cisjga

Hi all,

Just thought I would share my experience with the Pipercross drop in foam filter. I am going to go through both good and bad.
I have an LPG conversion on my 6sp manual 2005 and I tune the LPG myself from time to time. As LPG is brought into combustion in vapour form, the amount of air that we get through our intake is very important on the tune and it varies for hot and cold weather etc. i.e. LPG is sensitive when it comes to the amount of oxygen available at combustion.
I had an OEM paper filter to begin with when I got the 8 about 3 years ago and in Summer I would lose lots of power only with LPG, not with petrol. I took the filter out last year and it was pretty dirty so I thought I would opt for the Pipercross. When I installed the Pipercross I was amazed at how much better the car ran on LPG, it was a night and day difference, no need for a Dyno and certainly no placebo effect. 2 Weeks ago with summer coming on in Greece and the weather getting warmer, I felt a slight power loss with LPG so I decided to give the filter a clean and recharge etc. When I took the filter out it was sagging, not torn or anything major and I immediately emailed pipercross and they told me that it is normal for the filter to expand and give a sagging look and was advised to clean it and not to worry. I ordered the cleaning and re oiling kit and a standard new paper filter (not OEM) just for the day or 2 that the pipercross will be out of the car. What can I say, I put the new paper filter in and the car felt like it gained 200 kilos of extra weight. I also tried the old OEM filter I had and it was exactly a poor performer as the new paper filter. Put the cleaned and re-oiled Piper in today and the car flies, it is eager and doesn't feel restricted at all, where both the paper filters were clearly holding it back lots.

The good:

Definitely lets in a lot more air over paper. They claim 30% more, I believe them.
The jerkiness that we get at very low rpm in 1st and 2nd gear going very slow is greatly reduced to almost non existent.

The bad:

Expands and gives a sagging effect on the foam.
The first screen before the maf had very fine black dust on it, the second screen was spotless and the MAF and intake tract were spotless except for oil which is the feed that is coming in from the engine going to the throttle body

So IMHO, the filter is great, not sure if it is letting in very fine particulate or not, I've had no problems and see myself never going back to paper.

Just thought I would share my experience with it..

Cheers,

John.