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K&N oil filters are made to provide outstanding filtration and high flow rates

Oil filters have a lot of different parts and it is the quality of these parts that your engine is dependent upon. Let’s take a look at how K&N, who is a world leader in automotive filtration, builds their oil filters to ensure your oil stays clean and your motor stays healthy.

K&N oil filters are designed for all types of oil including conventional, synthetic, and blends

Moving inside the filter, there are three main components. The first is the pleated filter media. K&N oil filters are made of a resin-impregnated cellulose filter media. This media helps trap harmful contaminants before they have a chance to do any damage to your engine. Next is the tensioning spring at the top of the filter. K&N Performance Gold oil filters use a leaf spring to keep constant pressure on the filter media. The last major component is the anti-drainback valve in applicable filters. The K&N anti-drainback valve is made of thick rubber and ensures contaminated oil doesn’t drain back into the engine where it can do harm. Again, this feature is only applicable in filters where the oil filter is mounted in a position with a potential for drainback.

These filters are made to be used in both race and street applications

K&N's line of cabin air filter are designed to electrostatically grab and hold onto particles

Whether you use your vehicle for commuting to the office, hauling gear to the worksite, or taking the family on a road trip, you shouldn’t have to worry about harmful particles being forced into your cabin by your HVAC system. Many OEMs have begun incorporating filters into the HVAC systems of their vehicles. These filters are typically located in one of three locations; under the dashboard, behind the glovebox, or inside a compartment on the passenger side of the firewall in the engine bay. The primary goal of these filters is to stop these contaminants before they are forced into the cabin by the blower motor.

As you can see, the K&N cabin air filter is made to last 10 years or 1,000,000 miles

K&N is one of those companies. Known for their washable and reusable engine air filters, K&N took their extensive knowledge of filtration and applied it to cabin air filters. K&N’s washable and reusable cabin air filters are made from an advanced synthetic filter media. This media is coated in an electrostatic spray that is designed to grab and hold on to dust particles. It isn’t just dust that these filters can remove from the air either, they are designed to capture most mold, mildew, pollen, spores, fungus, and germs. For all you allergy sufferers out there, these could be a real help in the spring time when all the plants are blooming.

One of the benefits of K&N cabin air filters is they are washable and reusable

It only takes 90 minutes to reap the benefits of a K&N cold air intake system

One of the fastest ways to add more airflow, horsepower, and throttle response to your car while still protecting the engine is with a cold air intake. The way an engine works is by taking in air, mixing it with fuel, and combusting the air/fuel mixture, which then sends power to the crankshaft and onto the transmission. The more fuel you can add to the mixture, the more power you can make, to a point. But if you just add fuel without increasing the amount of air in the cylinder, you will run the engine rich and lose power. That is where the cold air intake comes into play.

K&N air intakes provide a less restrictive, more direct path for air into the engine

This particular intake is from K&N Engineering. They have been making cold air intakes longer than any other company and are the worldwide leader in cold air intakes for cars and trucks. As you can see, the air intake tube is made of a black plastic, which is called high density polyethylene, or HDPE. This material allows the engineers the ability to maneuver around obstacles in the engine bay when looking for the best airflow path. At the end of the tube is a signature K&N red washable air filter. These filters are made from multiple layers of cotton filter media that has been treated with a special oil to help stop contaminants that can be harmful to your engine. Around the filter is a custom aluminum heat shield. When the hood is closed, it seals against the weather stripping on the heat shield, making a sort of air box that helps prevent the intake from ingesting hot engine bay air. That is where the cold in the name comes from.

If you ever questioned the power gains, here is a 2007 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 dyno chart: 56 hp!

Companies like K&N typically offer several different cold air intakes for vehicles. These vary by type of materials used in the intake tube, to type of filter: from a traditional oiled cotton media to a non-oiled synthetic media. The choice is ultimately up to you. One cool thing about K&N intakes is that they come with a 10-year/Million Mile Limited Warranty and are guaranteed to increase the horsepower of your vehicle. Check them out to see all the intakes they have to offer.

"The Great American Off-Road Race”, aka the Mint 400 will happen March 1st - 5th 2017

You may or may not have heard of the Mint 400. If you’re a race fan and haven’t, well, you’re not a race fan. If you frequently visit Las Vegas, there’s a good chance you might have spotted a flyer while checking in at your hotel. Or perhaps you noticed one of the wall posters on the way to the casino to lose your first $100 at blackjack. (Buy a K&N intake next time; the joy of horsepower lasts longer!) Maybe you’re just a huge Johnny Depp fan and you remember the scene from the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas where Depp’s character is shooting photo coverage of the Mint 400 while attempting to drink a beer amidst the slew of dirt and dust. (Spoiler alert - he ends up dumping the muddy beer.) Of course, that’s just one of the many outrageous antics that happen in the film adapted from Hunter S. Thompson's novel of the same name, but truth be told, even Johnny had no clue what was in store for the Mint 400.

