I was looking into ways of improving the std setup on my VRS tdi whilst keeping it oe. I did the same with my last Octavia. So I did a bit of googling and I came across a blanking plate. I purchased it from AKS tuning for under £20 and it is simple to fit. It literally took less than 60 secs to fit, including unlocking car, opening bonnet to closing bonnet. It just clips in place.

Impressions initially were not that great as I couldnt feel any difference in response from the extra air going in. However after about 40 miles worth of driving the engine started to feel loads more responsive. The initial throttle pause before the engine would pick up has gone. It perhaps took a while to adjust to the extra air in the filter box.

I will look at removing the vents at the bottom of the filter box to see if that has a positive or negative effect on performance.

I like little mods like this that dont cost the earth but has a positive effect on the car.

I was looking to do the same but wondered if the rest of the bay needed more air flow to help with cooling?

Any chance of a link to the part?

Also have you removed the 'blanking' on the front of the intake on the other side? I have but noticed a dramatic change. Maybe the blanking plate will make a bigger difference?

4 hours ago, MarkyG82 said:

I was looking to do the same but wondered if the rest of the bay needed more air flow to help with cooling?

Any chance of a link to the part?

Also have you removed the 'blanking' on the front of the intake on the other side? I have but noticed a dramatic change. Maybe the blanking plate will make a bigger difference?

 

When I searched for a blanking plate, I couldn't decide if it was for all cars, or just the petrol. I cheaped out and taped it up instead. I did cut out the section on the passengers side, as well as removing the snow baffle thingymajig.

 

The main difference is the engine bay doesn't get as dirty. The 'performance' side of it is hard to tell to be fair. There are too many variables to try and give before and after mpg or speed figures.

 

I've done about 10k with it like that and I checked both the filter and the housing about a month ago. The filter wasn't particularly caked in more guff (just the odd fly) and there didn't appear to be anymore loose debris in the housing. I've not cut the vents open on the grill, so there is still protection from water getting forced into the intake.

There will be plenty of air getting into the engine bay when driving.  My old mk2 had a similar design intake where there was nothing behind it. I think the idea behind that design was that the engine would suck in whatever air it needed to from the air flow. It also helped preven a lot of debris from going into the airbox. But as I change my filters every 10,000 miles or before it isnt a problem for me.

 

The link to the part is here

 

https://www.akstuning.co.uk/shop/home/582-genuine-mqb-air-scoop-trim-plate.html

@Ecomatt nice, I like mods like this too!

 

You say you fitted this to a Mk3 TDI? Are you planning on pairing it with a high flow panel filter too?

 

Without a map I’m guessing the gains will be negligible on a diesel but I’m I interested to hear how you get on and will probably do the same for the cost and time involved.

32 minutes ago, CookieMonster87 said:

@Ecomatt nice, I like mods like this too!

 

You say you fitted this to a Mk3 TDI? Are you planning on pairing it with a high flow panel filter too?

 

Without a map I’m guessing the gains will be negligible on a diesel but I’m I interested to hear how you get on and will probably do the same for the cost and time involved.

Im staying with the std paper filter as it flows more than enough for what my engine needs. My old mk2 280bhp Octy TFSi VRS stage 2+ ran on the std paper filter. I did fit an intake but I found it robbed the car of low to mid range power and put it all high up in the rev range. Once I swapped back to the oe airbox and filter the car was so much more usable on the road.

 

I havent got any better mpgs but the car does feel more lively on the uptake. I may look at a remap at some point this year, most likely from Superchips bluefin; but I am more than happy with the std performance so far. It is quick enough to pass things when needed and nice at cruising speeds. Performance wise it is just as quick as 198bhp my std mk2 had. 

 

 

Edited 14 April, 20206 yr by Ecomatt

31 minutes ago, CookieMonster87 said:

@Ecomatt nice, I like mods like this too!

 

You say you fitted this to a Mk3 TDI? Are you planning on pairing it with a high flow panel filter too?

 

Without a map I’m guessing the gains will be negligible on a diesel but I’m I interested to hear how you get on and will probably do the same for the cost and time involved.

 

I've a K&N filter in my car. Again, the improvements would be negligible.

 

Think the only thing I've noticed is an increase in induction sound. Whether that's me imagining it, I couldn't say as I wasn't listening for it before.

 

Intake mods are all going to be limited, both by the map on the car and ultimately, the DPF / exhaust system. You need to change / adjust / remove all 3 to make any of them work to their best. 

17 minutes ago, tunedude said:

 

I've a K&N filter in my car. Again, the improvements would be negligible.

 

Think the only thing I've noticed is an increase in induction sound. Whether that's me imagining it, I couldn't say as I wasn't listening for it before.

 

Intake mods are all going to be limited, both by the map on the car and ultimately, the DPF / exhaust system. You need to change / adjust / remove all 3 to make any of them work to their best. 

The DPF is staying. They do a performance DPF but the cost involved compared to gains dont really add up.

Im sticking with simple mods for this car and not changing exhausts, boost hoses etc like on my last. A simple generic remap like Superchips will see about 220bhp without doing anything else. Sonplenty for the road and a good increase in torque.

I purposefully havent fitted an aftermarket filter from my experience on the mk2. I always ran K&N filters on all my cars from my mk1 Focus RS onwards. However the K&N induced a flutter in the powerband (documented in a post on the mk2 forum way back when) I re-fitted the std paper filter and the flutter went.  I also did lots of reading and viewed various testson flow rates.  There was only 0.9% pressure drop difference in flow (from memory) from a high flow to std paper filter. So I just stick to std and change more often. 

Edited 14 April, 20206 yr by Ecomatt

Diesels don't benefit from high flow filters as they are not controlled by throttling the air. As a result the standard setup is more than capable of supplying the required air. How it delivers it is what makes the difference I think. Hence the mods to the intake.