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What performance gains does this thing bring?

1453 Views 27 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  northpole
Question to wiser technical minds.

What real benefits are to be had from this here air intake thing?

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Fitted by a previous owner at no small expense I understand.
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Not a massive amount of extra power, it will make a louder induction roar when the engine is under load/accelerating.
Not a massive amount of extra power, it will make a louder induction roar when the engine is under load/accelerating.
The old placebo effect heh?

Its nicely made I'll give K&N that much.
It'll lose you power sucking in hot air from the engine bay.My car had a large hole hacked out of the bottom of the airbox when I got it and it bogged down when accelerating away from a standstill as it could only pull in hot air from the engine bay.I've since replaced it with a stock intake system so it can only pull in cold air from outside and it's noticeably better,it now never bogs down under the same conditions.Yes I can see a half a55ed attempt at a heatshield around it,but it's still open to engine bay temperatures and it loses the partial ram-air effect of the stock front grill mounted air intake.

VW have spent untold millions getting these bits just right (and they are just right),while companies like K&N have spent a lot of money that gets people to believe that clever marketing speak will increase their BHP,when of course it never can.
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On the upside your engine bay looks clean and even the VW stickers on the slam panel haven't come off yet :)
On the upside your engine bay looks clean and even the VW stickers on the slam panel haven't come off yet :)
Thank you Mr. Franko180 - the little pooch still scrubs up alright.

I shall muse on Mr. Imagewerx 's observations while fiddling with other things.
It will increase intake noise, manufacturers have to consider that aswell not everyone likes the noise
Imo Induction roar is better than any exhaust note and what I/if (depending on setup) loose in bhp I gain in grins anyway, exhausts are annoying droning all the time. I only like a noise when I'm gunning it anyway
Sat at 70 ish on the motorway I want it quiet
Is there no gain at all on N/A engines? I watched some stuff where turbo car loses and n/a gains slightly. Is this also the same for Pipercross viper and bmc cda kits? or just open cone?
I've just fitted a Pipercross panel filter and I now have at least 250bhp
Can't see the original image in work (Photobucket is a no-go), but do not tar all 'intakes' with the same brush. Some work, and work very well. Open unshielded cones in the bay just don't.

There are pro's and con's for each and everything is a compromise - depends what you want. If you want to minimise heatsoak due to standstill/slow driving then the OE box does this well. If you want all out peak HP/performance then a well designed intake is the way to go. What you gain very much depends on the intake itself, engine, stage of tune, mapping etc etc.
Is there no gain at all on N/A engines? I watched some stuff where turbo car loses and n/a gains slightly. Is this also the same for Pipercross viper and bmc cda kits? or just open cone?
You'll get more benefits and better value for money just by giving it regular services.There is absolutely no verifiable evidence of any otherwise stock n/a engine benefiting from any sort of induction kit..;.......

http://uk-mkivs.net/index.php?app=core&module=search&section=search&do=search&fromsearch=1
You'll get more benefits and better value for money just by giving it regular services.There is absolutely no verifiable evidence of any otherwise stock n/a engine benefiting from any sort of induction kit..;.......

http://uk-mkivs.net/index.php?app=core&module=search&section=search&do=search&fromsearch=1
One of these days im gonna remember to search through Niki @ R-Techs Facebook page for the proof/testing done on intake vs airbox (even just with the airbox lid open) just for you Chris :Y: :whistle: :lol-lol: (Was on the R32 lump too :Y: )
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VW have spent untold millions getting these bits just right (and they are just right),while companies like K&N have spent a lot of money that gets people to believe that clever marketing speak will increase their BHP,when of course it never can.
In some cases Chris, uprated filters / induction systems have a proven gain.

TFSI engines for example gain up to 15bhp from having a high flow filter.

As with everything designed by a manufacturer it's a balance - it COULD flow more, but would take up more space in the engine bay, would have more noise, perhaps need changing / servicing more often, everything is a compromise. Same with engine power, suspension components, etc.

Generally, on a non-turbocharged engine you will not notice much (if any) gain, other than an increase in intake noise.
I think people forget the different emissions laws worldwide, most airboxes are restricted period. The only engines where VW actually got it right are the mk4 turbo charged engines (both petrol and diesel).... the rest benefit from a proper CAI that usually add a gain of 15bhp in the mid range. This includes the R32 engines.
I think people forget the different emissions laws worldwide, most airboxes are restricted period. The only engines where VW actually got it right are the mk4 turbo charged engines (both petrol and diesel).... the rest benefit from a proper CAI that usually add a gain of 15bhp in the mid range. This includes the R32 engines.
They have a cold air intake anyway.I'd like to see proof of this and are willing to admit I'm wrong if it comes from a verifiable source.Yes we know that a full and proper ram air system can and does give power gains that can be felt,but any bends in the intake pipes quickly cancel out the ram air effect.
I'm mostly going with Imagewerx on this think its mainly show and noise and looking at the size of the filter element it's debatable whether it will even flow as well as the stock filter. Bear in mind that VW did not consider it necessary to change the intake air design for the R32 and even with tuned lumps there don't appear to be large numbers of people complaining about the stock system and suggesting replacement as a priority.

As others have said a well-designed and implemented bespoke intake system for a specific engine and tune would likely yield some extra power but I look at this and wonder how much design has actually gone into it beyond appearance

Maybe the money would have been better spent on a dyno session, tune and custom re-map
K&N filter in the original air box can make sense if you change it regularly and are keeping the car a while over stock papers ones. Performance gains, perhaps a few in a stock box, but hardly worth it. They are a long life filter as they are cleaned rather than replaced, that's where I'll draw my line
K&N filter in the original air box can make sense if you change it regularly and are keeping the car a while over stock papers ones. Performance gains, perhaps a few in a stock box, but hardly worth it. They are a long life filter as they are cleaned rather than replaced, that's where I'll draw my line
Just for interest I looked the cost of a K+N filter for my Golf 1.9TDI £51 for just the filter and £368 for a replacement filter kit

stock oem filter is £10 delivered and (VW reckon) good for 60k and less hassle than cleaning a K+N. Thats 300k miles or 5 years even if you change yearly before it costs the same as K+N

K+N reckon the filter kit is good for an extra 3.3bhp max - dear hp boost when you can get a re-map for less that should give 30-40hp

Whichever one you look at it seems hard to justify choosing the K+N option as good value
OK, that is a lot of money for a kit. My experience comes from classic beetles, K&N were about £350 at the time and worth considering vs a paper filter.

I change my air filter every time I service, around once a year or 10k miles. By which time its filthy and I'm happy paying out the £10ish for a new one. I've done three services in three years, so at that point a K&N starts to make sense if I'm thinking on keeping it for five years or so...
OK, that is a lot of money for a kit. My experience comes from classic beetles, K&N were about £350 at the time and worth considering vs a paper filter.

I change my air filter every time I service, around once a year or 10k miles. By which time its filthy and I'm happy paying out the £10ish for a new one. I've done three services in three years, so at that point a K&N starts to make sense if I'm thinking on keeping it for five years or so...
funnily enough I've got a 1972 GT Beetle (1.6) with a factory air-box and . paper filter and that isn't filthy after a year. Similarly my Golf 5 had an air filter change at 56k just short of 4 year old (6yr VW time interval) and that wasn't filthy either I just decided to give it a full service when i bought it used

You might break even on the original replacement filter from K+N but thats about it
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