Introduction, air filter question

[bmwcliff]

After stalking this website for a year, in June I found a pretty decent 75 pastelblue 02 in Alabama and puchased. My wife and I are VW fans that restored a few over the years, and was looking for something different to do. The car we bought was vin# 2367005, pretty original, originally sold in Atlanta, and had 2 previous owners, besides the guy we bought it from. He purchased it out of the estate of the last owner, with the intent to resale, so we really dont count him as an owner, he only had it for 3 months. Anyway, in picking thru the car, cleaning etc., it has the small square littlechrome aircleaner, with and old square K&N filter. Thinking of replacing with a new K&N, as I use these in all my cars, but no listing in the K&N book for this car, tried to match the filter, but no dice. Does anyone have a part number for this? Anyway, will be at Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix this weekend with the car, and would welcome advice, opinions, etc. Feel free to stop by, we'll also have my 2004 BMW motorcycle there. Cliff Waugaman in Greensburg, Pa.

[dlhoovler]

Cliff,

Welcome! I can't help much on the air filter, as my '02 has the factory setup. Consider reverting to that arrangement--it's actually a cold-air intake and can be bought used fairly inexpensively. The base can be easily modified to fit the Weber carb that I assume is on your car.

But I couldn't let a post slip by from a fellow Pittsburgher. I live up in Shaler Township, so I'm not that far from you. I hope to make it to the Vintage Grand Prix, but I'm not sure if I will due to some other commitments this weekend. Regardless, let me know if you need an extra pair of hands wrenching on the '02 sometime. I've gotten pretty familiar with my '71, though I can't hold a candle to the experience of many on this board. You've come to the right place for advice!

I only get on here intermittently and don't even drive my '02 as much as I'd like--a 9-month-old boy and renovations on our house have taken up a ton of my time lately--but send me an email through the link above if you'd like.

-Dave

[Napes]

If you revert to the stock air cleaner K & N air filters are readily available. As Dave pointed out, with a stock air cleaner you get ambient air introduced into the carb - not hot engine compartment air.

As an aside, I've run K & N filters in my ' 75 in the past, but they've not proven to be worth the effort, IMO. New Mahle or Puralator filters are available at a # of places online and only about $10. I now go that route every 10K miles.

Bob Napier

[davidmcw]

Maybe this will help.

http://www.racetep.com/weber/webfilter.html

[Mike Self]

as was pointed out, you get nice cool air from outside vs the hot stuff from around the engine. The smaller K&Ns need cleaning much more often (wash out foam, let dry, re-oil) vs a throwaway paper element every 25-30k miles. And there's a paper air filter for an early 80s Ford (Mustang II, Fairmont come to mind) that fits the stock 2 barrel housing perfectly, and is much more readily available at any auto parts store (cheaper too).

Ten minutes with a Dremel tool and tinsnips will modify the air cleaner to fit the Weber, then all you need to do is make a gasket out of closed cell foam to fit between the air cleaner and the carb.

When you buy an air cleaner assy, you'll need

* air cleaner can itself

* "Winter/summer" air box that clamps to the "snorkel" on the pax side of the radiator support

* corrugated rubber hose that connects the air box to the air cleaner housing (available new).

* If they're not on the car, the two brackets that support the air cleaner (they bolt to the manifold)

* If they're not on the air cleaner housing, the three little rubber mounts that hold the air cleaner to the brackets (available new).

* The sheet metal heat cover that bolts to the exhaust manifold (may still be on the manifold)

* a short length of composition hose to connect the heat cover to the air box (any auto parts store--just get the proper diameter).

Should be lotsa pictures of the stock setup on the board.

cheers, and welcome to the madness.

cheers

mike

*

[eurotrash]

Hola! Welcome!

From experience..

My car came from the PO with a K&N branded oval filter holder.. When the wing nuts backed off during a road trip and the lid got flattened, I went on a similar search. The one I had was larger in size than the typical rectangular jobbie.. something like 9X5.5 or something. You have to search/google K&N's for carb specific kits, NOT car specific.

Once I discovered that I had to purchase a full filter and holder kit for 80 bucks and couldn't just buy the lid, I shelved it, but later made a lid and put it on another car.

Here is the one I had, I found it..

http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?Prod=56-1070