TorchTarga94

Curious..

I have a 1994 LT1 that has an Opti converted to the vented 95'/96' style. I am curious how many of you are running k&n filters and if it has an effect on the optical sensor on the inside of the opti? I remember reading a thread posted by DynaSpark saying they may have stumbled upon a possible pattern of opti failures in these years due to owners over oiling the filter element and it getting sucked down the opti vacuum hose and coating the inside of the opti with a thin film of oil.

Just curious if there is any merit to this and if this has ever happened to anyone? Currently I am just running a purolator paper filter with the cut stock lid but may be picking up an SLP Claw intake (w/ k&n style filters) just for Aesthetics and possibly some more sound. Trying to avoid any possible problems. Might run AEM dry flow filters on the SLP claw just for piece of mind but wanted to check here first.

Silver96ce

Unless you have done serious mods to your engine, a cut lid and K&N filter will do nothing for performance. The claw looks good but again unless you want it for the aesthetics, it will bring nothing performance wise to the table.

My car had a K&N on it when I bought it. There was oil residue on the MAF screen and the MAF wire had dirty, blackened areas on it. I removed the K&N, put in a Purolator paper filter and cleaned the MAF as best I could. Maybe over oiling the filter could result in fouling the optical sensor in the distributor. It is food for thought.

I had problems with my opti but they weren't from the K&N. More importantly, I would make sure the venting system is flowing air and in the right direction. This I do in the spring and fall now as I found the restrictor orifice in the white/blue disc filter was clogged last year.

QCVette

I agree with Silver96ce that there is not much if any performance gain from the K&N.

To me it sounds very unlikely that oil from the filter could have anything to do with oil in the Optispark. The opti is vented to a vacuum source. In other words it is pulling air out of the opti and the flow is the wrong way to introduce oil contamination from the filter. My $.02

Edit:

The post below is interesting. I didn't know that. I stand corrected.

Silver96ce

Actually air flows from the intake snorkel to a nipple on the drivers side of the intake manifold. So it is possible for any excess oil from the K&N to be drawn through the opti vent system.

TorchTarga94

Thanks for the replies guys.

However, I am not after any performance gains. I know the K&N offers nothing in the way of performance and I am perfectly content with my paper filter. The question was about whether or not it would effect the optical sensor over time if it were to slowly get drawn through the opti vacuum vent system.

I am not picking up the SLP intake for performance reasons, just for aesthetic and sound (hopefully). I have an S&B intake on my truck and love the way it made my truck sound even with the stock exhaust. I am trying to achieve a similar sound on the Vette. If the k&n filters do indeed harm the opti sensor over time then I was planning on going with AEM dry flow conical filters for the slp claw to avoid any oil contanimation of the MAF & Opti. If the K&N is fine then I will just keep using the ones that come with the SLP. I know..."as long as you don't over oil you will have no problems." Okay fine, but just want some real world feed back from people who have been running a K&N for a long time on their LT1 with a vented opti. I have a lot of experience with K&N and have nothing bad to say about them coming from the motocross world. However, on cars its a different story for me, a lot more electronics and metering going on that can be effected by that lovely sticky red oil.


Thanks guys

aboatguy

My 95 has had a K and N filter on it from before I got it back in 2004 so far zero oil on optical sensor issues. I recently changed an OPTI but it was a mechanical Opti issue IE it had an internal failure after years of 7000+ rpm shifting

Mike

Tom400CFI

Both statements are true....but QCVette is right, it's incredibly unlikely that oil would make that arduous journey. Technically possible, but not likely at all.