TheSamba.com :: View topic - CB Performance Air Cleaners

Wed Sep 07, 2011 2:49 pm

The mesh style air cleaners that CB Performance supply with their kits, the info that comes with them suggests that they should be oiled? Is this important and any particular kind of oil to use?

These mesh style air filters will also need to be cleaned. Once you start to see a build up of dirt around the filter, it's time to clean them. When cleaning the filters, never use gasoline, always use a non-flammable solvent. To clean the filter you can either immerse the filters or brush on the cleaning solvent. Do not use high pressure air to blow dry. Excessive air pressure can rupture and destroy the tight weave of the fabric. Allow the filter to drip dry and then re-oil the filter with the correct filter oil. The oil can either be sprayed or brushed on. The excess oil will simply run off if the filters are left to drain prior to installation.

Wed Sep 07, 2011 3:22 pm

I use the K&N kit, that you get at Oreilly or Autozone. It has the cleaner and the spray oil in the kit. Works just fine. There are others you can use but that is a good all around kit.

Wed Sep 07, 2011 3:23 pm

They don't work very well without the oil.

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/KNN0/9950...er+cleaner

Wed Sep 07, 2011 3:36 pm

wompninja wrote: They don't work very well without the oil.

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/KNN0/9950...er+cleaner

Agreed! without oil, you might as well not have air cleaners at all and tear up your engine in no time. Years ago I lived in Colorado and drove a bug with gauze filter UN-OILED for one year! I neglected the oil change once, and the oil was full of crud and almost black on the next change. Engine temps were higher and far less performance were symptoms. For future readers out there: use the oil!

Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:17 pm

:shock:

Can the CB mesh filters be replaced with a K&N style or pleated paper filter element? Is it a standard form size? Anyone done this? I did search but couldn't pull up anything useful...

Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:21 pm

id like to do that too..

im sure with k&n's vast listings,

there is one that would work for the dimensions we have.. theyre twistable (sounds funny haha) so a round dia. filter can be installed to shape in the oval cleaners of CB

il check the k&n website and see wat i can find and relay it here

Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:27 pm

Some interesting info here...

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=324846&start=0

Scott Novak wrote: markhuebbe wrote: I got a set of CB filters that came with my carbs & CB bases and they seem to let a lot of dirt thru them. I also wrap them with a UNI foam pre-filter. Would real K&N filters be any better?
I found out the hard way that genuine K&N 4-1/2" by 7" oval filters will NOT fit the CB Performance 4-1/4" x 7" oval air cleaner bases.

Their ad copy is incorrect. It specifies the CB air filters as 4-1/2"x 7", when in fact they are 4-1/4" x 7". I Notified CB Performance of this error over 3 months ago and they still have not corrected it.
http://www.cbperformance.com/catalog.asp?ProductID=509

The other potential problem is that the mold sprues on the CB Performance air cleaner bases have not been ground flat and can keep the air filters from seating properly. The air cleaner bases need finish work before you use them.

I hear a lot of people complain that K&N air filters let sand in. But I wonder how much of this is the filter not seating properly on a poorly made air cleaner base.

Scott Novak

Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:53 pm

The filter element does not know what oval it is, measure the actual circumference and divide by PI to get the diameter of it in round form

My CB filters measure 6" even to 6 1/8" round diameter by 1/2" thickness, maybe the older ones shrunk or the newer ones stretched, not sure why. K&N does sell two sizes of filter that might fit, but I do not know which is closest.
I get a circumference of 19.2" with the filter on the base
I hate gauze filters since they don't stop dust, but they are fine for the city.

K&n brand cleaning kits are for sale at many auto parts stores, they have a spray can of the special oil in them.

Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:15 pm

This looks to be pretty close?

http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?prod=e-3341

Hoping somebody will chime in with first hand experiences...

Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:26 pm

doesn't K&N still use gauze filters?? The ones I have seen are still gauze, the only difference is they are red. The kit they sell will also turn your CB/Empi/whatever kit red as well. Some of the guys in AZ that baja'd used to double up their filters for added protection- which would also be an option for you. The off road guys know what works and what won't.

