Re: AIR BOX mods re-visited

[Rolf Mair <waves@epix.net>]

Chad, first of all, I did the airbox mods on my 77 scirocco. It worked 
very well, however, we are talking about an antiquated (although very 
nice) injection system. The airboxes on most Audis ARE NOT TUNED. I cant 
say for sure about the newer audis, but the 5000's and <91 100's are not. 
Figure on this.....if they were tuned, including the air horn, wouldn't 
the filter scram all that tuning work anyway? You can't tune through a 
filter. After the filter is a different story. I'm not going to make 
factual statements about what kind of perf. increases you'll see by swiss 
cheesing your box, you may not see any. But, if you do it as I had stated 
earlier, you probably won't be bad off, as long as you don't over do it. 

Be careful about 'RamAir' It is ok to force fresh cool air in the general 
direction of the airbox, but not directly into the airbox. I experienced 
this first hand as I constructed a whizzy creation to ram large ammounts 
of air directly into the airbox on my race car. Around 100 mph, coming 
into a long curve, i hit a headwind that not only buffeted to car, but 
also the airflow sensor, giving me periodic rich conditions being put 
through my combustion chamber. It would load up pretty bad. I wasn't 
running an air filter as you all know of one to be, so the air wasn't as 
baffled. It may or may not affect a real air filter, but I wouldn't 
recommend trying it. The idea is not to force air into a fuel injection 
system, it is to simply provide it for use.
A previous post about scooping up water should also be taken to heart. 
Good advice! 
BTW, regarding thermal reduction/insulation; although it is difficult to 
fabricate so it doesnt rattle, making a heat sheild to fit between the 
intake manifold and the exhaust manifold is one of the best ways to keep 
the intake charge cool. Insulating the airbox may help somewhat, but 
since the header is so close to the intake, and since heat rises, the 
intake should be the first priority. I have one, made from thick S.Steel 
sheeting on the race car. The temp on top of the intake runners was 
lowered dramatically!
hope that helps!!
sincerely,
r.mair
waves@epix.net