Re: Air Intake

[Brendan Rudack <rudack@umcc.ais.org>]

On Tue, 3 Nov 1998 River6822@aol.com wrote:

> I had asked some one about the first step in improving the engine performance
> of my 88 80q 10v 5 cylinder. He said that (assuming it was running in tip top
> shape) to modify the air intake.

Personally, you can piddle with this all you want and the most your going
to get (noticable) is a lot of cool(pun) induction noise. I  Tried
deleting the
hot air flap which pulls warm air from the exhaust manifold into the
intake, gains: nothing but some more junk on the work bench.  Tried
ducting cool air from behind the turn signal, again, no seat of the pant
or stopwatch gains. Finally, tried "swiss-cheesing" the airbox.  Again no
performance gains.. Sure felt a lot faster when you put your foot in it
and got a throaty induction howl....

> 2) Some one on the list had mentioned taking out a parking light and voila RAM
> AIR INDUCTION ?  Lets assume that you could replace the intake "hose" with a
> smooth path made from PVC pipe or something. Then take it to the lower center
> grill and use a reducing coupling or some type of air "scoop", like a funnel .
> Is it possible to get too much air flow ?

Ram air and CIS don't mix very well...  You are dealing with  a balanced
plate which is drawn open by airflow which is dependant on the throttle
plate opening.  Try forcing air in there and forcing this plate up and you
will get mixture problems... I'm sure Scott J. will pipe up if he reads
this.  Personally, I like Graydon's CIS mod... How did that go Graydon?
Throw it in the dumpster? :-)

Moral:  There's not much to be had through the intake avenue on your
car...IMO, Best bet is to tinker with the exhaust side of things...
I've had most luck there. 

HTH

Brendan Rudack AKA 
'98 A4tq 
'88 90q 2B tq pro-rally ride
Fenton, Michigan
USA