Found a different style Wix air filter.

[glockholiday]

I have an 88' Suburban with the TBI 350 and when I got it I noticed the air filter was the short 3.5" tall one. I remembered my K3500 from years ago with a 454 had the 5.5" tall air filter.

So I went searching junk yards and found the taller air box lid and have been running the 5.5" tall filter on my Suburban for a while now. I was just looking for a replacement filter on line because the 5.5" tall filters are hard to find on the shelf locally and I came across a Wix Heavy Duty wrapped version in case anyone is interested. Part #46166 It looks like a regular paper style with a foam outer wrap which should transfer from filter to filter. I'll post again once I get it. http://www.wixfilters.com/Lookup/PartDetails.aspx?Part=136287

https://www.amazon.com/WIX-Filters-...UTF8&qid=1481656575&sr=8-1&keywords=wix+46166

This AZ dust has always kept me on my toes when it comes to filtering air going into my offroad machines, hopefully this will help extend filter changes if I can remove and clean the foam layer.

 

[glockholiday]

Uh-oh! I was just looking into it more and Wix shows their 3.5" filter flows 225cfm and the 5.5" tall flows 360cfm and the 5.5" tall heavy duty wrapped flows 90cfm.

That can't be right, that's way too restrictive.

Donaldson has an engine air flow chart and they show a 350 pulling 90cfm at 900 rpm and 405cfm at 4000rpm.

 

[skysurfer]

There's something wrong with the numbers (or my comprehension) of all three filters. A stock 43mm throttle body flows 572 cfm (dry) and the 2" bbc unit is rated at 670 cfm, so in theory, none of those filters flow enough air. I'm wondering how they are tested for the rated cfm.

 

[glockholiday]

Yeah it all depends on their test procedures. I agree something is off. But now with all 3 of their correct flow ratings I'm satisfied that it'll be fine and they just have their own way of duct taping a fan to an old dryer vent and blowing it across each of their air filters. Haha, all jokes aside I like Wix and have always heard good things about them.

I did get a call back from them and they said the 46166 flows 300cfm which makes sense being that the unrestricted 5.5" tall one flows 360cfm.

It's on its way so I'll try it and report back.

 

[glockholiday]

Can't tell any difference while driving. Seems good, I'll probably replace it with the cheaper Fram when the time comes and wash and reuse the foam.

 

[bucket]

Can't tell any difference while driving. Seems good, I'll probably replace it with the cheaper Fram when the time comes and wash and reuse the foam.

They are cheaper for a reason. Look at the number of pleats in those two filters that are in your picture.

 

[glockholiday]

Yeah but they've always been good enough and now with the foam outer wrap I like my chances even more.

We'll see though, I'm still weighing the $10 vs $25 difference.

 

[bucket]

I'm just saying, the one that costs twice as much will last about 5 times longer. And it's nice if you end up spending a lot of time on gravel roads for any reason, you don't have to worry about the cheap filter plugging up.

 

[bucket]

Also, look at the buckled pleats on the orange filter. That's often from having the engine trying to suck more air than the filter can deliver.

 

[glockholiday]

I actually found that it's from the missing rubber gasket between the airbox lid and the base. So by me tightening the crap out of the wing nut it started to crush the filter before the lid seated.