I'm looking for any quick and easy gain in HP that I can get. The 140 just ain't cutting it. Since the K&N will run me $40, has anyone gotten noticeable gains? Also, does anyone have any experience with Wix filters (Napa's gold brand I think)? Pros and cons vs. the K&N?

 

wix makes good stuff, but its a normal paper filter. if you want a performance filter then you are naturally going to pay more. k&n is the best of the best if you ask me.

in these v6's the most you will see is better throttle response and maybe a little better fuel mileage.

 

Replacing your stock intake setup will be the only thing that'll made a difference. The place where air enters the filter can is such a small bottle neck that any filter outflows that hole.
http://thirdgenmods.firebirdv6.com/coldair.html
Something like this will get you a lil more hp and, as mentioned before, better response and fuel economy.

 

The cold air mod plus a Wix is cheaper and better in my experience, also you don't sacrifice filtration in the process as you would with a K&N. K&N's filter decently, but if you drive in dusty areas, dirt roads, and such, the difference is visibly noticable when you change the oil.

 

That's exactly what i got. I haven't tried a K&N but i have an APC filter (very cheap) and it was a noticeable improvement.

 

But you can clean / reuse the K&N (If I read correctly, the others are paper / throw away?

As for more power, blown or bottle

Raf

 

You can reuse K&N filters, but it requires a filter charger kit that is essentially a cleaning agent and some kind of oil. However, the filters do wear out as it's essentially cotton guaze sandwhiched between metal screens. After a while the cotton will begin to deteriorate.

 

Years ago a couple of my friends and I got together to make vaccum test for air filters, we tested K&N, AC delco, and wix, and out of all, K&N took less than 1/2 the vaccum power than a wix filter and even the AC delco did better than it too. I own a trucking company and use to use wix products in them until we did this test and since than I never will use their products again. In my opinion its just a cheap product.

Eric

 

As you increase filtration, you decrease airflow. Personally, I'd go for better protection for my engine over letting a bunch of crud in for marginal performance gains. Technically, you could just use a larger filter box than stock and use a lower flow filter and get the same results without sacrificing the filtration.