Air Filtration System

[colonelcorn76]

I just got the Air Filtration System for my Baja Turbo. The retail is near $40 but I got it from autowebaccessories.com for $30.

I don't know who designed this but they were not Baja Owner Friendly. The filters are only good for 7500 miles or 12 months according to the directions. For most people that's going to be 2 sets per year --- at $40 a pop at the dealer that's ridiculous. For me it's 6 (I do about 40,000 miles per year) or $240 retail for air filters.

On top of that, installation is tedious. They go into the air handling system behind the glove box. That means you empty the glove box, remove 11 screws, 2 wiring harness plugs, 1 trim panel and the entire glove box & it's mounting assembly. We're not talking 10 minutes & away. Even getting the glove box to drop to get access to a couple of the screws is painful as the "knockout pins" don't knock out.

I put mine in tonight so I can't really say if it makes a difference (although I was surpised to see how much debris was in the air housing already (my car is 6 weeks old).

Oh, this is not a case where you can just leave them in & not replace them if you decide you don't want the extra filtration --- they've got warnings about air flow reductions requiring the removal & replacement of the filters.

Just an FYI,
YMMV
Jim

[NicoGamine]

FYI, I made a filter holder and am using house filters cut down to size in the filtering system. Didn't take too long to figure out and costs a lot less than the OEM solution (the best home filters are ~20$, I can make 4-6 car filters out of them ).

I posted the dimensions in a previous post: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...hreadid=543945. You can see pictures of the filter holder on the Montreal Subaru Club's web forum: http://www.montreal-subaru-club.com/...247&highlight=.



And I, too, was amazed at the amount of dead leaves and such in the system. Also, using a rough filter for less than one week produced a lot of dirt to be trapped...

Nicolas

[colonelcorn76]

Originally posted by NicoGamine
FYI, I made a filter holder and am using house filters cut down to size in the filtering system.

I had decided to do the same thing but I'll use the frames from the filters I bought. I figure I can easily cut out the Subaru filter material and replace them with pieces cut out of house filters. There's just no reason they ought to cost $30 much less the $40 the dealer charges (plus installation).

[colonelcorn76]

Originally posted by NicoGamine
FYI, I made a filter holder ...

Forgot to mention, there are 2 for the Baja (no doubt for the Outback too). The top one is rectangular and the bottom one has the more complex shape you can see above.

When I pull mine out to replace the filter I'll post the measurements unless someone else beats me to it.

Jim

[Mike Franke]

I have a little good news here.....................

The company I work for is a Wix filtration master distributor, and I have been patiently waiting for them to release this cabin air filter element, as they have excellent coverage in these items.

I spoke with the technical department, and they have the Baja elements scheduled to be released later this year. Prices have not yet been determined, but will likely be about half what the dealer charges at this time.

When I see the release bulletin, I will do two things:

Order a butt-load for my own car

Post the part number for all

[NicoGamine]

Originally posted by colonelcorn76
Forgot to mention, there are 2 for the Baja (no doubt for the Outback too). The top one is rectangular and the bottom one has the more complex shape you can see above.

I know, that's why mine has that funky shape...

I guess it was easier for Subaru to do it in 2 parts but it was much easier for me to do it in one piece.

Subaru's looks like this on the Legacy, which should be the same on the Baja:

Originally posted by colonelcorn76
When I pull mine out to replace the filter I'll post the measurements

Please do!

Nicolas