Originally Posted by
dedwards0323
Not sure I agree with the feedback above about the fitment of the K&N filter elements in the stock air box. I ran these for several years & didn't see this as an issue. I have since changed to just getting the standard air filter design from a reputable supplier & changing them out every couple of years. I don't believe the K&N offers that much of a performance improvement. I will agree that if you want to improve the "breathing" of a Crossfire, you need to consider a wholesale changeout of the inlet air system (just like SD Crossfire stated above). And upgrading to the larger throttle-body will probably net you the most improvement. This conversion can be bought from Needswings.com and the Forum has documentation on how to implement this upgrade.
I can only tell you from my first hand initial experience, but the K&N outer seals were thinner than the OEM ones. To the point they barely made a complete seal at the front and back of both airboxes. I found this issue on other K&N drop-ins in the past. Considering how little they do in terms of performance, I don't think it's worth the risk especially on engines that are getting to be close to 20 years old at this point.
That being said, maybe these particular filters elements weren't representative of all the drops ins for the Crossfire and had a defect.