Technical K&N air filter

[capristeve]

this is just a question to all x19 drivers

has anybody found fitting a K&N air filter improves the whole carb overheating
problem,

as i'm assuming fitting this conversion does away with the need for the carb cooling fan

if so this could be £50 well spent !!

thanks

steve

 

[sledgehammer]

I have found that even when the carb cooling fan worked it was of little or no use at all.
I have owned a couple of X1/9's and the early X I owned in my twenties was terrible to start when hot, I regularly heard the fan cut in but it made no difference.
You would be better off going for a electric fuel pump and electronic ignition, in my opinion.
K and N air filters sound good...thats about it.

 

[capristeve]

mine is an 88 model, already have an electronic ignition...

might get the filter to see if it makes any difference

 

[qsjustin]

I have K and N, Lumemition ignition, electric fuel pump and regulator. Car starts first time every time whether hot or cold and ticks over nearly as smoothly as a modern fuel injected engine. K and N sounds nice but I think the improvement comes from pump and ignition.

 

[jimbro1000]

The original filter housing acts as a reverse heat sink when the engine stops, it collects hot rising air from the engine and soaks it up, heating the carb as it goes.

The (much) smaller K&N filter doesn't seem to do the same and the carb definitely runs cooler as a result.

Fitting electronic ignition is never going to get away from the whole fuel vaporisation problem, it just helps to get the car running on a weak mixture.
An electric fuel pump also goes a long way to helping as the fuel line can suffer too but you tend to find the engine starts but stalls after about 15 seconds in that scenario.

Fitting all three is definitely the way to go - better starting and running and a touch more power are always worthwhile