Cleanable oil type air filters are nothing new they existed in the 40's and 50's, but when the superior disposable paper filters came out they went the way of the dinosaurs .
Same as the straight razor being replaced by single edge blade to the multi blade disposables today.
When you had car and motorcycle intact tracts or airboxs that were very restrictive or poorly designed in the past, the early vehicles of the 80's and 90's did benefit quite a bit from the external oil type filters.
But once the vehicle manufacturers strived to get as much HP and efficiency out of a particular engine design, they paid a lot of attention to the intake system design and based on having a good performance and pollution controls.
This is why you only see marginal gains from just changing you intake.
If you intend racing or tracking your car then, you can go all out, then you can really see a lot of HP gains from the intake and exhaust combos.
Basically with the oiled air filters , you have companies that are trying to sell you on technology that's outdated.
You even now have aftermarket billet oil filters, with cleanable mesh screens that are now being posed as superior to the best disposable ones.
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