So recently my car has been feeling a bit sluggish and i noticed that my max boost readings were only about 4.5 lbs (down from about 7.7 right after system install). So I either was experiencing belt slip, had a boost leak or my filter was clogged. I really didn't want to remove the blower, so I cut the filter in half around it's circumference & pulled it out. Wow, super clogged, as you can see below (after only about 6 months of use). I then built a "turbo-guard" type of inlet screen out of 5/64" opening stainless (very strong) screen that I sourced from Summit. Now, i'm not sure how long I'm going to run w/ this setup b/c although it will certainly stop the large stuff from getting in, lots of smaller dirt will flow right through. But wow, what an improvement. I went for a quick test drive & was seeing between 9.5 & 10lbs of boost during 2nd gear pulls. Needless to say, the car feels waaay stronger.

I like how you just cut the K&N filter! Haha. That's something I'd probably do next time if I know I'm going to replace it with something else that does not require me to take out the blower.

What's your pulley setup?

I'm experiencing really low boost myself (7 PSI average) and that's with serpentine belt slip & a really clogged up K&N air filter + busted up at that to make things worse (it looks almost like a cup).

Without an air filter you should be running close to 11 - 13 PSI depending on what your pulley set up is.

If you're only pulling in 9.5 - 10psi then there is still something wrong with the boost you have (because I have similar problems, just may not be exact same as you).

I have the "stock" pulley setup that comes w Aaron's full kit, which I believe is the 8# setup.

I'm seeing 10.5 psi @ 5600 RPM now.

I was seeing about 5-6 psi with the small filter setup.

Still working out some kinks though (no pun intended haha).

The kit comes with the 9# pulley. It also will hit around 10.5lbs of boost after install.

There is a guy on here that did a study on the filter vs turbo guard vs turbo guard with pre-filter with just an Air to Air conversion kit and not my full kit so he has the low boost impeller.

Turbo Guard only - 9psi
Turbo Guard with pre filter - 6psi
K&N filter - 8psi

So he was only seeing a 1psi drop to filter air vs. ingest sand (silica) which will win over your aluminum block.

I am in the middle of developing a new intake among many other upgrades. Stay tuned folks!

Here is a pic of the pre-filter after just a couple of days. If you can see, there is sand stuck on the pre-filter.

Yay!!!! Good to see this kit still being refined and supported. And not deceiving customers and compromising engines by publishing dynos where no filter was used and not mentioning it. But instead, showing what even a pre-filter collects when using a turbo guard. Great work Topz.

I guess it depends on where you live. I ran a pre-filter on my turbo guard for a few days and saw nothing. But I live in the city. Also, pulled mafs and throttle bodies after about 1500 miles with turbo guard screen and they were spotless.

Aaron, I sent you a text last Saturday.

But do you see the picture of that k&n filter posted above? All that would have gone into the engine. Not to mention everything that bounced off.

I fortunately don't have that problem in my area. Even when I took the stock k&n off when I switched to the turbo guard, the k&n was clean.

I'd love to see the dyno sheet comparisons of the k&n, turbo guard and turbo guard w/prefilter. When I had Seb do a comparison between the NGR screen and the turbo guard screen, it lost 1 psi and that just with a smaller screen size.

For real, I work for a DOT, there's so much crap on the road surface, I can't believe people actually drive around without proper air filtration.

Can't wait to see the new intake design!

Not being comfortable running w/ just a stainless screen, I bought some unifilter 3/8" fine foam & fabricated a custom filter to fit over the stainless screen. It's a bit crude, but fits well. Glued together w/ RTV. I've not run it yet, so don't know what the flow will be. Maybe if the weather cooperates tomorrow I can test it out. It's small, but on the plus side, it's easy to remove to clean & re-oil. Again, not sure if I will stay w/ this approach long term, but I think it's an interesting experiment.

Something that small will be one of two things. Restrictive, or ineffective at filtering dust. No way around it.

Maybe it would be possible to remove enough black silicone from the top of the filter and shorten the silicone flange so there is just enough to attach it to the supercharger. This might provide enough room to shift the stock filter on and off the supercharger. That’s my plan as soon as I get my car back so that I can start working on my 3D printed plans for this.


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One issue I see with this is that if the foam gets old it could start breaking down and get sucked into the sc. You would have to monitor it to make sure it doesn't happen. It could be pretty restrictive also.

So I lost about 3 psi by adding the filter. W screen alone I get about 9.5 psi and about 6.5 w the filter installed over the screen.