Question for those running Spectre cowl intake
 

I've got a 99XJ and just finished upgrading the exhaust. I have an APN header and magnaflow hi-flow cat & muffler with 2.5" exhaust and tailpipe. I want to put the Spectre cowl intake on to match up with my exhaust. From what I can find, the Spectre uses an oiled cone filter but I was hoping to use a synthetic cone filter to avoid the oiling/cleaning and possible problems with the MAP sensor, etc. I live where it's dusty and drive mostly on dirt roads so I'm afraid I'd have to be cleaning and oiling that thing more than I want to. I had a drop in K&N oiled filter in the stock airbox on my old XJ and it got dirty way too fast. (Went back to a paper filter on that)

Has anyone running this intake found a synthetic type cone filter that will fit in the spectre tube? I'd much rather be able to wash it with water and not have oil involved. If anyone knows the dimensions on the Spectre cone filter, I'd gladly do the searching for a synthetic replacement too.

Alternate suggestions are welcome as well...Thanks!

I would suggest that you just put some sort of pre-filter over the opening to keep the dust out. But if you don't want to do that, here are the dimensions of the filter:
Manufacturer's Part Number:HPR9833
Air Filter Style:Conical
Length (in):5.500 in.
Air Filter Top Measurement:1.600 in. diameter
Air Filter Bottom Measurement:4.000 in. diameter

dont waste your money on the spectre... do it the way dukie has his. i just did mine, and its great. cost less than 1/4 of what the spectre is.....

I have a spectre drop in and idk if I was suppose to take the lil metal spectre piece off the filter but I didn't... Long story short it got sucked in my TB and my jeep got stuck wide open throttle lol

I run one and I drive almost exclusively on red dirt, dusty county roads in OK for work so it eats a ton of dust. I know your pain.


I'm thinking about just cleaning up the hole drilled out by the PO and using RTV to seal it completely off from the engine compartment since I believe most of my dust is getting sucked through some small gaps around where it mates to the body.

hey thanks for all the input everyone! I've been giving it some thought and doing some more research and I'm down to making a decision between:

1. Installing a Specter cowl intake and then making a metal bracket for the inside of the cowl area to kind of sandwich some pre-filter material over the opening into the intake tube, using this:



2. Going with the AFE intake and dry, synthetic cone filter with the air-damn for the engine bay and insulating everything with heat wrap all the way to the TB.



Currently leaning towards the AFE because I don't really drive in deep water and don't need the space for an extra battery, plus I plan on putting hood vents near where the spectre tube would run and don't want to run into trouble there. Still undecided though - I may go Dukie's route and fab my own cowl intake and just get a drop-in high flow dry filter for the factory box. I don't have ABS, and it sure would be nice to give my engine a true cold air source... if only the jeep could talk, I'm sure it has a preference.

On the other hand, I really need to replace the stupid chrysler tape deck and get some good speakers in there so I can have decent tunes - so maybe i'll do that first and ponder the intake options for another few weeks...

For the pre-filter:

Could you just wrap it around the square end of the cowl mounting piece and screw it down? Essentially you'd have the pre-filter sandwiched between the cowl-mounted section and the engine-side of the cowl?

When I do custom PCs we take nylons and wrap them over one side of the fans to act as "pre-filters" if the selected cases don't come with fine enough filters.

I run the Spectra intake. My main reason for getting is was to make room for a 2nd battery and possibly a compressor. If you don't need the space and your dealing with lots of dust I wouldn't even bother with it.

I agree with swirlchaser. If it's that dusty, you're engine will be better off if you keep the factory air intake arrangement. "Hi-flow" air filters don't do as good of a job filtering the air as a "Lo-flow" factory style filter does.

Thanks again, all - that's pretty much the conclusion I came to as well. I just ordered a nice new JVC deck and 4 DB651 Polks for the Jeep. I decided the Spectre wasn't worth the $$ given my needs, and that I'll just wait for warmer weather and do the Homebrew Cowl Intaka, ala Dukie. That way I can take the money I saved and use it to do an injector swap. I knew given time and a few good alternate perspectives I'd arrive at the "smart" decision, so thanks again - I'm pumped to finally have some good tunes in the XJ! :thumbup: