An upgraded air filter can drastically enhance the performance of your engine and make driving your car faster, more powerful, and more enjoyable than ever before. Anyone can perform this upgrade themselves. Be sure to orient the arrows of the filters towards the fan, rather than away, so air can flow smoothly through them and into your engine. This will ensure proper functioning of both systems.
1. Choosing the Right Filter
Locate and gently open up the air filter. Typically, it will be housed within a black plastic casing. Find a filter designed specifically to meet the needs of your driving style, such as dusty roads. A filter that offers good dust and particulate removal may be best.
Take note of how the old filter was placed within its housing when taking out and placing in the new filter to ensure optimal airflow and filtration. It’s essential that both filters fit together precisely if proper airflow and filtration are expected to take place.
2. Removing the Old Filter
Professional-grade air purifiers may be effective at eliminating smoke particles and other pollutants, but their cost can add up quickly. By opting for this DIY setup instead, you can save money while simultaneously improving indoor air quality.
Ross Trethewey of This Old House’s home technology expert guides you step-by-step on how to construct an air purifier using a box fan and four MERV-13 filters. Setting up this system is straightforward and will help keep your craft room or she shed free from smoke during wildfire smoke events.
Begin by creating the filter. Begin by placing cardboard flat on a work surface and arrange MERV-13 filters so their arrows point inward towards each other to form a cube shape. Secure them all using duct tape so they won’t shift in their positions over time.
3. Installing the New Filter
DIY filters may not clean as effectively as commercial air purifiers, but they’re relatively affordable and simple to set up—perfect for apartment- and home-dwellers who don’t have enough room for larger, more costly units.
Be sure to follow the directions when installing your new filter, positioning it against the back of the fan with its airflow arrow pointing toward it for optimal air purification as air blows from it. This will ensure that every breath that passes through will be cleaned of pollutants before exiting from its source. Once the filter is in place, open up the valve on the incoming side and inspect for leaks. If any connections leak water outward, they should be sealed using Teflon plumber’s tape, resealing them as soon as possible.
4. Checking the Intake
Damage to an intake manifold gasket can cause engine misfire, leading to poor fuel efficiency and unusual vibrations or an abnormally bouncing idle. Utilizing a box fan is an easy and efficient way to test intake for vacuum leakage. To properly seal it off, the airflow arrow on the filter must point away from the fan; otherwise, it signals that an intake has a vacuum leak.
An alternative simple method to check for vacuum leaks is using a smoke tester. To do so, block off both the throttle body and PCV lines leading to the passenger valve cover before capping the throttle body and attaching the smoke tester with boost pressure (around 5 psi).
5. Checking the Mounting Points
Check all joints between filters and the box fan to ensure they are secure before beginning assembly of a cube-shaped filter arrangement with its box fan sitting at its center. Make sure the arrows on all filters point towards one another.
Make sure the airflow is through all filters and achieve optimal airflow by writing their date of installation with a permanent marker to avoid forgetting when to change them again; use a home maintenance schedule as a reminder for important tasks like this one.
6. Checking the Airflow
While not as efficient as professional-grade air purifiers, DIY air purification projects such as this DIY filter system could still provide homeowners with an inexpensive option to help filter wildfire smoke particles in their home. Ross Trethewey from This Old House home technology shows us how to create one using an inexpensive filter system made up of four MERV-13 filters and a box fan.
Place the box fan on a flat surface, and arrange the filters around it so that their airflow arrows point inward, creating a cube shape. Secure them using duct tape so they won’t move while in use, then use an anemometer to measure airflow through both the fan and the duct.
7. Checking for Damage
During smoke events, it is crucial that your air filter be checked regularly; you may even require replacing it daily in order to filter out smoke particles. A DIY air purifier is an affordable solution that will improve indoor air quality by filtering out smoke particles.
High-performance air filters increase airflow to your engine, enabling it to take in more oxygen and increase power. However, it should be remembered that too much air entering an engine can create issues. It could alter the air-fuel ratio, resulting in decreased performance as well as leading to a blowtorch, which poses serious safety concerns.
8. Checking for Debris
DIY air filters offer an easy, cost-effective solution for improving indoor air quality during wildfire smoke events. However, several issues have arisen regarding their efficacy and safe operation.
Check that the fan is unblocked by furniture, curtains, or rugs; examine any visible ductwork for leaks, kinks, or disconnections that could restrict airflow; also make sure that airflow isn’t being restricted by dirty filters, as this can clog and reduce performance—regular fan blade cleanings will help mitigate this risk.
9. Checking the Intake
If your car suddenly develops a rough idle, runs lean, or lacks power suddenly, this could be indicative of a vacuum leak somewhere within its intake manifold or carburetor, including gasket leakage or carburetor cracking.
To locate leaks, spray starting fluid around manifold gaskets while your engine is running and observe the low-pressure mineral vapor released. Or use a smoke machine available from most auto parts stores—they pump out low-pressure vapor that will expose air leaks—an invaluable way to troubleshoot intake manifold gaskets!
