FTO AUSTRALIA

what would happen to the engine if a car was not using a air filter and filter box?

you will get a crapload of dust, sand, debris, water (or even bugs) being sucked into your intake manifold and/or combustion chamber...

Think of what your air filter looks like just before you change or re-oil it, then ask yourself, do I want all that lining the inside of my engine?

Hi,

Your engine consits of a very compact design of moving parts.
However, they do have a very very tiny gaps inbetween all the moving parts, otherwise, they will not move I guess.
And all the parts being metal, they will create too much friction between the parts and they will all wear out very very quickly.
This is where your engine oil comes in to effect. It makes your engine parts move with as less friction between the parts as much as possible.

Now, think of it when you buy a new car, you run your car for the first 1000km with variable speed to set your engine right. After this you have to get your car serviced, which the main point is to replace your engine oil as it contains all the metal bits that come off during the first 1000km. This engine oil needs to be replaced otherwise, you'll have all this metal bits getitng inbetween all your components and will wear out your engine very quickly. Not to mention other bits as well.

This is basically the same thing. When you don't have the air filter, as others have already said it'll clog up your engine with a lot of crap. This is create more friction in your moving parts. This not only wears out your engine but also decrease your engine performance dramtically with time.

So an air filter is just to make sure that you have clean engine oil as much as possible.
Although without it your car will go like any thing for a while... as there are no restriction to the air flow.

Hope this helps a little.

if you are thinking of removing it just for a dyno power run or something, i wouldnt bother, you will most liekly loose power, due to air turbulance which will confuse the hsit out of the air flow computer

If you think dust, dirt and oil would be bad - image a stone chip from the road going through your engine! You could totally trash your valves.

Running with out a filter is a quick way to wear your engine out. With modern performance filters there's virtually nothing to gain - and everything to lose.