the air baffle thingy in the firewall for some driving lights, so that area is blocked off anyways.
 
I have compared my stock cold air setup with a few friends total open element setups occasionally, I can usually go longer between air filter changes that they seem to, I figure with it being completely exposed, it grabs dirt from all around, clogging it up faster. Whereas with a single inlet cold air intake, it only pulls air from one smaller area, outside of the engine compartment.

Unless you're pushing big power, the stock 5-6" diameter intake hose is more than enough to flow adequate air into the intake.

Open air filters usually let more noise escape as well, like a throaty grumble from the intake when you get on the gas. I tried one once on my 4wd Burb, sounded louder, lost power, it was that much that I could actually notice the loss of power.

Stock unit has been on ever since.
 
Most guys have answered your question.

My .02, I can't run my K&N on my truck in the winter here. It ices the carb out and lean fires real bad. I put the factory cleaner back on for the colder weather and it runs fine.
 
Sadly, I dont have the Factory air cleaner assembly. Junkyards dont have K5s and CL is a dud as well.

So, anyone got one laying around they wanna sell cheap?? :D
 
I generally like the factory air cleaner because it is harder to fill with mud than an open element filter. All we really have around here is mud, and I've seen more than one truck eat dirt and die. As for coldness, cold air is generally considered better. Run what ya brung, I suppose. Shouldn't pose any problems.
 
I had a few open element air cleaners,and had them ice up badly on cool damp foggy mornings when it was around 35-50 degrees out,to the point it choked the engine and black soot came out of the exhaust...the whole filter would get a layer of ice build up on it...we get that kind of weather here often enough for that to be a big pain in the ---.........................................I put the stock GM air cleaner back on and had to hook the EFE valve and the heat stove flex pipe back up,in order to drive my 79 C-10 with a 305 & edelbrock carb in cold weather,even then I had some carb icing issues if I didn't let it warm up a few minutes on damp mornings....I noticed better fuel mileage along with no more stalling at idle and poor running until it warmed up 100%,which it never seemed to do on real cold days..sometimes the factory knows best--that was true in my case...
 
I ran an open for over a year when I was stationed in Ottawa Canada. There was a couple mornings, er weeks where it was 40 below. After I changed the oil, I never had any problems with it starting, (even with no choke) running or driving it over 4 hours one way back to NY. I had a 4" cowl hood on the car too.
 
It's the damp air or moisture that creates the trouble--when the air was DRY ,I had no problems starting or running my truck,it was when it was foggy,damp or rainy that gave the most greif with the carb icing...so its not just the temparature so much,its the humidity level.....................................................................................................if my commute was longer and at higher speeds, I had no troubles once the engine was fully warmed up (a good 20 minutes to get it hot enough to keep the carb de-iced often!)--but my commute was only 5 miles,and it was pure hell some days,until I put the stock air cleaner and all the related plumbing back on it...
 
I thought the humidity would be lower the more north you go, but not so!! Couldn't believe how muggy it got in the summer. And 30-40 below is friggin cold no matter what the humidity is. Guess some people have issues and some don't....
 
4X4HIGH said:
I would ditch the open element air cleaner for a factory one or a CAI kit. Why would you want to block a portion of the air cleaner anyways? Cold air produces more power.
Click to expand...
That's why the stock one is cold air. Why do people remove this?

85 Burb said:
Most guys have answered your question.

My .02, I can't run my K&N on my truck in the winter here. It ices the carb out and lean fires real bad. I put the factory cleaner back on for the colder weather and it runs fine.
Click to expand...
That's why the stock one has a heat riser! Why do people remove this?

I guarentee a stock air filter setup with hot air tube will run great, drive better year round with no issues and get better fuel milage. If you really must have that last 5 HP from an open element at WOT 4000 RPM and up (nothing below) then may as well get 7HP and run no air cleaner at all. (Stock engine disclaimer).

K&N filters do flow more air! They also flow more dirt! Dusted Engine for what? 3 HP at WOT high RPM?

I'll stick with stock air cleaner and a paper filter thanks...
 
badmix said:
Sadly, I dont have the Factory air cleaner assembly. Junkyards dont have K5s and CL is a dud as well.
Click to expand...

Suburban, pickup, Blazer/Jimmy all use the same stuff under the hood.

I find the junkyards out here very rarely have the uber-tall one, but the regular short assemblies are all over.

-- A
 
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