Just wondering if it's worth blocking off the engine bay side of the standard air intake as it gets unbelievably hot in there! Has anyone done this and is there a downside, it might make it a bit like a (very) budget Dbilas!!
No takers, so I bit the bullet and did some mods today! Most of the air seems to come from the engine bay so I blanked off the engine bay intake with some gaffer tape to see what happened, no problems there, still pulls/revs out ok. Next, I took a dremel to the baffles in the intake section that screws onto the body, there's quite a lot of obstructions in there which divert air from the intake and back into the engine bay so they came out. Then I made a blanking plate to block the upper 70 or so percent of the engine bay inlet, leaving about a centimetre at the bottom to allow for water ingress/draining and to allow some air in in case the ram from the grille area was insufficient. No tests carried out but all seems ok and makes sense to me! Having cat back fitted next Saturday and Revo settings altered to suit hpfp, exhaust, panel filter and forge dv, possibly stage 2, see what happens, was making 270 engine hp with just stage 1, not sure of settings but intake temp/engine bay was getting real hot so with a bit of luck may see 300!!
Last edited:
wouldn't surprise me if it does perform as well as the diablis, but make sure that the amount of intake area you have blanked off is compensated for with at least an extra equivalent area at the grill intake position. You high revs air flow will suffer if you don't.
good work.
good work.
Here's some pics of my airintake mod:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/snaponken/Airbox?authkey=Gv1sRgCKSB8Ivm8t3NvQE#
If you lift off the top you'll see the original is very restrictive, full of baffles that conspire to block the cold air from the front grill and encourage the really hot air from the engine bay. Take a dremel cutting disc to the baffles in the box and the airflow from outside is opened right up. I blocked the rear of the box with a piece of firm rubber so no hot air can get in. The manufacturers do this to enhance cold running and to minimise the risk of water ingress but as the route to the air filter is uphill I don't think its a problem. There should be sufficient cross-section for good airflow, about 25cm2, the tube on an aftermarket CAI is no larger! Doesn't look as cool or sound any different but I reckon it does the job!
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/snaponken/Airbox?authkey=Gv1sRgCKSB8Ivm8t3NvQE#
If you lift off the top you'll see the original is very restrictive, full of baffles that conspire to block the cold air from the front grill and encourage the really hot air from the engine bay. Take a dremel cutting disc to the baffles in the box and the airflow from outside is opened right up. I blocked the rear of the box with a piece of firm rubber so no hot air can get in. The manufacturers do this to enhance cold running and to minimise the risk of water ingress but as the route to the air filter is uphill I don't think its a problem. There should be sufficient cross-section for good airflow, about 25cm2, the tube on an aftermarket CAI is no larger! Doesn't look as cool or sound any different but I reckon it does the job!
Last edited:
Reckon so, most of the aftermarket CAI's seem to take their air from the engine bay which defeats the object imho! I don't think the airflow inside the standard air filter housing is so bad, but all that hot air going in defo is!
The battery causes seroius space restrictions when it comes to fitting a closed box in of sufficient size, so like you say many produce open cones with heat shields (which are questionable). Forge have tried to overcome this problem with the new twintake.
Your solution should work well on stage 1 CupraKen if you can keep the airflow similar but cooler!
If you do move to stage 2+ you might find you need more airflow capacity to maintain the higher levels of boost.
The pipework/filter on the new ITG intake are huge!!
Thats the 'questionable' bit. The heat shield may have some effect at retaining the engine heat but it;ll never be true ambient temperature air.
It might be worth taking that Dremel to the obstructions further down the intake tract as i believe there are some nasty's lurking down there too...if you're brave enough
Would be interesting to see if it increases the flow substantially.....
I'll take a look at the weekend, see what's there and report back! Also give the outcome of stage 2+ on Saturday, Revokev emailed me and reckoned it was worth going 2+ !
OK, took the engine cover apart but there's nothing in there restriction-wise that can be changed, just a few baffles but they're parallel to the air flow. Actually it's not too bad at all! Without doubt a 2 1/2" inlet all the way from the turbo to the air intake will flow more volume but I'm not 100% sure that pulling in hot air from the engine bay helps............
Thats interesting as i thought there were - just from reading other stuff on here really. Not looked in mine, don't want to start messing with the MAF sensor in case i f*ck something up!
I guess the stage 2+ will confirm whether your efforts have been fruitful or not. On the unmodified standard air box you'll notice the 'shove' tail off at about 5000 - 5500rpm (ish) as the boost drops off of due to lack of air flow/increased temps. Obviously the colder the weather the less this will occur.
You decided what settings you are going to run and you getting the SPS?
Kev suggested B6 T4 F6 for starters and then datalog it. Not sure about sps, it'd be useful if I had vagcom to track changes, maybe............
Ye you need the SPS/Vagcom really to get the most from the car and to ensure you are running optimal settings. It can be a bit of a pain as datalogging in 4th requires a decent bit of road where no one is going to be in the way including the police!
Those settings would be a good all round setting that you could run in most weather conditions without any real issues, hence if you don't get the sps then you won't have to worry, however they won't offer the most potential performance!
Get an SPS ordered!! Running boost at 9 is awesome but you wouldn't be able to drive the car spirited in all conditions at that level without all the other hardware components, so you need the switchability....
Ha! I know the feeling, this car tuning just never ends....there is always something else you 'need'
Stage 2+ fitted!! Huge difference in mid-range pull, still revs out to 7500 with no noticeable loss in pull, guess the modified intake works! 320 bhp max @ 6450rpm / 275 ft/lb max @ 5150rpm Intake temps still a bit high though at 50 degrees, need intercooler+ (proper) cold air intake to fix that, calling it a day now, downpipe + intercooler + CAI = £2000+ for 20 or so bhp, not really worth it in my book!! Settings were B6 T4 F6 btw
Similar threads
