Non standard air filter on 996

[daviddeere]

Have just purchased a '98 996 C2 which is pretty much original except that the Porsche air cleaner has been completely removed and in its place is a "j-shaped" chrome air cleaner attachment with some sort of cone shaped filter on the end (sits underneath the cut-out on the RHS of the boot). The filter has very fine stainless steel mesh on the outside.

Searched aroung using Google, and found K&N and BMC info, but it's not one of them. Tried finding the previous owner, but they've left the country.

I've got a .jpg of it, but don't know how to include that in my post (first post - excellent forum btw).

Is this likely to be as good a filter as the standard one? The induction noise it makes sounds excellent over 4000 RPM, but I'm worried it might be letting in a lot more gunk than the genuine one, and not sure how watertight it is.

Thanks

[clubsport]

standard is best for filtration and more than likely power..
i would definitely stay standard myself..some filters can cause problems with Maf sensors also.
check porshapart or other second hand sources if you don't have the original with the car.