Air intakes

[GTI_PAPA]

I have noticed that there has been a lot of discussion regarding air intakes lately, with lots of good ideas. I was trawling through the web and found that Unifilter Australia have a free development program. I have used their rampod kit(s) on previous Jap cars with good results, plus great induction sound...

[noone]

Good input. The stock airbox design is pretty good, the hose section which many have replaced with the PD160 makes a big difference to a chipped Polo.

Personally, with the standard Turbo, I don't think that there is a lot to be gained from altering pre the MAF, but that does not mean there cant be minor improvements to power and performance and massive differences to the induction noise.

The work VWindahouse has been doing towards plumbing a 3" flex pipe from the foglight area up past his mini-battery may yield great results, wait and see. With the central intake section removed, there is more space to work with. One day I'll have to change my battery and I think that's when I 'll have a good look at moving it around and seeing if the mounting solution can be reworked without too much skill (ie, by me).

I hope this area gets a lot of attention and interest.

Feel free to post your ideas, opinions, etc, no matter how relevant or not they may be...

[noone]

Removed the battery to have a gander at the access for the intake / sectioning off an airbox area.

I've taken a few photos if anyone is interested, a little hard to get perspective from them.



I'm thinking a smaller battery (does not have to be tiny) would fit well near the fire wall where the back of the airbox was. Will need to work out where to mount it (well, likely have someone work this out for me). This will leave heaps of room for the filter and a good box to suck air from the foglight area that VWindahouse has been working on.

Not sure if I'll get to have more of a play with this before I head OS in a week and then will need to get a jobby to justify spending money on the Polo again... The Pod filter is the way to go IMO for anyone wanting a little more than the stock airbox offers, but moving the battery seems to be the only way to get cool air into it without doing a lot more work.

Once the airbox and battery are out, there is quite a bit of bracketry and crap for the mounting points. Going to save a few kg of crap there too...

[mikepologti]

ive got a bmc cold airintake on mine, it doesnt increase hp (i think theres a few threads on that discusion) but it feels like it gives the car a lil more breath in the higher rev range when asociated with a ecu tune. failing that as said above the pd160 with a quality air filter will do just as well.

[Buller_Scott]

geez mike, where the hell have you been?

[noone]

I had another crack at the Pod enclosure



Using a 45 deg elbow and the MAF at the TIP is a greater distance from the filter. Less turbulance can only be good. I've added a little sealing so there no air can enter on the engine side or top of the enclosure.

The heat seems to be a non issue, as much from the shield near the engine as the enclosure.

Since ditching the stock box, its been difficult to gauge the changes as I recently had issues with the turbo bolts... I think the engine gets more air with less effort, the temps may be slightly higher, but only logging is going to give me a clear indication of the changes.

Its been a good little experiment. Using a 45 or 90 deg silicone hose and shielding the pod from the top and side of the engine bay seems to be the most important areas for cool air. Full isolation and intake ducting would be nice...

[mikepologti]

@ buller , life got in the way man, crappy situation really but in a much better place for it good to be back.

@noone , looks tight and clean , just one question, how are you keeping the battery in place?

[Buller_Scott]

@ buller , life got in the way man, crappy situation really but in a much better place for it good to be back.

well hope things are okay - welcome back, man!

[break]

Having experimented with intakes on my old 9N3... the pod filter certainly made the most noise (actually, a HELL of a lot of intake/spool noise), but it suffered horribly from heat soak in stop/start traffic... even with a heat shield, yet gave no discernible difference in the 'butt dyno' stakes (if anything, I'd say it was slightly slower)

The seat intake (or another method of enlarging the OEM intake) or a fully enclosed pod with a cold air feed from a cool low pressure area.

[noone]

@noone , looks tight and clean , just one question, how are you keeping the battery in place?

Battery is held in by a single bolt and bracket at the front of the battery, holding it down onto the battery bracketry. Stock in that dept. I've removed the plastic housing as it was getting in the way and didn't really do anything 2 cable ties could not. I'm still using the battery

Having experimented with intakes on my old 9N3... the pod filter certainly made the most noise (actually, a HELL of a lot of intake/spool noise), but it suffered horribly from heat soak in stop/start traffic... even with a heat shield, yet gave no discernible difference in the 'butt dyno' stakes (if anything, I'd say it was slightly slower)

This is about right. The real question is, when does flow become more important than temps. Keeping the engine air from entering the intake makes a huge difference, but improving on the stock box with the PD160 is going to take some more engineering and may be a project I shelve.