No not likely but it could happen. That one and the triangle Edelbrock ones in my book should be banned. In the even of a backfire through the carburetor the filter may burn. I see only bad things happening after that. Either the engine stays running and sucks little pieces of the recently burned filter into the engine or the smoldering air cleaner now ignites something else like say a fiberglass hood. Maybe I'm over reacting but you'll never see one on my car. I have seen the Eddy one go up in flames.

 

i have that top part of the filter on my car and have never had any problem, but then again i have never backfired through the carb either. Well once when i put the cap on the distributor backwards, but the filter was off so that doesn't count. im sure it doesn't help out a whole bunch unless you are drawing most of your air through a cowl hood for example. If my motor had a history of backfiring i wouldn't run one either.

 

Not to be putting down your idea, but don't expect better fuel mileage by using a K&N filter. A clean and properly sized paper filter will flow just as well as the K&N, and get the same fuel economy and performance. The only economical thing is that the filter will last for the life of the car.
You are driving the wrong car if you expect fuel economy. lol

 

That's actually very useful to know! It's not such a urgency then

No, don't expect MPG - it's merely a financial matter. If 50 $ can save me 250 $ a year, then it's a go