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BREAKING - TEMPEST AIR FILTERS FOR VANS RV's

RV10inOz

RV10inOz

Well Known Member
Back in November of 2021 I contacted my friend John Herman at TEMPEST regarding their new range of air filters for GA aircraft. The idea was to encourage Tempest to offer an air filter for the Vans fleet and one that could also be readily available in other countries which is often not the case with K&N.

Here is the news I received this morning. And it is all good. The price is outstanding. I have worked on a couple of things over the years with John Herman and every time he has come up with a winner. Thank you Tempest and JH.

David,

It has been a while and I hope you are doing well.

I wanted to let you know that I was at Vans last week and met with Rian Johnson and Vans will soon be carrying our induction air filters. We now have two filters for Vans for which I have included the information below.

I hope this helps your efforts with your fellow Vans owners. Please let me know if there is any further information you need.


VAN’S (*Experimental Aircraft)
AA10-3260 E-3260 *Van’s Aircraft Using Filtered Airbox FAB-320-1
AA10-3450 E-3450 *Van’s Aircraft Using Filtered Airbox FAB-360/540

The AA10-3260 and AA10-3450 are our part numbers and in stock at Aircraft Spruce and will be soon at Van’s. Spruce has them listed on their website at $53.85. Other Tempest distributors such as McFarlane, Air Power, Superior Air Parts (Aus) and AirFlite will also be carrying them and can order them if they do not have them in stock.

Best regards,

John Herman
Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Tempest Aero Group
Click to expand...

Aircraft spruce link https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/tempest_airfilters_08-17580.php

Vans store will no doubt be updated soon.

I hope everyone enjoys the benefit of this little project. Get filter shopping!
 
I’ve been using these on two of our RV’s (the third just hasn’t had the cowl off since I got some….), and so far, they appear to filter air just fine! Direct replacements for the K&N’s I’ve always used. Just trying something new…..
 
I ordered these from ACS more than a month ago and have one installed in my 7.
When are they going to have the one for the snorkel available?
 
Walt, I have no idea. I just started the Vans filter idea off a couple of years ago, and it went from there. You could drop a line to John Herman with the K&N part number and ask.

I will happily send him this link, he may well join up and comment directly. he has done that in the past on Beechtalk.
 
I installed one during my last condition inspection. (https://tempestplus.com/product/induction-air-filters/)

One big difference from the K&N filter is that you do not wash them and you do not oil them!

Update: They can get washed. From the product literature:

"Tempest induction air filters can be cleaned using either compressed air or a mixture of water and detergent. Tempest recommends use of compressed air when only dry dust is present in the filter. When oil, cleaning solvent , carbon or other contaminants are present, we recommend a detergent and water cleaning"
 
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Dimensional problems with K&N

This is good news. On my last condition inspection (RV-10), I installed a new K&N E-3450 filter (purchased through Amazon) but noticed that the filter did not protrude slightly above the filter box before being bolted on. Odd. When I test fit it, this short filter led to a very obvious gap that, had I not noticed it, would have let unfiltered air into the engine. A measurement of the filter confirmed that the new filter did not meet the 2.5” height that K&N specifies. At 2.5”, the filter gets compressed in the box and thus, forces air to pass through it. At 2.25”, this compression doesn’t exist and instead, a gap does. A call to K&N resulted in an apology and a warranty replacement. By the time that replacement showed up, I had already ordered one from Vans and it was 2.5” tall and solved the problem. The new one from K&N directly was fine at 2.5” tall. Fast forward to today. Another e-3450 showed up from Amazon and sure enough, not 2.5” tall! Is this an Amazon thing? Counterfeits? Dunno but frustrating so the timing of this thread couldn’t be better. I am looking forward to trying the Tempest filters.
 
Shrinkage for Carb engines?

Greetings David!

This sounds like good news - one of the issues of the K&N for the carb fueled RV's is the shrinkage of the element elastomer. It gets too small to be held in place. K&N under most circumstances will replace under warranty but a little effort and some documentation basics are needed.

Do you know if this failure mode of the competitor was addressed?

Thanks, I have an IO so not an issue for me personally but this seems to be one of the most common complaints.
 
Not lifetime filters

I wouldn't consider either K&N or Tempest to be a lifetime filter. Given the environment that they operate in they will both shrink and stiffen over time.

I hope to get ~5 years from the Tempest. YMMV.
 
Jr Hampton said:
That'd be nice ! :)
Click to expand...

Isn’t there a way to use the O-360 air filter on the O-320 engine? The larger O-360 filter doesn’t have the same cutout around the accelerometer pump because it’s a larger diameter and goes around the carb instead of on it.
 
I just saw the Tempest AA10-3260 in person at SnF. Anyone make the cut/proseal install and want to share a PIREP. How is it holding up?
 
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