National Aeronca Association Bulletin Board

Has anyone pestered Brackette recently about an approved filter for Champs & Chiefs?

Paul
Salome, AZ

Why do that when you can get a K&N (Champion) for a Champ. Couple of hundred bucks at Spruce. I changed the Brackett to a K&N on my Bonanza years ago and picked up a full inch of MP.

Brian Walker
'46 AC/DC

I'm not having much luck finding a K & N Filter for the Champ. I turn up Challenger Aviation which claims to use K & N elements. Their application list for the Champ shows a Brackette BA-4106. Do you have a part number?

Thanks
Paul

I

Paul
Bracket used to make an installation kit for the AirMaze filter body. Strip out the screen and fuzz then install the Bracket components. If you look around.....real good...... you should be able to find the "kit" parts. The back screen is the most important, it has to be fail-safe.
Paul

Years ago I modified a Airmaze filter frame to accept a brackett filter element using the kit that was then available direct from Brackett. To legally install it I obtained a field approval thru the FAA (and have the 337 if anyone else wants to do it.) I suspect that a person with some metalworking skills could duplicate the modification. Basically you need a rear expanded metal screen, a front grill and a couple of rivnuts or nutplates.

In my opinion, the bracket filter does a better job of filtration than K & N units. That said, most aircraft operate at altitudes that contain a lot less dust than ground vehicles would encounter.

Note: It pays to read ahead. I found a posting from a few years ago that brackett is again selling the kits to modify the Airmaze. Maybe a BA154 but don't hold me to it. They're in Arizona and when you google, be sure to spell the name correctly. It's Brackett.

Tim

I've put this out before but if one trudges up and down the line at Oshkosh it's quite obvious that about half the Champs and Chiefs have a Brackett air filter installed and probably the other half have the Airmaze. Not saying it's necessarily right according to the TC but the Brackett is being used. Once you have the Brackett assembly installed replacing the foam filter is relatively cheap (maybe $20) as compared to the Airmaze at near $100 which is way overpriced. Modifying the Aeronca air box to accept the Brackett is fairly simple (I've seen it done) but before anyone asks I have the overpriced Airmaze on my L16.

Mike

I have a Brackette in the Champ and I thought I had an STC, but maybe it was only a Field Approval. I only pay $9.95 for the replacement filter elements. Order the FAA CD for $10.00 for my Champ N38SM and information should be on the CD. 100 Pages of stuff on Seaplane Door, VGs, Engine Changes etc.

Bob

Sorry, thinking Challenger, wrote Champion. Just received mine from Spruce. Looks beautiful (if an air filter can look beautiful). Challenger PN CP-1150. Spruce part #08-00843 $205

I'll let you know if I feel more HP.

Brian Walker
'46 7AC/DC

UPDATE. The Challenger filter requires some modification to fit my airbox. Am building a couple of adaptors to allow installation.

Brian Walker
7AC/DC

I managed to get the Brackett conversion kit after several tries, installed it, and a year later couldn't seem to find the replacement filter element. Rather than clean and re-oil the element, I just went back to a new Airmaze which is easy to clean and reuse.
I tried the Champion product, it was heavy and didn't fit well.
If one element is less restrictive than the others, it would be worth knowing.

My converted Airmaze Filter frame takes a Brackett 4108 - $7.95 from AC Spruce and others.

Tim