1st condition inspection,IO320 AIRFILTER?
 

I have a K&N airfilter. A friend said (A&P) every year you throw it away and put in new no matter how many hours. ( I have 30 hrs ). OR,,,,OR use the RENEW kit from K&N sold on Vans parts website. The kit is $8.50 and the K&N airfilter is $32.00. As a experimental aircraft owner is it up to my discretion. It doesn?t look dirty and no grass blades on outside.

Ron in Oregon
RV9A

Umm no. They do make K&N?s for certified as well called challenger filters. He is referring to the cheap foam filters. Get the cleaning kit and follow the instructions. No air filter is technically required, it?s an experimental.

At 30 hours, it should not require any cleaning or replacement. I have 450 hours on my filter and it still doesn't need a cleaning. These cotton filters actually perform better once they have some dirt on them. If you go to the K&N website, they give you a description and pictures to help determine when they are in need of a cleaning. They are very different than paper filters. After several years, the filter will shrink and that will require replacement to maintain a tight fit and avoid wear on you FAB.

Larry

I concur with lr172. I have 370 hrs on mine and it looks like the day I installed it.

link
 

Thanks for posting the link to the pics.... I've been cleaning my filter way too often.

This is one of those areas where you can create more problems with no benefit. The cotton filters can be over and under oiled. If the procedure is done incorrectly, you are left will a filter that performs worse than the one you started with.

Larry

OH THANK YOU,THANK YOU,,gentlemen! What a relief,that this makes common sense on the K&N filters but nowadays you just got to ask. Thanks for the website pictures from K&N Xavier. Much appreciated!
Ron in Oregon
RV9A N421HJ.

My experience with K&N
 

350,000 K in my Honda Civic, 230,000 K in my Audi A4, 487 hrs in my RV-6, 700 hrs in my RV-3, they all look like new after recommended servicing.

Air filter
 

How are you guys getting hundreds or hours out of one of these air filters? I have 100 hrs on my stock O360 with stock Vans FAB using the K&N E3450 air filter. It came with the firewall forward kit and was oily and in a plastic bag when first installed last summer (yes I removed the bag). Checking it after 100 hrs and it has shrunk about 3/4" in diameter and is not flexible any more. Not flying in rain although light precipitation a couple times. What gives?
Al