Pod Filters-Do they work?

[Mattrt142]

Hey guys does anyone know if pod filter do anything noticable?
I am thinkin of gettin one for my corona mainly for the induction noise.
Apparentally the stock air box set up is restrictive but by puttin a pod on then it would pick up the hot engine bay air...

[Rolla Boy]

Pod filters will pick up hot air and do nothing performance wise... All they do is give you sound...

Maybe get a K&N Panel Air Filter in the stock airbox, but replace the stock tube to the airbox intake with a pipe from the front bar to suck in cold air...

You will have more throttle response plus induction noise...

[Draven]

depends on how good the stock intake system is as to whether you'd see a benefit.
eg: if you put a pod on an EVO you'd probably *lose* power, but on your old rona you'd probably gain some power (and teh c00l induction noise)... of course chopping in a CAI and a drop-in K&N panel filter would probably get you more benefits.
but on that old engine none of it's going to really make a difference

[Noofa]

yeh you will get noise, no you will not get any performance increase. the placebo effect will work with this product. it is good for a not so modded car as the power loss is not all that noticeable but the sound is cool.

im not a ricer, but i guess i like this non performance oriented mod.

everything changes when you get a cold ai intake - a pipe to the front bumper with the pod on the end. this gets cold air and good noise slight power increase.

[Mattrt142]

What about an inverted pod with piping from the end down to the front bumper.

[mullett]

It all depends on the stock intake system, the stock filtering/airflow, how good the pod is, and most importantly...where you put it! You can get really good airflow to a pod with a nice heatsheild behind a headlight, depending on your car, and ducting cold air up to it isn't hard at all. The ultimate answer I guess is a pod in a box getting stuffed with cold air...but that's not a whole lot different to a really good panel filter, except that the air-flow might be more direct. On a side note, I read that turbo motors are much less sensitive to where the filter is, because most of the variations are governed by the intercooler rather than the actual intake. I guess that opens a whole new can of worms...

RM.

[Hydra]

I think it comes down to how it is mounted in the engine bay (or outside of it!!)

If the pod is boxed and has a cold air feed then it should perform as well as the stock airbox does... unless you have an awesome stock airbox I am considering swapping from the pod back to a stock airbox.

[120ymania]

It also comes down to if it is a crap pod filter or a more expensive one. Im not saying you have to spend hundreds of dollars, just not a $20 one from supercheap as they don't flow as well, but also make sure its not near a heat source or drawing hot air from the radiator, it needs to have a supply of fresh cooler air.

My opinion is if it is possible just put in a K&N replacement Panel filter and you'll find it will work wonders.

In some cases you can only install a pod.

Aaron

[mullett]

I've forgotten where I read it (was it the cordiapower forums?) but I saw a very good article on measuring intake restrictions using a bottle of water and some hose as a very sensitive vacuum gauge. Basically you plumb it in in different areas of your intake, and work out where the restrictions are being caused. I can go into it in more depth if anyone's interested, but it'd be best to find the article. I think in most cases it isn't the filter that causes most of the restriction, more likely the plumbing to and from. Anything you can do to get more air in is better, but heat (as we all know) is your enemy. Hahaha...just got reminded of the 'intercooler in NA intake' thread I read on pulsar.org.au Not sure if there was a similar one on toymods, but it seems to be something that crops up every now and then

RM.

[ra65]

I had a pod on my 22re in the celica and there was pretty much no difference in induction noise and it just made it run like shit. I have now swapped this for the stock airbox and a unifilter ($65 direct from unifilter).

[DTrain]

i put my airbox back on with a new panel filter and i feel more throttle response now - 40deg weather in brisbane and a pod is just asking for hot air to be sucked in. granted ive got a 2 1/4exhaust on my ae82 twinky and im kinda over the whole noise level

[Admiral coFF33]

here was my RA65 (22RE) box looking all mean with that tiny intake pipe facing that radiator support (ooh yeah)

i went and purchased a K&N filter for the inside of the box rather than using a stock shitter one then i replaced the intake pipe with this..


which lead down ...


to under here ....




i ended up getting some fine mesh (similar to what you find on security doors) to put over tthe pipe so no leaves and crap got up there and into the box .. also water was never an issue , i remember the amount of times i checked the pipe -> box section and there wasnt ever a drop

The cold intake did increse performance imo , i could feel the takeoffs got faster and the wheels got spinning.. which .. in the end of it all .. killed the car ...

*sigh* oh how i miss her

[Draven]

I had a pod on my 22re in the celica and there was pretty much no difference in induction noise and it just made it run like shit. I have now swapped this for the stock airbox and a unifilter ($65 direct from unifilter).

interesting.. the induction noise on my 22r-e with a k&n pod was awesome

[Starfire]

Does a pod filter work? Sure they do. They have a huge surface area to volume ratio which results in a low pressure drop across them while giving good to excellent filtration.

Does a pod filter that is just hanging somewhere in your engine bay work? Yeah you will still get filtered air. If youre really lucky the oil on it wont catch fire and the hot air from the engine bay won't do you much good anyway.

A properly boxed and ducted pod filter is perhaps the best setup you can go for as it has good filtration, low restriction and gets cold air in to the engine.

Will a pod filter make a difference on a stock(ish) engine? Maybe. It really depends on how good the stock filtration setup was. Most people who report a gain from fitting a pod are usually replacing a well neglected and clogged stock filter so the comparison isnt really valid - a new stock filter would probably have the same effect.

One of the big advantages of something like a k&n is that with proper maintenance it will last forever making the total cost of ownership quite reasonable and they certainly can't hurt performance (unless you have it sucking hot air from the engine bay).

[o_man_ra23]

I've forgotten where I read it (was it the cordiapower forums?) but I saw a very good article on measuring intake restrictions using a bottle of water and some hose as a very sensitive vacuum gauge. Basically you plumb it in in different areas of your intake, and work out where the restrictions are being caused. I can go into it in more depth if anyone's interested, but it'd be best to find the article.

If you want to find that article check out a book published by fast fours called 21st century performance... cause i remember reading that one in that book.

With the pod filter, i used one on my mate's RA60-22RE conversion, cause there wasnt a stock air box to use. Its sitting in the spot where the airbox normally would (where the battery in a RA60 normally sits) and seems to do an ok job. I do need to put in some heat sheilding, but ill wait till he gets me some thin alum. sheeting to do the job with. Ill certainly be doing something about the air intake when i chuck the 22RE into my RA40. Im totally in agreeance with starfire's explaination tho, it does certainly depend on the factory setup... and that of an RT142 wasnt exactly a tops setup... pretty crap would be a better description. Also, the pod filter helps to get rid of all that pollution crapola.


Cheers, Owen