RE: Drilled airbox

[Hulda Jowett <hjowett@nasc.mass.edu>]

> >My friends are German car enthusiasts (BMW's, Porsche's, VW's, and Audi's), 
> >and they are encouraging me to drill big holes in the airbox on my 86 4kcs 
> >quattro. My friend did it on an 86 GTI Golf and swears it made a difference 
> >in HP, he also installed a K&N (as I will be doing this weekend). 
> 
> 
> Drilling holes in the bottom of the airbox obviously increases airflow into
> the airbox, but it also is considered an air intake modification for
> competition.  You may be penalized if you compete in autocross or other
> racing- including being bumped to a class you cannot be competitive in.
> 
Hi to all, this is my first posting to list. My name is Brian, I use my 
mothers account. Although I don't own an Audi, I have future plans for 
one. I currently drive a Corrado VR6.

Dyno tests show little or no gain is accomplished by drilling the CIS 
airbox. They even left the bottom off of the box with no gain! This was 
on an 8V GTI, mods unknown, same engine as many Audis. If you do drill 
the box, try direct cold air to it. Other engines of higher output can 
benifit from airbox modifacations though. On VW's VR6 cars, 2 - 4hp can 
be gained by removing the restrictive snorkels (helmholtz resonators) 
from the air box. Some Audis with motronic injection may have a similar 
mod that applies to them. You will gain some noise by doing this also. 

Oh yeah, since were talking a quattro here, are you going to be using it 
in the snow? My friend drilled the box on his Jetta. One snowy day while 
on his way to work (VW/Audi dealer), he stopped to get some coffee. He 
got back in the car and tried to start it. It chugged a liitle, stalled 
and would not restart. Car had spark, and the fuelpump was running, 
he could not figure out what was wrong. He was late, so he called work to 
get a tow. He had the techs look at it, get this. They pulled the boot 
off of the airflow sensor and found a large chunk of ice had formed and 
froze the plate wide open. You can guess what had happened. They had to 
change the oil and put in new plugs. The cause of it was the drilled box 
sucking in snow. Live and learn.

Brian 93 C VR6