Ok, now that i have stopped feeling lazy and as per some requests that i have received, a slightly more detailed desription on the K&N fitting is here-
History- I had a K&N universal filter fitted in my matiz (previous car) which worked well,
But used to suffer sudden strange drops in performance and really didnt help FE at all even with light footed driving.
On selling the car, i took out the filter, cleaned it completely re-oiled it and parked it under my bed
I didnt fir it in my baleno immediately as i wanted to see how it would perform in stock condition. after abt 4 months when i had a good idea of the car's charecteristics, i decided it was time to get going!!
Fitting - By now i had realised that My fitment of the K&N in the matiz was nowhere close to ideal, (partly due to the lack of space in the car and partly due to mistake/ignorance
I was initially toying with the idea of a cold air intake, but decided against it as knowing our weather i was going to run into flooded roads (didnt even realise how right i was going to be!!) and having a low placed cold air intake suction would not be idea (Bombay is more like Snorkel country)
I decided to try and go for a regular but well dited and thought of fitment.
After lots of inspecting of the Engine bay, placement of the radiator & fan , and a discussion with iceman, i settles on a mounting, which (doesnt require genius) would be basically in the location of the original airbox, having found out the most cold air comes directly there,
Its out of the path of the Blower and far away from the engine, so picks up minimal heat from the engine bay.
The filter was pulled out from it Bed storage and then fitted, i used no major amt of additional piping, used the original hose and led it into the area of the airbox, and had it fitted on a clamp there.
Right- now it was time to run it. I was lets say a bit disaapointed by the very Muted growl that it gave, having being spoilt by the throaty roar from the Matiz, but i could definitely hear the suction gasp evetime i pulled the acclerator cable, so ikew it was doing its thing.
Now driving it around - well the Baleno has so much low end grunt that realistically in a sense it a bit hard to tell what the filter is doing initially, but as you rise the revs keep flowing a little more than they were before
The Long runs with top whack will tell me all about that, but havent really had a change to do those, but it does kick the car straight up to 120 seriously fast .
FE- this was a big smile moment. First run, the FE went up y 1 Kmpl!!! i was griining like a pig in the mud.
Second run, lots of hard revving, the FE stayed the same as if i had no K&N but has not pushing hard!!
#rd run, FE back up by 1 kmpl.
Overall very satisfied with the results-
Gives the car more kick & really helps the Mileage.
Will later when able, put in a set of headers & a freww flow and then we will all be ready to GO!!!!!!!!!!!
The Location & fitting
Sited well clear of Fan & radiator and reasonably away from the engine
