APR 2.0 TDI Carbon Fiber Cold Air Intake System

[mikinoz]

VW wouldn't even know if it was meant to have a grid haha - anyway, you can do it down the track.

[benough]

Probably. Yeah I'm gonna see if I can swing a MAF minus the actual sensor from eBay or a wrecker etc.

[Greg Roles]

Just for the record, my old stock MAF was degridded, I had cut the MAF mount out of it with a hacksaw for my interim airbox to turbo pipe, reassembled it with black sikaflex holding most of it together for some warranty work, and happily drove like that around for a few months. You guys need to man up!

[mikinoz]

Just took delivery of a new TDI today (well not new but new to me) and am already to do this on the weekend!

[robbie]

Which One Did you Get

[poyta]

Just took delivery of a new TDI today (well not new but new to me) and am already to do this on the weekend!

Apparently its not recommended if you've got the standard airbox.

[poyta]

Ok I'll give it a go on the weekend - hope it runs ok after otherwise it sounds like I'll be up for a new MAF.

Ok I did it and the car runs fine. Its brought a little bit more induction noise again and maybe a little bit more power - like I said before this might just be a placebo effect as without any dyno figures or 0-100 times tested its difficult to say but its a simple no cost mod so I guess it couldn't hurt. Anyone looking to do it here's a little DIY -

Stock MAF unit below -



To remove the grid you need to first unscrew the plug up the top - unfortunately the screw heads are a weird star pattern so I didn't have the right tool and just used some plyers and a very strong grip to unscrew them. Once this is one you need to break off the four tabs that I've indicated in the photo. They are actually melted/glued into the MAF surrounding.

Turn the unit around - here's the back



The three little arms I've indicated are part of the outer rear ring that slides into the MAF and hold that smaller cylinder in the middle. There appears to be some way you can remove the arms and outer ring from the small cylinder but I spent a while trying to figure it out and couldn't - ended up just using tin snips and cutting the three little arms.

After that the grid and the central tube slides right out and then the outer ring with the cut tabs slides out the other side leaving you with this -



Then it just a matter of putting the plug back in, screwing it on and re-install evey thing again.

[mikinoz]

Apparently its not recommended if you've got the standard airbox.

Really? The only thing that the stock airbox will do is possibly reduce the amount of air coming into the intake and therefore reducing the velocity past the sensor. Greg, you know about this?

[poyta]

Really? The only thing that the stock airbox will do is possibly reduce the amount of air coming into the intake and therefore reducing the velocity past the sensor. Greg, you know about this?

From what I hear the grid is there to even out the turbulence caused by the 90 degree bends in the factory airbox - if you remove the grid you'll get turbulent air passing over the sensor giving an incorrect reading. I can get away with it on mine because the APR Air Box I have now is a straight through system, no bends...therefore no turbulence. I

[benough]

Yeah I understood this to be true also.

There should be a small flat grille that floats in the bottom of the airbox. Remove that.

Do AFE make airboxes for T5?

[Greg Roles]

From what I hear the grid is there to even out the turbulence caused by the 90 degree bends in the factory airbox - if you remove the grid you'll get turbulent air passing over the sensor giving an incorrect reading. I can get away with it on mine because the APR Air Box I have now is a straight through system, no bends...therefore no turbulence. I

100% correct according to modshack and vwvortex.

[mikinoz]

100% correct according to modshack and vwvortex.

Advice taken.

I should probably investigate intake options for the T5 then...

[Greg Roles]

A 90 degree mandrel bend out of the airbox would be the minimum you'd want for grid removal, the stock sharp 90's are just too harsh.

[mikinoz]

Shame I don't have my modshack anymore, sold it on the MKV.

[poyta]

Update on the Carbon Fibre Cold Air Intake - not sure if its the intake or the recent de-grid but fuel consumption has improved noticeably. I've been in some pretty heavy traffic these last few days where I would normally average high 6's/100kms sometimes even dipping into the 7's ( oh the horror ! ) but lately been hovering in the low sixes. Also, I've noticed the car seems to accelerate a bit easier down low in the rev range, whereas before there was this slight sluggishness before the turbo kicked in, its now just a bit more responsive.