So the other day i was drivin to my girlfriends place. I have a CAI and K&N filter 3 ". I hit a bump and heard a thud under the car and looked outta my rearview mirror and saw some small black thing bouncin on the road. i kept drivin for a sec ond and then thought "what if that's my filter. i turned around and stopped, popped the hood and sure enough my filter was gone. i could already tell by the huge performance increase after it fell off. i saw my battery fell off the rest, didn/t have it strapped down but do now, and the clamp on the fitler must not have been secured tight enough. i now have two clamps on each component, have it mounted with zip ties to prevent slippage, and secured the batteryu with a bungee cord tie down until i get a fancy ass battery. what a day. btw, i live at fort polk louisiana, but will be in new orleans may 9 - 12, then in VA near DC until June 1st where i'll be in germany for 2 years. can't wait to post, i used to be 2001 black tib but something was wrong with it and i couldn't post so eh o well

i wouldn't want to drive around too long without a filter :huh:

why didn't you have your battery bolted down?
you felt a huge performance increase when your filter fell off?

Your filter filters the air for any things that should not get into the engine (anything besides air that is). Offcourse the filter also restrains the air going into the engine because of the filtering.

So yes driving without a filter on your CAI will give you more power (I don't know if a dyno can measure it) but I wouldn't advise it, if something get sucked into the engine it's bye bye.

btw. I lost my filter just like you did, I only stopped a bit later, drove back after that and it was gone already. Probably some lame ass *sshole took it.

yeah i know its reaaaaaaly bad to drive w/out a filter. but i wasn't gonna walk a mile or two down the road in the grass. i could scan better for it. yeah throttle response was a bit quicker, and the roar was much louder, it was noticable, but would never really be worth it even on a dyno, too dangerous.

It's also dependend on how your filter is positioned. If it's high near the engine the change of getting something in is not that big. Still, the sound/perf doesn't add up to the fact that if you're a unlucky person and something got in (trust me, it will tongue.gif) then you're screwed.

Mine's very low for catching cold air. Although I like fluids (beer for example) I don't like getting hydrolock laugh.gif

Welcome to the forums man.

I've found that new CAI's need to have the silicone connectors wiped down with some rubbing alcohol and really dried well before you install them. I had a problem for 3 months with my AEM coming off of the MAF all the time. I finally had at it with the rubbing alcohol and roughed up the connector at that area a bit, then tightened it down with a socket/ratchet.

Not one more problem since.

I actually drilled a little hole in the filter and attached a wire and connected it to a bolt somewhere.

I've lost one already, I'm not about to lose another :angry:

i was thinking about doing just that. probably take it to the craft shop on post here next week, and drill in the intake and filter, on both sides, and connect a nice screw with a nut, and washer, on both ends. i doubt it will happen again then. if it hadne't fallen off during the afternoon and on that section of the road, i woulda been SOL. i think i'll connect a wire to a bolt too, as well as roughen it up some