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TR2/3/3A TR3A After Market Air Filters?

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PatGalvin

PatGalvin

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Hey Guys

I painted and oiled my gravel catcher air filters on my TR3A. But, I really doubt they do a great job of filtering air. And I don't look forward to cleaning and draining them frequently.
Can I get some recommendations for aftermarket air filters for the SUs? From satisfied users? I've seen some economical foam type filters from VB. And some K&Ns that seem to cost a pretty penny.

I'm trying not to spend hundreds of dollars on this purchase. Am sponsoring a wedding in August so all my pennies are going into the wedding fund these days.

Thanks

Pat
 
Pat - I never worried about my original filters on my TR. Just maintained them according to the manual, and they served me well.

You can always spend more money! But if your original mesh filters are in good condition, they're likely doing what they were designed to do.

Tom
 
I probably should not answer this as I use the more expensive K&N filters. Bought the last set on sale off of a special on line at Advanced Auto. You can pay less for the better products.
If you NEVER EVER plan to be on dirt roads or drive in sand storms then continue to use the cheaper stuff. We have seen cars with just open short stacks on them and they were still running last I saw. But the question is --Is that what you want to do with your car? After all a new engine rebuild is only costing about $3,000 now. HUMM compare that to $100 for air filters. What a bargain!!
Charley
 
For the TR3A I made some Koozies using sheets of foam cut into lengths and glued into circles:

ACKoozies_zps798b44d6.jpg


The foam was packing in a Harry & David fruit box though any fairly open foam should do. I find that I get the same idle with or without the foam on there so I believe it is not an excessive air flow restriction.

For the TR4 I sliced up a Shop-Vac filter - that produces nice rings with no gluing.

In any case, they should restrict some dust and can be easily pulled off for shows.
 
For economy and good filtration, it's hard to beat paper element filters. Unfortunately the TR4 paper element filters are hard to find, but the late 4A version fits well enough.
 
Randall, please tell me more about the TR4A paper air filters. Do they fit TR3A SU carbs? I see Moss lists TR4A air filters as p/n 950-740. Will those fit a TR3 SU carb? Do those come with the metal "casings" to be able to install them on a TR3A? Thanks!
Regards,
Bob
 
They do fit the carbs, although you'll need bolts to suit. On my car, the front filter hits against the inner fender though. Might be because I need new motor mounts.

Here's a very old photo of my previous TR3A. If you look closely, you can see where the front filter is bent slightly from hitting the inner fender. Please ignore the tacky looking "200 mph" tape, that was a leftover from a previous failed experiment (it covers holes I drilled into the air filters to mount the water injection nozzles). Oh yeah, I forgot, you'll need to rearrange the fuel lines slightly too.


 
Water injection...OMG...I had forgotten all about that! It was supposed to be the cure for low octane gas and increase mileage to boot. All I ever got from it was hydraulic lock when it continued to dribble water after the engine was shut down. Looking back I was lucky I never bent a rod or holed a piston using it...or did the oil companies buy up the patent because it saved so much fuel...I forget!?
 
No patent protection AFAIK; it is just too complicated and too "hands on" for most purposes. GM actually used it on some turbocharged cars back in the 60s, but things did not work out well. To really be effective takes a lot of water (or alcohol/water mix), and people were forever continuing to drive after they ran out of magic juice. The results were not pretty.

But the theory seems to be sound (except the better gas mileage part, that was mostly marketing hype). Here's a web site with some interesting reading
https://www.rbracing-rsr.com/waterinjection.html
 
Thanks to everyone for the responses. I'm going to check out the foam "cozies" and see if I can make those work for me. Will post any successes.

pat
 
I ordered these TR4 air filters off of eBay. They have shipped but I have not received them yet. Hopefully they will fit.
Regards,
Bob

351343630064_1.jpg
 
Geo, when I make the image of the filters full screen I can see the paper filter inside. I'll know for sure when I receive them in a few days.
Regards,
Bob
 
I received the TR4 air filters and they are paper. They are WIX p/n 42307. I have a problem on my TR3A with their size. I'll open another thread on that problem.
Regards,
Bob
 
I just ordered the ShopVac sponge covers ($5 on Amazon) for my gravel catchers and will advise once they arrive and I have them installed.
Pat
 
Pat, is your intention to use the foam instead of oiling the gravel catchers? Or are they for added dust filtering? Seems like would not need to oil them with the foam filters, and end up with better air flow.
Regards,
Bob
 
My plan was to just pull the foam filters over the gravel catcher and run. The foam would be dry and would filter air for the engine. I don't think I'd oil the gravel catcher any more (at least not with any frequency) if I'm running foam cozies on my stock filters. The ShopVac filters aren't made to be oiled, so I'll surely run them dry. Photos and an assessment to follow.

pat
 
PatGalvin said:
Hey Guys

I painted and oiled my gravel catcher air filters on my TR3A. But, I really doubt they do a great job of filtering air. And I don't look forward to cleaning and draining them frequently.


Pat
Click to expand...

After the running-in of my fully reconditioned engine (after 478 miles with Penrite running-in oil) I ordered an oil analysis, and the most striking result was very high contents of silicon, whose primary source is the induced dust across the air filters.

I always drove the car on paved roads around a city, even though this region is “dusty” due to very little rain all over the year.
So, perhaps there is some true reason to be worried about the effectiveness of the original filters.

BTW: the measured zinc and phosphor contents in this running-in oil are 942 ppm and 850 ppm respectively.

Jesus
 
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