As the title says,

Do they really make that much of a difference other than a different sound?

As I see it - they allow more air into the engine, but surely the ECU will automatically alter the amount of fuel that is mixed so the car will be running with the same power??

Anyone?

C

 

Lots of tech speak could ensue here..... be warned

Your ECU wont change a thing unless you have it remapped for the additional intake of air. That doesn't mean you wont see some gains from fitting a decent IK, but don't expect to be able to notice it!

Best argument for an IK, if your not developing other areas of the engine, is the noise. Lovely.

 

In a word no.

But when running a FMIC, you usually need to convert due to the pipework getting in the way.

Some folk run the direct cold air feeds from the inner wing on the drivers side. I believe this is what the current owner of my old Scoobaru has done, and he's experienced overboost due to the fresher cooler air and lack of remap.

Unless running daft power, I personally would stick to a decent cotton air filter for the reasons above and the possibility of heat soak, something the air filter box protects the filter from.

All imho, and no doubt they'll be conflicting opinions.

 

I fitted a powertec to My Classic and lost loads of boost - HKS panel filter went in and airbox back on - really upset as the noise was fricking great.
However - I have now removed the resonator box in the wing and put cold feed with a steel gauze and get a nice rasp - not as loud as the IK though.

 

What are those cosworth panel filters supposed to be like,any good?or a waste of money.What would use recommend?

 

std for me

 

I can second that!!
I put a powertec on my classic about a month ago and with the hotter weather theres been up in nornally chilly scotland made my classic feel about 20bhp down. Back to the stock airbox and green panel filter an normal service has been resumed!!

 

ive just taken my k&n off it was the one that got rid of the resi box the full induction kit , now im back to standard airbox with itg panel filter.

for me it feels less torky now !

doesnt pull as hard !

 

just come across this for the std air box best of both words here
Blitz Induction Cover with LM Panel Filter | Sumo Power | Subaru | IMPREZA GC8 : 92/10 - 96/08 | The UK's Number 1 for japanese performance parts

 

w13dle I like Blitz products they always look good.
My classic has got an Apexi induction pipe and a Blitz LM Sus Power element that were on the car when I bought it. I think it looks really good and I've had no problems with past cars that have had induction kits on them although I can't help thinking that the Subaru would work a hell of alot better with a re-map.

 

so boys and girls, what is better an ik or panel? and which make for that matter?

 

Depends what purpose as per my original reply.

 

I think w13dle above had it with the Blitz "best of both worlds" panel filter.

 

Id say panel (sadly cos I like the IK noise).
Seems to get a Ik to work really well you need to almost house it like the standard air box...???
What that panel cover all about then???? any one???

 

so "blitz of both worlds"

 

just been checking out that sumopower.com, some pretty decent stuff

 

Some Induction Kits are renowned for killing your MAF ... be warned.

I always think that if it was as easy as Induction changes to extract more power for no downside, Subaru would have done it years ago.

 

With a re-map .... Yes

Without a re-map .... No

Simples

 

From tests I know that on a CLASSIC, it is best to stay with the O/E air box to 340-350 bhp and I would guess on a New Age it is a little more before a move to a cone is worth doing.
I also did comprehensive tests and repeated them the next day as I was surprised by the results. Four pannel filters were assessed. The power spread was 1.7 bhp. The one that flowed most air was a sponge type (HKS) but it also let through particles the size of a grain of sand. Not good for engine longveity. The K+N and O/E Subaru pannel performed identically both times and had good filtraton. The O/E would need replacing at regular intervals subject to conditions. The K+N is reusable with a cleaning kit and may go longer between services. "Worst performer" ie 1.7 bhp behind the HKS was the STi disposable. It had the best filtration but at over £60 each was notgood value for money.
On cars that will be kept for a time I standardise on K+N.

Removing the snorkle or resonator box in the inner wing dropped power from 335.5 bhp to 327 bhp. As the ECU was not mappable on the car in question I have no means of knowing if mapping would have made an improvement. Probably not.
Had I fitted a link pipe with the snorkle removal and had the facility to remap the ECU I suspect there would have been a very small gain but probably not enough to warrant the cost of a link pipe AND remap.

When going to a cone above these power levels it is worth paying attention to cold air feed which is where many people take a step backwards, particularly at or below borderline switches to a cone in place of the O/E pannel and I have seen cars produce less power on switching to a cone in the wrong circumstances.

While I have gained power on a BMW from an O/E pannel filter change to a K+N and it was measurable, I think any pannel filter manufacturer that claims to add more than a handfull of BHP to a Subaru from a pannel filter change is telling lies and belongs in the same bracket as those BOV vendors that make claims of more power. Dishonest.

 

thats very interesting, you obviously know your stuff. i have recently bought my first scooby, and lagging in tech know how. mine is the bug eye 2.0 awd (not a turbo unfortuinatley) so ANY gain in power is must for me.