The first Mint 400 race was an endurance race from Las Vegas to Lake Tahoe, California

Norm took title of Race Director through 1974 and even participated in the race from 1969-1982. During the second year (1968) Norm’s close friends and famed race car drivers Mel Larson and Parnelli Jones helped him with financing a purse prize of $30,000, increasing the participant list exponentially. Some of the most famous and recognizable names that have raced in the Mint 400 include Parnelli Jones, Al Unser, Mickey Thompson, Jack Flannery, Walker Evans, James Garner, Steve McQueen, Mort Sahl, Gordon Cooper, and many more.

The "Pit Crew Challenge" has become a popular event at the Mint 400

Come 1988, the Mint 400 race ended when the Las Vegas Mint Hotel was sold to new owners. After a 20-year hiatus the “Great American Off-Road Race” was revived in 2008 by longtime sponsor General Tire with help from the Southern Nevada Off-Road Enthusiasts group. Trucks with newer and better-than-before race technology were competing and media coverage was abundantly improved due to social media and portable cameras and phones used by teams and fans alike.

The various Mint 400 races tend to go on into the night

With the 2017 race coming up fast, last minute modifications and testing is being done by race teams and spectators are booking their Vegas suites. Sponsor spots have all been claimed with the Polariz RZR taking the title role and BF Goodrich as the presenting brand. K&N is proud to be an official sponsor not only of the Mint 400 race, but also of many of the teams and drivers competing in the race as well. A few of the K&N-sponsored racers include names like Bryce Menzies, Curt Leduc, Tracy Graf, Steve and Brett Sourapas, Mitch Guthrie Jr, Nicole Pitell-Vaughan of Total Chaos Fabrication, and even Katie Vernola, a former K&N Calendar model who will be racing in the UTV Pro Turbo Class.

Race Director K.J. Howe created “The Girls of the Mint 400” to add glamour to the race

So get ready for the action! Get ready for the madness! Go grab the family and make a trip to Las Vegas that you’ll never forget. The “Great American Off-Road Race” is just around turn 2 and coming up fast!

Six Miss Mint 400 Finalists are selected and one winner is determined by judges

K&N-sponsored Bryce Menzies will compete in the 2017 Mint 400

K&N-sponsored Bryce Menzies will competing in the 2016 Mint 400

There is a parade for the Mint 400 on Thursday through Las Vegas Blvd

K&N-sponsored UTV racer and former calendar model Katie Vernola will be racing in the Mint 400

Over 350 vehicles will be competing in the Mint 400

Steve Williams took home his third Winternationals win in a row

Williams won the NHRA Super Comp title in Pomona, defeating Dave Alves in the final round by 0.0028 seconds. It was the last of a long weekend of close races and tight challenges. It was his third win in a row at Pomona putting him in company with Don Prudhomme and Greg Anderson, NHRA drivers who have won at least three races in a row at the same event.

“We went from having really bad luck at Pomona to really good luck,” said Williams, who is the Chief Engineering Officer at K&N.

There was a time when Williams did not have success at Pomona. He was a runner-up five times at the track. His cars, championship cars at other tracks, had mechanical failures and malfunctions. Sometimes it was difficult to pinpoint the problems. But for the last three years, no one has been able to beat Williams at Pomona.

“The coolest part is I’ve had success at a lot of different race tracks across the country,” Williams said. “Pomona has not been one of them. I lost a lot of finals here because of breakage. Just crazy stuff. All of a sudden in 2015 it turned around. We won last year in the dragster and I won again.”

The 2017 Winternationals win made for 12 national wins and 42 event wins of Steve's NHRA career

Williams brought two cars to Pomona. His other car was not working well. He had transmission problems, which forced him and his team to focus on the Super Comp car.

“It was one of those strange weekends where I lost second round in my other car,” Williams said. “It was a much better car than the dragster.”

His Super Comp car, on the other hand, was nearly flawless.

“I honestly raced with a pretty fast car all weekend,” Williams said. “All of a sudden I just noticed the car was so consistent. The last three or four rounds, I just started to trust it. We just had some killer races. I think in the fourth round I won by three-thous (.003 seconds).”

He won his 12th national event and the 42nd event of his NHRA career. But in the finals, he was at a little disadvantage. Alves won the right to choose lanes and put Williams in a spot with the setting sun in his eyes.

This third Winternationals win in a row puts Steve in the same category as greats like Don Prudhomme

The celebration after he won the final race was huge. People from K&N celebrated with Williams’ team and family. He said nearly 50 people were on stage with him for the celebration photo at the track.

“Considering we dodged rain the first couple of days, it was pretty uneventful to be honest with you,” Williams said. “Sunday went off without a hitch. We were pretty much just round-robining. Cool the car down, 15 minutes, they call you back. They had a good crowd. Sunday was a beautiful day.”