STI panel filter - anyone fitted one?

[Anders_WR1]

Is anyone running one of these? I was thinking of buying one, but I'm concerned on messing up fuelling, making the car run lean.

Cheers

Anders

[danr55]

i think Bro has ?

[chris]

I didn't think they gave a huge amount more power over the standard item?

[ScoobyDan]

They work pretty well, I got an extra 13 bhp from my STI PPP from fitting one and resetting the ecu. (same day,same rollers)
Just remember they are a disposable service item unlike say a K+N or Green filter which will last for years.
The fuelling will be fine, its induction kits that cause problems

[Anders_WR1]

Dan, I originally asked the question on ScoobyNet and had a reply from Bob Rawle saying there 'might' be an issue with fuelling because its been tweaked by Prodrive.

I suppose what Bob is saying, is that Prodrive could be running a leaner AFR than the standard PPP map, which could lead to problems with the increased air flow of the STI panel filter.

Mike Wood would know, but I doubt he would be in a position to comment.

Here's the link to the thread:

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=507810

BTW, John Burns got 12bhp from one of these as well. Not bad for

[Chris B]

One of the early issues of scooby mag did a panel filter test and the STI panel filter was shown to drop the bhp by 6bhp, and on the very first rr at norwich my car,then in standard form except for a STI filter only made 304bhp,the average being 310-312bhp,when you look at the STI item it has a thin metal plate over the paper filter and I would think this would cause a reduction in the air flow over the standard item....food for thought.

[Anders_WR1]

Chris,

I hear what your saying about the grill, but wouldn't the density of the paper filter be the main factor? Lots of panel filters I've seen have a wire mesh grill.

I've been doing a lot of reading on these filters and all I can find is contradiction after contradiction. John Burns on ScoobyNet swears blind that his STI panel filter gained him 12bhp (dyno before and after on same day), but he does run a Spec C, which could perhaps benefit more from it with the more aggressive cam profiles.

Harvey said he had good results with them until around 350bhp and ScoobyNet did their own testing on a K&N panel filter and gained 8bhp without mapping, but this was on a Spec C. Then you read a magazine article that blows all that out of the water...

Surely STI have done testing on their own filter and have proved it flows better? Perhaps you need to remap the car to gain the benefit from them?

I see Bob Rawle posts on here as well. Perhaps Bob could shed some light on whether he finds uprated panel filters give better performance.

Anders

[marky mark]

They will make practically no difference maybe a handful of BHP.

Ignore any Dyno comparisons - even on the same dyno on the same day - RR's are simply not accurate enough for measuring such minor changes. You need a engine dyno for that.

At my place of work, we only use a RR for noise/emissions testing etc. All power development is done in climate controlled cells on a proper engine out dynos. We have tried on the RR's but its a waste of time.

[Anders_WR1]

Mark, don't think I'll bother with the STI panel filter. If it's only worth 5 or 6 bhp, I'd rather keep the standard filter and have the better filtration.

I'm going to fit a GP Moto intake elbow and dump the standard resonator box to increase the induction noise / re-circ dump valve noise:

http://www.nucleusnetworks.co.uk/scooby ... emover.jpg

What I will do though, is swap the filter every 15K instead of 30K. I noticed a big difference after the 30K service and I guess this would be the air filter change. I think they only cost about