Dear racer,

Do you wash your air filter? The instruction from GQ filter advice not to wash it, but it said it can be use for one or two hour. I don't think in a normal unprepare track, the filter can last so long.

I do wash my filter but my piston suffer from severe scrach after about 4 gallon of fuel. I'm rebuiding this engine and wonder should I wash the filter in the future, please advice. Thank you.

Simple answer for you - NO.

And you can also do the math....2 foam filter = $7.00, 1 new engine = $200 and up.....or 1 new set of piston/sleeve $120 and up.

I agree with Rookie Solara. Never wash and re-use an air filter. It is an engine killer. I sometimes go through 2 filters in a race meet and make sure they are well oiled.

so your saying to trash the filter after it gets dirty?
I wont do more than 3 runs before changing the filter,
that could add up to $200 rather quickly..

WoW...... this is news to me..... Not to wash the filters and reuse ??

there a lot of tips who say to wash with liquid soap and dry then re oil and re use !!

ZiiZo

It depends on how much you care about your engine. I used to listen to these tips but i got sick of premature wear and paying for pistons and liners.
When washing, yes you get rid of some of the dirt but you will also dislodge the dirt trapped on the outside into the inside and when you fire up, all this has no place to go but through the carby.

I can see where it might make sense to do it with a $400 engine, but if your running a $150 engine it doesnt seem cost effective.

you said you can go through 2 filters at one meet.. must be a pretty clean environment..

also I feel sorry for guys running offroad....

what a crock! "Depending" on the type of air filter your useing there is nothing wrong with washing out the filter element with dish soap. as it breaks down the oil and helps realese the trapped dirt. yes it is nearly impossible to remove 100% of the dirt, but it's better the dropping 8 - 15$ on a new filter everytime it gets a lil dirty. if you want to be sure you get as much dirt out as possible give the foam a blast with the aircompressor at about 20 - 30 psi while it's still wet should dislodge whatever is still in there and if that can't blast it out then there is no way your engine is going to pull it in either.

And for the record I have a picco 26 with over 13 gallons on it with thosoe el cheepo ofna buggy filters, ya know the ones you can get for around 5$. I have about 4 extra foams for it I simply wash them out reoil and reuse them. no problems at all, and I run in some fairly dusty conditions both on the track and off since it is in a monster truck.

i have to say i totally agree. cleaning the airfilter is ok.

Good luck to you buddy. If i was running a Picco engine, i wouldn't worry about an airfilter at all.

Now my friend, should I wash it
In my track condition, a new filter can last for an hour of use, but we seldom run that long in a Sunday game, may be 4 to 6 tanks. Now If I don't wash it for the next Sunday, it seems to choke up very fast. That means every filter per week, quite costly....but well, it seems this is the nature of the game.

experience it yourself as there are different opinions. you will know the answer sooner or later.

I am not on either side of the debate but I dont recycle a foam filter.

From what I know...there is a K&N filter, that is servicalbe, that one you can be re-oil, wash and redo it whatever the way you like....MAKE SURE you get the BLACK RUBBER (RU3230) head air filter.....not the CROMN head filter......that CROMN headed one (62-1340 that a lot of LHS and ebay are selling for RC used air filter) is NOT an air filter...it looks better, but that is a CRANKCAST VENTILATION flter for the real car or motor cycle....

About the foam air filter that most RC ppl use.........again, (FOR ME) I will use it for 2 weekend of racing....3 qualifiers and 1 main for 15 or 30 minutes, x2 week...............$7 for 2 filters, that is like $7 for a full month of weekend racing..........I don't see anyone will tell me that is a WASTE or cannot afford that.....even for a $100 made in taiwan engine, I would still keep that 2 weekend racing 1 air filter schedule....not to mention, a lot of ppl have no problem to spend $200 plus on a 3 port engine, but I cannot believe those ppl will have problem to spend $3.5 for a new air filter....

The concept behind the foam filter and oil is it will trap all the dirt / dust into the filter and still let the air flow thru so the carb still be able to suck in clean air without sucking in the dust/dirt........when you are washing it, espeiclaly when you are squeezing and rubbing the foam, you are pushing all the dirt toward the center (inside) of the filter....and you THINK you can pushing them out of the filter...except, you cannot garantee that is always true. Then you put the filter back in the carb, the dirt, might be just hanging at the edge at the center of the fitler, and once the engine started, it will all get sucked in into the carb....

About ppl saying their filter is reuse and never have problem....I BELIEVE that.....but for myself, I would not save my $3.50 and take my chance on my $200 plus motor........when someone said he will use up to 2 filter for 1 day of racing....it is totally personal prefrence........some ppl use a new set of foam tires for each qualifier......there is nothing wrong with it.

If you still don't know what to do with the filter, ask LHS, then local track ppl..........and gather all the information, and make your own decision.....

Again, $3.50 for 2 Sunday racing with worrying and cleanign or whatever.........can you afford that?

Glad you mentioned the "NATURE of the game".....when you ran out of tires, you buy new tires, when you ran out of fuel, you buy new fuel...........so does shock oils and stuff.

I bet corn oil are a lot cheaper then shock oils, and I bet gasoline is a lot cheaper then NITRO.........can you substitute those with the correct RC products..?

so when you race the filter in the second weekend, what maintenance do you perform on in?