CustomFit Panel Filter
Bespoke service to create panel filters any size or shape.
Panel filters can be made to pretty much any size or shape that is needed. Most panel filters are simply rectangular with either square or rounded corners and will use a fairly standard 10mm x 10mm sealing bead, although not industry standard, most standard cars airbox's use this size of seal section. If you have a car that we don't currently produce a panel filter for, if you can provide us with the external length and width (measured to the outside of the rubber bead), as well as whether the corners are square or rounded, we should be able to produce you a filter without too much trouble. Some standard airbox's will use extremely complex moulded plastic frames which are practically impossible for us to replicate, in this case we can simply strip and rebuild the original.
Motorsport panel filters are often built to suit a fabricated housing or trumpet tray. These filters are built to suit the housing they are fitted to so can have for instance 10mm wide x 20mm high seal sections, 25mm wide x 10mm high section or pretty much anything you need. If the seal width is wide enough we can also drill holes through the seal section allowing the two parts of the housing to bolt together. Motorsport panel filters can also built onto either carbon fibre or aluminium frames supplied by the customer. It is more common with this style of filter for the customer to send us CAD drawings of the housing and the filter frame which we will then work from and advise if any changes need to be made before going ahead with production. If you have simply fabricated the housing yourself and are unable to provide a drawing, it is also possible for you to send us the housing to work from.
It is also possible for us to build panel filters in quite unusual shapes, if it's not possible to send in the housing itself or an accurate drawing, it is possible for us to work from cardboard templates. Obviously the more accurate the template, the better the filter is going to fit.
The choice of foam will depend on what the car is being used for. Endurance racing cars will often have a fairly thick foam to give good filtering efficiency with an increase in dust loading, i.e. the filter will be able to hold a lot more dirt without losing airflow allowing a filter to run for 12 or 24hrs without needing to be changed. We can also use thin, high flowing foams for applications where maximum power is the priority over engine life as used to be the case with Formula 1 filters. The foam used will also dictate the size of filter needed, foams that give good filtering efficiency and good dust loading tend to have lower flow rates so the filter needs to be suitably sized to offer the flow rates needed.
Where a large panel filter is used in a trumpet tray over the top of a V6, V8, V10 or V12, it is often advisable to run with a flame trap layer. This is made from a very fine stainless steel mesh and prevents any flame front from damaging the foam and will also prevent fuel standoff accumulating in the foam and becoming a fire risk. This is the same technology we have used and developed over the last 20 years of producing Formula 1 filters.
Tell us about you and your car
In order for us to be able to find out the kind of filter that you need, it would be helpful if you could tell us a little bit about you and your car.