Re: Drilled airbox

[es61@prism.gatech.edu (Eric Schumacher)]

> 
> > >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


A few months ago, EC ran a short article about a Porsche 944 that had
several thousands of dollars in engine damage because water had entered
the engine via the incoming air duct.  It seems that water does not like
to be compressed and cracked the block.  This might be another concern
when drilling holes in the airbox.

Eric Schumacher
>