Does Anyone Know About These Aftermarket Cold Air Intake Upgrades...

I see them sold on ebay all the time for anything between 20 and 50
dollars. usually a brushed & polished tube, & washable cone filter
and couplings. Are they any good/ Do they really deliver the
horsepower boost? Interfere with throttle body intake flow or
pressure? Do any damage?

Scarlet,
Using any of those oiled filters can eventually burn up the mass airflow
sensor in the car from oil contamination. The oil sticks to the wire and
accumulates dirt (yep, it does get by the filter), causing the wire to
overheat and burn out. If you're building a racecar - running the car at
1/4mi increments - then go ahead. If you want a daily driver, the ol' paper
filters are the way to go. I'm sure they will have some effect on hp -
whether or not it will be noticable depends on the car and the sensitivity
of your "butt dyno".
Steve Sears
1987 Audi 5kTQ - had a K&N - made the turbo spooling noise louder but no
real obvious effect on hp and coated the intake with oil - now the K&N
protects my garage shelf from dust (and does that pretty well)
1980 Audi 5k - had a K&N, now has a paper filter (and an oily film on the
intake)
1962 and '64 Auto Union DKW Junior deLuxes - metal mesh filter keeps
pterodactyls out of the carb

(SPAM Blocker NOTE: Remove SHOES to reply)
"The Scarlet Pimpernel" > wrote in message
...
> I see them sold on ebay all the time for anything between 20 and 50
> dollars. usually a brushed & polished tube, & washable cone filter
> and couplings. Are they any good/ Do they really deliver the
> horsepower boost? Interfere with throttle body intake flow or
> pressure? Do any damage?

"The Scarlet Pimpernel" > wrote in message
...
> I see them sold on ebay all the time for anything between 20 and 50
> dollars. usually a brushed & polished tube, & washable cone filter
> and couplings. Are they any good/ Do they really deliver the
> horsepower boost? Interfere with throttle body intake flow or
> pressure? Do any damage?

Hop on over to www.clubb5.com

A fair number of threads on there about The "CAIM" upgrade which is,
basically, what I think you are talking about. K&N/Oiled Airfilters don't
seem to be a great idea but "force feeding" the airbox with ducted cold air
from outside the car definitly seems to provide a benefit for relatively low
cost. As I understand it a lot of the engine mapping etc is triggered by the
temperature of the air going into the intake - basically the colder you can
make it (i.e. by taking air from ouitside the engine bay) the better the
thing likes it. You just need to make sure it goes into the correct side of
the Airbox - i.e. before the air filter.

rgds

Iain

"The Scarlet Pimpernel" > wrote...

<< snip question >>

The biggest concern I have for them is the ones that are ducted to pull air
from below the engine, close to the ground. I've seen more than one car (not
just Audis) in wet weather suck in some water. In a few cases, it was enough
to lock up the engine. One guy was lucky enough that his car just stalled
without bending anything.


Peter Smith

On Thu, 4 Nov 2004 11:37:16 -0600, "Peter Smith" >
wrote:

>"The Scarlet Pimpernel" > wrote...
>
><< snip question >>
>
>The biggest concern I have for them is the ones that are ducted to pull air
>from below the engine, close to the ground. I've seen more than one car (not
>just Audis) in wet weather suck in some water. In a few cases, it was enough
>to lock up the engine. One guy was lucky enough that his car just stalled
>without bending anything.
>
>
>Peter Smith
>
As a matter of fact I went and looked at the K & N site and they warn
you not to use them in wet weather. The filter has the tendancy to
transfer moisture into the engine with all the usual bad results. So
I'll pass on this one for now. Too bad there isn't a hood scoop mod
to go with it. What was that jap car that had that wild offset hood
scoop?

APR engineer told me just to upgrade the air filter to K&N. It
doesn't make a differennce with the cold air intakes in the B5 A4. I
was looking at getting a APR chip and asked him about it and he told
me not to waste my money. To upgrade my exhaust.

They usually don't do a whole lot of damage, however the oil from the K&N
air filters tends to get all over the element in the Mass Air Flow Sensor.
Then you got problems. I tried a k/n filtercharger on my truck and the
throttle response was much better and there was a slight increase in low end
torque but not much to write home about. Be careful with chips. They can
cause more harm than good, and often do. And they void your warranty,
unless your in good with the guys at your dealership.
Good Luck
Chuck
<vitonxl> wrote in message
...
> APR engineer told me just to upgrade the air filter to K&N. It
> doesn't make a differennce with the cold air intakes in the B5 A4. I
> was looking at getting a APR chip and asked him about it and he told
> me not to waste my money. To upgrade my exhaust.