26 replies to this topic

[ministage4]

well at the moment .. its not a big deal ... its damp and raining most of the time ... so no duse and stones and that cant reach to were it sits to be honest , when it starts to dry up ill get a k&n or a pipercross but yeah

[Wil_h]

I think we need some reality on this thread.

Yes, running without a filter will likely cause premature engine wear. But how premature is the big question. Personally I think it is not as big a factor as has been portrayed in this thread. I have no more evidence than anyone else, but eliminating any catastrophic failure caused by a very larg particle (unlikely in a mini where the carb is) my guess is that an engine that is predicted to last 100,000 miles may have issues at ay 80,000 miles.

I'd always run a filter mind.

[Ethel]

A good filter, and housing can improve perfomance - certainly over a bare carb.

I note from your other topic that it has an electric fuel pump, this could be messing with your fuelling - SU's run a couple of PSI less pressure than Webers etc. and after market leccy pumps are often set up for the latter.

[Cooperman]

It's strange the way fashions and opinions change as time goes by.
In the 60's and 70's it was often the case that tuners of all sorts of cars ran long ram pipes with either no filtering or, at best, a piece of wire mesh at the very ends. On the ordinary roads this did not seem to have much effect on engine life. Now it's considered really bad.
I use K & N filters, but even when I wash them I don't really notice any large bits of grit coming out, even after a forest rally, more dust than anything.
Obviously it's safer and kinder to the engine to run with filters, but it's not necessarily the end of the engine if you don't. If you drove in heavy grit and dust a lot, that would be another matter.

[adam_93rio]

i agree with what cooperman has said about the trends changing, it could be due to more information and statistics about what damage could be caused. but it seems with everything, the more careful you are the more things seem to go wrong- sods law.

i would never run a car without an airfilter except if needed whilst tuning etc. i had a mis-hap with a cone air filter where the securing bolt snapped and wedged the butterfly open on the motorway. i felt bad enough driving home witout it on then and it was only an hour and a half drive. probably did no other damage, but i wouldnt recomend it

[Cooperman]

I remember one of the 'works' Minis being disqualified from an International Rally because the filter elements were not fitted, just the big filter box, so they weren't too bothered.
Actually the position of the air intake on the Mini makes it safe to run without filters than, say, an Escort Mk.1 or Sprite.
I have rn without filters on a 998 Cooper I had on a sprint event, but never on a rally.

[jeroendewil]

hello

i have a minisport cone air filter on my mini . the filter that comes with the stage 1 kit ?

Is this filter worth aything or just rubish?

[bcjames]

I've got the standard airbox on my MPi, and just fitted a K&N element into it, replacing the paper filter. Theres an awful lot of dust and a few bugs in that paper filter, don't think I'd fancy that dropping straight in to my engine.

[liirge]

intriguing story, We had a Massey Ferguson Tractor, that was used intensively for 2 months of the year, and then the rest of the year it did occasional work maybe once a month. Over 3 years it turned into a smoking powerless mess.....reason:
The hose from the air cleaner to the intake manifold had split allowing unfiltered air in...upon head removal the bores where completely polished and needed to be re-lined....moral of the story, we now check these hoses upon startup of any of the tractors!

[mikey72]

My first car, (back in the 80's) had twin strombergs with short ram pipes, with a coarse wire mesh. We all took the air filters off. Even had a beetle engined car, with a nikki carb with a ram pipe pointing straight up out of the back of it.

[chadders15]

All the banger boys run them with 2 pairs of tights on but they dont last long!
NEVER run with no filter you will get all sorts in you combustion chambers!

[Bungle]

what under their race suites ?