If you were very anal about it, I would use two filters or just one good foam one, oil it and change your oil more often. I used to clean my carbs once every two weeks and change oil once every other month when I moved to Utah. Big difference compared to the west coast.

Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:29 pm

The K&N filters ar white like the others.... Until you oil them, then they are red.

They may come pre-oiled now.

Don't use them without the oil.

Wed Sep 07, 2011 9:02 pm

Dangermouse wrote: This looks to be pretty close?

http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?prod=e-3341

Hoping somebody will chime in with first hand experiences...

according to the dimensions, that filter might fit, but some squeezing may be required.

Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:28 am

So,,,,, whats wrong with the CB Performance ones? you went from what type of oil? to wanting to spend $150 bucks on new K&Ns.

Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:44 am

Probably nothing whatsoever wrong with the CB filters (other than the fact that I'm currently running them without any oil), they seem to work on precisely the same principle and in all likelihood they all come out of the same factory in China anyway. I'm going to try oiling up the CB ones first and see how we go. Other than that I'm just info gathering is all. K&N do seem to have a good reputation but yeah, they're kinda spendy (why so expensive anyway?)... If and when the time comes to replace them, I can get K&Ns locally but not CB.

Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:57 am

I have those on my engine:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/KNN-E-3341/[/url]

Fit perfectly :wink:

Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:17 am

vince1 wrote: I have those on my engine:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/KNN-E-3341/[/url]

Fit perfectly :wink:

sorry to git off subject,, but I just have to ask!! why do you have two crank case breathers??

Thu Sep 08, 2011 5:25 am

Dangermouse wrote: Probably nothing whatsoever wrong with the CB filters (other than the fact that I'm currently running them without any oil), they seem to work on precisely the same principle and in all likelihood they all come out of the same factory in China anyway. I'm going to try oiling up the CB ones first and see how we go. Other than that I'm just info gathering is all. K&N do seem to have a good reputation but yeah, they're kinda spendy (why so expensive anyway?)... If and when the time comes to replace them, I can get K&Ns locally but not CB.

K&N filters are MADE in Riverside,CA not China and the quality of a K&N filter and filtering capacity is vastly superior to the Chinese knockoffs.
Keep running the Chinese filters and you will be buying more junk Chinese engine parts to keep your car running, sooner than expected.

Thu Sep 08, 2011 5:50 am

vw_hank wrote: vince1 wrote: I have those on my engine:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/KNN-E-3341/[/url]

Fit perfectly :wink:

sorry to git off subject,, but I just have to ask!! why do you have two crank case breathers??

Filling engine with oil with the CB tower is a lot easier than with the OEM oil filler in a bus, I already had the small Bugpack breather box bolted on the fan shroud (drilled) so I decided to leave it in place and to combine the two systems, but no technical reason to use two breather boxes.

Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:44 am

[/quote] K&N filters are MADE in Riverside,CA not China and the quality of a K&N filter and filtering capacity is vastly superior to the Chinese knockoffs.
Keep running the Chinese filters and you will be buying more junk Chinese engine parts to keep your car running, sooner than expected.[/quote]

Not all Chinese parts are junk. He can run Empi or CB or whatever filters he wants as long as he oils/cleans them and changes his oil at frequent/applicable intervals. If he is super paranoid, he can use outer filters or even foam ones, like Glenn does. Nothing bad is going to happen by using an Empi filter if cleaned/oiled. Bad things happen when you neglect maintenance or run velocity stacks year round without filters.

Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:29 pm

I bought a single Weber 40DCNF kit in 1976 from CB Performance (OK, Claude's Buggies for you purists) for my 1835 engine. I used the rectangular foam mesh filter with oil for many years. But I upgraded to a K&N-type filter, from my local BAP store, which I clean and oil that just like a K&N filter. But even that was at least 15 years ago, but it fit right in.