The title says it all: I ordered an Amsoil air filter from Larry Ganz a couple of weeks ago and it arrived this afternoon. (Thank you, Larry.) Is it a straightforward swap? It came pre-oiled to the max; do I need to wash it and re-oil it? And what about resetting the ECU after installing; is that necessary? Some folks out here seem to think that's important.

Sorry for all the questions,
Ed

[This message has been edited by lark6 (edited May 17, 2001).]

Howdy Ed,
Yes you should (but don't have to) do a ECU reset after installing the filter. Our cars will "slowly" re-learn/calibrate to the increased airflow, but doing the reset will make it more noticeable right away. As far as it being a straight swap, I'm not too sure about that. I do know that when I swapped out mine for a K&N it was straight across so I think it would be the same for the Amsoil. I've have heard that they do come super oiled..might want to let it drip off some or blot some of it with a clean papertowel?
~ferretboy signing out.

Thanks, ferretboy. Now I'm off to search the boards for the proper ECU reset procedure.

BTW, I visited Rallispec last Saturday afternoon hoping to catch a glimpse of your exhaust system but (yes) it had shipped. The guy I met (Dave?) was very friendly and straightforward about what would and wouldn't work on my car. He fired up his RS to let me hear the exhaust note, which I found was too loud for my liking. Maybe with a resonator it'd work. Stromung's too loud for me too, so perhaps cobbling something up out of the JDM STi catalog or from the UK's Prodrive WRSport line would be my solution.

I'll follow up back here with the results of my install.

Thanks again,
Ed

Just my $00.02.

When I installed my K&N, it required loosening the intake tube to the secondary air box just to get the primary airbox to close properly. Anyone else have this problem? (Or do youguys only have the one airbox by the throttle body? My 4E* is a '99 with the MAS)

My '01 has just one airbox(plenum) and I think that might have had to unbolt one of the screws that held the box in place to make it easier to slide down into place..then push it into the box and seat it, but that was about it. Ed, just make sure you have the filter properly seated and that there are no leaks or gaps where the two halves of the box fit together. As far as your ECU reset (http://www.mrtrally.com.au/performance/howresetecu.htm) click and follow these steps.
~ferretboy

[This message has been edited by ferretboy (edited May 18, 2001).]

FP,

'00 and '01 have just the single plenum. I will follow the owner's manual instructions for replacing the filter. Again, will let you all know how it works out.

Ed

Ed,

I replied to your question over at Edmund's but just in case you didn't get it:

You should blot out the extra oil on the Amsoil filter. I made the mistake of not doing that with my 98 Forester and ended up with quite a bit of excess oil on the inside of the airbox. Use paper towels or old newspaper. Also, letting it sit out overnight also helps to dry it out a bit.

As for the ECU reset, I don't think it's necessary for the air filter replacement. Again, your ECU is continually "learning". Resetting it simply speeds up the process. You'll want to reset the ECU for bigger changes like an intake.

If you do want to reset the ECU, the sure-fire method is the battery disconnect method:

1. With your engine cold, disconnect the negative battery terminal
2. Leave your Forester like that for about 30minutes
3. Reconnect the terminal. Have your alarm keychain ready because the alarm horn will go off as soon as you reconnect. If you don't like loud noises, stuff a towel in the alarm horn before you do this step.
4. Start the engine and let it idle until the cooling fans start going off (about 15 minutes).
5. Drive at various RPMs and throttle positions. Bounce her off the rev limiter a couple times. http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/smile.gif

You'll get poor gas milage for the next 1-2 tanks since the ECU reset will cause your engine to run rich until it learns the optimal settings.

I haven't tried the connector method that ferretboy posted, but I've never had the fuse method work for me.

Ken

Thanks, Ken. I saw your post over at Edmund's but I appreciate the level of detail you've provided here.

Again, I will check in with a report once I've done the install.

Ed

As promised, the report on the install.

I did it yesterday morning and it took me about 30 minutes because the filter wasn't a perfect fit. In fact, I had to trim about 1/4" off one side in order to get the plenum box to close properly and without gaps. I followed Ken's procedure and after resetting the ECU and letting the car run at idle I took off on my morning errands.

I've put almost 100 miles on it both yesterday and today, combination of about 50:50 city/highway. Here's what I've noticed:

1. The intake is very loud at WOT or any time I punch the accelerator. If I accelerate gradually there's no really perceptible difference in sound.

2. Butt dyno hasn't noticed any significant gains, but then I've got a big butt so it might take some doing.

3. As Ken predicted my fuel economy is much worse than usual. I've burned 1/2 tank in the 100 miles I've driven. Then again I did take it up to the century mark for only the second time ever http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/biggrin.gif .

4. In one short stretch (approx. 1/2 mile) of a not-too-steep uphill grade, I heard pinging for the first time ever. This bothered me somewhat in that I didn't hear it before I did the install and I didn't add any different gasoline after the install. I hope this is just part of the ECU relearning process.

In sum, the jury's still out on this one. I'll give it a couple of tankfuls and see how it goes then.

Ed



[This message has been edited by lark6 (edited May 20, 2001).]

Give it some time for your ECU to figure things out. My mileage drops whenever I reset my ECU but after the first tank it averages out and I start getting better mileage again but with the added performance.

And my amsoil filter for my outback came very heavily oiled. I blotted it with paper towels and let it sit overnight.