CMC

In the winter, when the air is nice and cool, would the air intake actually be beneficial?

If a heatshield is built well enough, would it be sufficient to give the car just as much air?

I have the LLTek air intake, I did it mainly for the deeper tone. I didn't really notice a performance change with or without it, I'm just curious as to how it can be made better.

An interesting point to note: My friend who rides a Suzuki GSX-R 750, told me that when he put in a K&N filter on his bike, he did get a 3, almost 4 hp increase, and both dyno runs were done on the same day. 3 HP isn't really noticeable on anything other than my R/C 4X4, but the numbers are there for the air filter. I guess heat isn't as big an issue when you have somewhat of a "ramair" intake in the front.


Thanks a lot.

BOOSTD

no. Your underhood temps will not be much lower (if at all) in the wintertime. I had an AEM intake on my old GS-R, and it REALLY was stronger in the winter. The fundamental difference is that filter was completely outside the engine bay. The current filter kits for A4s are not.

MDsA4

The only way the intake will really benefit you in any way is if you removed your right front light housings, then you'll have the benefit of a real cold air intake.

OneEighth

IMO they seem to be a waste of $$ on this car, unless you have ALOT of mods.

jussnb

the cowl where the battery used to be. This setup requires you to cut a hole in the firewall adjacent to the throttle body. That's what TDL Racing did to my car and it's amazing. Kind of noisy (a very pronounced sucking sound under acceleration), but there are always tradeoffs. I'll put up with a little noise for the better performance and to have something somewhat unique.

<img src="http://www.computersarebad.com/airintake.jpg">

<img src="http://www.computersarebad.com/wholeengine.jpg">

MDsA4

Your setup looks amazing and seems like it has potential to be an awesome mod by the way. My question wa not meant to be demeaning in any way, I'm just curious as to where air would flow into the filter.

jussnb

the area between the bottom edge of the windshield and the edge of the hood is a high-pressure area (at least that's what some of the tests have shown around here). Air rushing over the hood is forced into that area. Since that area is behind the firewall, it's isolated from the engine and stays very cool. And cold, fresh, high-pressure air is ideal.

This system is the same setup that the Speedvision A4s are running, so it has been proven on the track. But it's not for everybody. It's pretty noisy (even though I lined the firewall compartment with Dynamat Xtreme), and I'm going to have to be extra careful not to let any snow find its way into the filter during the winter months. But since I have pretty much gone the distance with my car, I figured that it would be consistent with the rest of my race-level mods.

But installing it is a HUGE undertaking, and I'm not aware of any other street-legal A4 that has it. The TDL Racing crew did an amazing job on the install, and I'm really pleased with it.

Joe N.

I've spoken to guys at AWE and like, and they pretty much agree that the cone hinders the performance of your car - you'll actually lose hp - except for like the first 2 minutes of your drive when your turbo is still relatively "cool." If your car is chipped, I would definitely say no. Take your car out for a sprited drive, even slightly spirited drive, for a couple of minutes at night time (when the air is cooler), and go home and pop your hood where it is dark, you'll see a pretty bright red glow coming from your turbo. Now stick your hand close to the turbo (don't touch anything, of course, or you'll burn yourself -- seriously, can't stress that enough, don't touch anything) and just the air around the turbo feels like it's melting your skin. Compare that air temp to the air temp around, say, you ABS unit, and you'll notice a total difference. Now think about where your airbox is and you'll know not to put a cone in. Heat shields? Do you want a piece of metal around your air filter heating up?

BigDog

between the engine compartment and passenger compartment and is called a "firewall" because by regulatory decreee it must be able to withstand an engine compartmet fire (of some certain degrees, not sure what) for a certain time (again, not sure) as a safety measure. Not that many cars have engine fires these days, except of course new BMW 3 and 5 series.

jussnb

is its technical term or not. But I understand what you're saying. "Firewall" has a nicer ring to it than "thin barrier wall."