the power core air filter and the regular one from fran or napa...also why is there so much bad press about K and N...ran them in $15,000 race motors and had no problems...just wondering what kind of expreiences you guys have had....thanks

 

Race motors don't need to run for several years and don't see the dust of everyday driving. Many hard core drag racers use no filter at all. I seen the difference myself when running a K&N in my old Mustang. All of my intake tubes were covered in dust.

 

Longevity definitely seems to be the key issue.

I had a Shaker hood on my Dodge Dakota. The scoop assembly/air box was built around one of K&N's FIPK kits for an earlier model Dodge Ram with the same 5.9L (360 cu in) motor. With the myriad of other mods that had been done to the motor, having the cold air induction provided by the Shaker scoop provided another nice boost in performance.

At about 5,000 miles after installation, I pulled the filter to clean it out, and found that the throttle body blades, bottom plate of the filter assembly, and the bottom of the intake manifold were all starting to get coated with a dark layer of fine dust. On certain areas (like ridges), the build up was definitely noticable. On flatter surfaces, the build up as not immediately noticable unless you ran your finger across the surface, and then you would end up with a clean streak & a dirty finger. So, I did my best to clean all of this off/out before putting everything back together.

At about 10,000 miles after installation, the bottom of the intake manifold was predominantly dark brown/black. At this point, I was definitely a bit more concerned. After doing some digging, I found out about K&N's Airforce Pre-Cleaner wraps. Not having anything to lose, I picked up one & got it installed around the air filter element.

The Airforce Pre-Cleaner seemed to help a bit, but I still found dust build up inside the air filter assembly & intake manifold every time I pulled the scoop assembly apart over the next four years.


Now, having said all of that, it is nearly impossible to quantify what that implications that would pose over the entire lifetime of the motor/truck. Going back to the stock setup would have been a possibility, but I would have lost the scoop...which meant losing my cold air intake and some horsepower. It was a classic catch 22....damned if I did, damned if I didn't. Thankfully, it is someone else's problem now!

 

The factory Donaldson Powercore air filter for the 6.0 is made with a synthetic blue media. Most of the aftermarket replacement filters are white, paper media. Donaldson also makes a paper media replacement air filter.

Regarding K&N, I would not consider one since the stock filter setup flows enough for 400 HP, probably more than that, and I'm far more concerned about clean air for the engine and turbo than possibly adding a few, very few, horsepower. I want my Diesel engine and turbo to last as long as possible and clean air is a part reaching of that goal.

 

So with all that has been said, That fine dust is sand blasting the turbo vanes. You know how that will turn out in time.

 

filterbuy.com has two diff filters listed for the 6.0 and they look different....it shows the powercore one and it looks more closed off where the other one is open like the stock on and they say both are direct replacments for the factory motorcraft number????????

 

Here's the direct replacement for the factory Donaldson Powercore synthetic media air filter, Motorcraft #FA1778:

www.dieselfiltersonline.com/Fa-1778-Motor-Craft-Fa1778-Ford-6-0-Liter-Turbo-Diesel-Air-Filter-F-Series-Excursion-Fa-1778.aspx

I believe the Motorcraft #FA1746 filter is white paper as are most other replacements.