Right, the time has come to make my first engine mod - breath easy.

Induction kit / panel filter / drilled box and bigger relocated feed???

I've heard loads of stories / ways to do this (and horror stories) and they all seem to have the same story - MINES BETTER!!!!

Which would actually be best in all honesty? I want a quicker, more responsible car with a lovely tone.

Car is completely standard atm.

I'm planning on upgrading to a forge 007p DV and buying a pipercross panel filter and drilling little holes in the standard airbox to increase noise a little or is that a bad idea with heat soak (even though thats what an intercooler's for and the air passes through a 800'C turbo anyway lol)?

Then eventually - a remap £££'s lol

Thanks in advance for your help / opinions

It really does depend on the car and spec at the time.

Most will argue a decent filter will limit airflow significantly enough for most standard engines, others would argue a well positioned open filter works better.

If you;re thinking on a vRS I'd say a decent closed system with good filter is the way forward

Hi Craig, yeah its for my Octy vRS. Stupid question as I'm a little techically challenged :think: lol - a closed system?? - As in keep original airbox and intake the same, just replacing panel filter?

Thanks

#Technically

The usual VAG 4-cylinder filter box isn't known to be significantly restrictive on the 1.8T225, so a filter foam panel and de-fin the interior should be adequate (and look standard at a glance).

De-fin? oooh more info please, thanks

Yeah Dazzler, just the closed, standard air box as opposed to an open "cone" as you normally see with induction kits.

What Ken has mentioned above is within the airbox there are structural blades/fins around the edge. Removing those with a dremel would restrict the airflow less, although negligable. Decent filter (I used Green and Piper) and a well positioned cold air feed should be enough you need to do to get the best out of the air in side of things

Keep std airbox,new filter and add a 3'' pipe coming from airbox down side of bat and down hole behind headlight to the front bumper,job done

Biggest difference between the standard airbox and a cold air intake is the noise of the diverter valve. No noticeable performance improvement on mine anyway. I had an ITG panel filter and de-finned airbox with 3 inch cold air feed from beside horn and now have a hard pipe cold air intake right to the MAF coming from a cone filter below the headlight. It was an impulse buy, wouldn't bother buying it again to be honest.

If you want more responsive, changing the airbox alone isn't going to do that. Potentially make it more jumpy, but not more responsive. If you want to actually gain anything, you'll need to remap afterwards.

Personally I'd leave the box alone as per Mr G's suggestions. I've spent loads of time and money experimenting with airbox/filter mods on my bike in the past, along with rolling road remaps, and quite frankly the standard box was best for all round range. If you want absolute top end power then there may be advantages. But these things are usually better designed than many people give them credit for.

i agree with what mr g and demonufo said,

cai = straw for sucking water into engine if you are not careful...

i agree with what mr g and demonufo said,

cai = straw for sucking water into engine if you are not careful...

i always said this, i was always game for a modded air box and 3" pipe from the bumper... BUT.. i tried a CAI on mine and ill never look back. my filter sits just below the bottom of the head light. to hydrolock the car i would have to go through a 2ft deep puddle!!

i love mine, and it sounds the breasts too

my 50ps worth

It all depends how much noise you want as i have a jabba induction kit with a jetex cone filter in it and it sounds like its trying to suck glovebox into engine bay when you give it some welly, am still young and stupid so don't mind the noise it makes but the panel filter is alot more subtle.

I agree with the cold air feed from behind the grill tho that is a good cheap mod, just get a meter of 3in pipe and its fits nice between battery and inner wing down to front grill on passenger side of bumper, also take the grill out and drill some holes in it but drill them from front to back then you don't catch painted bit. You may have to adjust horns slightly to get best fit and also drill a couple of holes in bumper behind grill to fix pipe to.

Also a good free mod is to drill some 20mm holes behind your standard intercooler in wheel arch liner, think i have 4 high 4 across, 16 holes in back of it,

i always said this, i was always game for a modded air box and 3" pipe from the bumper... BUT.. i tried a CAI on mine and ill never look back. my filter sits just below the bottom of the head light. to hydrolock the car i would have to go through a 2ft deep puddle!!

i love mine, and it sounds the breasts too

my 50ps worth

tell that to my mate, who drove through a big puddle after brands last year in his mk4 gti...he hydrolocked the engine! It was one that amd sold him, and it fitted right down in the wheel arch area, way below the headlight.

If i was gonna fit one, it would be like yours, or a jabba style one with a proper heat shield in the bay, with a feed to that carefully routed.

Nothing wrong with the standard set-up. You need excellent filtration to give the turbo a chance of surviving, so bear that in mind.

The 1.8T TT Quattro Sport (240bhp) and 3.2 VR6 TT (250bhp) use the exact same standard MANN filter.

I'd save the money for a good quality remap personally.

Removing the fins (aka smoothing) is more about noise IIRC, their purpose is to break up the sound so removing them gives a slightly deeper note.

Personally I've gone with a smoothed and drilled standard box with an up rated filter, great sound from just a few holes, drilled mine on the wing side rather than engine so in my opinion any heat soak will be negligible and the increase in DV volume is worth it

I did go from this set up to a proper sealed system on my old LCR though, dynod before and after and gained 8 BHP!

If you do drill and smooth be sure to get all the little plastic bittys left over before reassembling

Removing the fins (aka smoothing) is more about noise IIRC, their purpose is to break up the sound so removing them gives a slightly deeper note.

No, its too fluff-up the air

save your money and just buy a new vag filter - honestly you are ****ing it away in the wind with a mod like this

No, its too fluff-up the air

I disagree. They do add turbulence but my understanding is that that is an unwanted side effect.

Either way removing lets a bit of noise out, I'm not going to argue the point cause I don't know for sure

The usual VAG 4-cylinder filter box isn't known to be significantly restrictive on the 1.8T225, so a filter foam panel and de-fin the interior should be adequate (and look standard at a glance).

the 225 air box is designed to accomadate a 80mm maf,so wont fit the vrs!

WoW, thanks for all the ideas, info and feedback - very much appreciated. I think I'll smooth and drill box for a bit more tone (personal preference), upgrade to a pipercross filter, then attempt to increase feed to 3" (btw whats the best way to attach to air box - mutilate entrance to airbox a little??) then see how that goes/sounds before spending some extra ££'s on a 007p lol

thanks again guys!

Pipercross is a little noisier than the standard, but you should treat it the same as the standard filter - ie - disposable. You cannot satisfactorily clean out a foam filter without risk of perishing it somewhat.

Pipercross is a little noisier than the standard, but you should treat it the same as the standard filter - ie - disposable. You cannot satisfactorily clean out a foam filter without risk of perishing it somewhat.

Thanks - i'll keep that in mind

Basically leave it as nature intended.

WoW, thanks for all the ideas, info and feedback - very much appreciated. I think I'll smooth and drill box for a bit more tone (personal preference), upgrade to a pipercross filter, then attempt to increase feed to 3" (btw whats the best way to attach to air box - mutilate entrance to airbox a little??) then see how that goes/sounds before spending some extra ££'s on a 007p lol

thanks again guys!

why? it'll have no benefit other than maybe more noise!