I had an interesting conversation with my neighbor yesterday. I said his pos import wouldn't benefit from a high flow fuel filter on the stock fuel system. He argues that it would reduce strain on the fuel pump and improve overall fuel system function. I think any benefits would be extremely minimal. If anyone could shed some light on this it would be greatly appreciated.

 

if it were a pull pump it would but we have a pusher pump so no matter what its pumping against the pressure in your system. usually about 40 psi. the hardest thing on a pusher pump is heat, if you run the gas tank low so pump is not under/covered by the fuel to cool it.

 

You could also tell him high flow = less restrictive which means, bigger contaminants can make their way to the injectors and it doesn't take a very big piece of dirt to ruin an injector. Unless his import his pushing some God aweful HP, I don't see the benefit of it. He'd probably see more benefit from putting a fuel cooler on the car instead of a high flow filter.

 

I've been trying to find micron ratings for various filters both off the shelf and performance filters. Unfortunately that information isn't exactly front and center in the information on the filters. I did the online chat with k&n today about one of their direct fit filters, needless to say the person was less than helpful:

[J-Factor] What is the micron rating for the pf-2100 fuel filter.

[Drue] We do not provide the micron rating since this is proprietary information.The oil filer is 99% efficient against harmful contaminents that can harma motor.

[J-Factor] That information is readily available for the racing filters as well as the replacement filter elements. What's the difference?

[Drue] This fuel filter is built to meet or surpass the OEM specifications and we cannot provide any further information at this time.

This info was clearly useless and a waste of time, I'll see if I can get any other manufacturers to give me any numbers over the next few days while I'm off work.

 

Saying it's 99% efficient doesn't really mean much. It could be 99% efficient against 10 microns or 99% efficient against 1 micron. He didn't happen to mention who makes his high flow filter?

 

the words sound carefully stated to protect them from liability. a stock filter will flow enough to support a few more hundred hp than it does. if you want to increase fuel use you can get injectors that will. if you are running 1200 hp then you will need a higher flowing filter.

 

That exchange was actually with a rep from k&n. I did since trip across a high flow filter from canton racing that claims 1 micron. I'm having extreme difficulty getting micron ratings for any regular off the shelf filters. I can't help but wonder if they're all just hiding crap ratings.

 

Filters you find at an auto parts store will either meet or exceed OEM specs for flow, micron filtration, and capacity.

 

the one in my car was there for 20 years ,an my pump never failed only the check valve before engine swap then the pump went after swap couse no return to high pressure now with my swap low volume pump . gas economy was fine for the lt1,most people never replace the under car filter ,,I allways used 93 octane the book recommends minimum 91 rateing too on a 95 z28 don't know about v6,you can buy the most exspencive filter wont make any difference ,it says you may use lower octane but that the performance may not be as good ,93 octane I use in everything except the 05 sable ,like I use a booster brings it up to 94 octane ,though my engine is built to be able to put raceing fuel ,I want to find a station that has it to get it up to 100 when I want to get busy mixing a few gallons with 93,an for near 2000 miles on the engine plugs are fine ,

 

It would be nice to have some hard data instead of having to rely on the rhetoric from the filter manufacturers. Like with any type of filter there are going to be differences in quality and filter media between brands/models that affect flow and filtration. Not that it would make any major difference but it would be nice to know which one has the best specs though I suspect it's wix or delco as far as in store availability. I'm seriously considering trying the canton racing filter, I've got some extra cash coming in next paycheck so I would be spending the cash out of my fun money anyway. If it works well great, if not, then well at least it didn't come out of my bill money, but at 1 micron filtration and better flow than stock I think it's worth a shot at keeping the engine cleaner.

You're omitting variables like annual mileage. Of course the less you drive the longer the filter is going to last. I drive my v6 400+ miles per week on the recommended 87 octane so of course the filter's going to accumulate some crud and need to be replaced. In your case trying to find the higher octane I recommend doing some research on e85. I know it's been dyno proven that a FI car with a e85 tune produces a healthy hp gain, na cars do see some but nowhere near as much.