As per title, does anyone know what this bit inside the airbox does? It's situated between the intake feed and the filter. I assume it's to prevent big stones etc finding their way in but I can't imagine they'd get past the filter anyway. I would imagine it's quite restrictive on the air passing through. I went for a quick blast with it taken out and it may be the placebo effect but throttle response seemed sharper and it had more of an induction roar.

Just found this http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4905275-Mysterious-Grill-Tray-in-1.4L-TSi-Engine-Air-Filter-Box

I believe its a baffle to stop any water that has entered the intake from turning the paper air filter into mush.

Makes sense. I've got an aftermarket k&n filter so that wouldn't be a problem.

Water and leaves. I took it out and did 150tkm with my PD. (with a Green Filter)

Also does anyone know why there's a open gap at the back of the intake feed, i.e. so not all the air taken in is forced through the air box? Seems a bit of a waste of perfectly good air to me.

I'd say probably more to do with noise on drive by eu testing.

Mine is in the bin. I've a Piper Filter in there.

Also does anyone know why there's a open gap at the back of the intake feed, i.e. so not all the air taken in is forced through the air box? Seems a bit of a waste of perfectly good air to me.

That lets most of the water go through and not into the airbox.

might it even be something to do with the air flow, how the air moves through the box to steady it up or rough it up a bit. not sure im im explaining this right lol.

Slightly OT ish, but how much benefit did you get by replacing the air filter (with a K&N etc)?

Slightly OT ish, but how much benefit did you get by replacing the air filter (with a K&N etc)?

The benefit is i don't need to replace it with the crappy OEM paper ones.

If you mean performance benefit I doubt there is any. Impossible for me to say as I had the K&N put in at the same time as I had the remap on day 2 and circa 150 miles on the clock.

You're likely to see more performance gain by removing the filter in the picture above than by using an aftermarket filter i would guess.

Edited 7 May, 201214 yr by Guest

Its kind of a plenum chamber, it is designed to create abit of turbulance on intake.

Its kind of a plenum chamber, it is designed to create abit of turbulance on intake.

Why would you want to create turbulance on intake?

Why would you want to create turbulance on intake?

faster flowing air is cooler therefore has a higher oxygen content, the process of increasing the oxygen content carrys on right up to the piston crown where it has another kind of swirl chamber.

Edited 7 May, 201214 yr by 07 vRS Taxi

faster flowing air is cooler therefore has a higher oxygen content, the process of increasing the oxygen content carrys on right up to the piston crown where it has another kind of swirl chamber.

Every day's a school day

And it never ends :-)

I tried to look for it, and realised I can't even find the location of the air filter, at least at first cursory glance anyway.

The air intake by the grille seems a bit loose to me, there is a plastic top to the first box section that pulls off, this whole assembly is loose and moves about, certainly isn't air tight.

I presume the air filter is somewhere attached to the plastic engine cover on the RHS as you look at the engine?

If you have a tfsi the air filter is in the engine cover. You need to remove the cover and unscrew iirc

Yep, you can read all about how to access the world's stupidest air filter position design here: http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?2547554

This would explain why the cover on mine is cracked after the cam belts were changed recently by some monkey.

This would explain why the cover on mine is cracked after the cam belts were changed recently by some monkey.

I remember that the engine covers can be tough to remove. You need to pull in the right place.

This would explain why the cover on mine is cracked after the cam belts were changed recently by some monkey.

Aye, they're apparently notorious for cracking. When my car goes in for a service that'll include the air filter change I'll be taking a photo of the engine bay the night before and checking it as soon as I pick it up!

Thats an 'Aye' from me too ;-) if you pull on it upwards you risk cracking it and if you shake it side to side and pull up you risk slicing the rubbers off on the sharp plastic edges, which I did the first time. I replaced and greased the rubbers after that and its not as hard to remove now.

Edited 8 May, 201214 yr by 07 vRS Taxi

It would seem that in the process of removing said cover and replacing it this morning, my engine has lost some of its zing, my on-board organic gyro would indicate something in the region of 20 of Shark's finest horses, so *hopefully a dislodged pipe somewhere....

*hopefully as in this would be the least expensive diagnosis.