Diamond

Ok-so I spent today with my much more sturdy heat resistant tape that is not the thin foily stuff but a thicker heat insulating tape--its not overly thick just a lot more sturdy--this is important since when you are covering the interior baffles the tape has a tendency to take the form of the waffle unless you make it super taut--this tape is so hard that you can cover the waffle pattern and it stays perfectly taut and flat which is ideal for smoothing the box out.

As i said I have no camara but its pretty common sense--you basically cover the entire box which is almost all baffled with smooth layers of material and the 3 or so bigger cavities that really stand out--you basically tape over those to create a flush surface, ultimately eliminating the cavity. All of this makes the total volume of the box slightly smaller, is totally smooth with no baffling and you tape all the cavities and baffling off so its all rounded edges--all funneling toward the intake piping--so its a much smoother, softer curved intake space.

Now for the cool part-you get a nice increase in induction noise which is all I wanted from this anyway-not as loud as the afe---Ill say maybe 40 percent as loud but also noticably louder than stock with no highway drone-I was happy with that.

Now this was cool observation which makes me believe it is flowing much better-I have driven the same 100 mile route, there and back about 200 times in the last 3 years. THe most I have ever gotten was 33mpg at 75-80mph bothways averaged out--mid humidity, 80-90 degree summer on 93octane fuel.

Of note I keep my tire pressure at 42psi on all 4 tires-this alone helped my milage from 30 on this trip to 33--so 33 is standard for my setup.

Well today on a hot 91 degree day, same other elements-I got 36.5 mpg on a 125 mile trip both there and back averaged.

This is pure observation and I can just say in 100s of trips on the same conditions I never hit above 33 so you can take that for what it is worth.

To me this makes snese the mod would increase airflow efficiency, pressurize the box more with lower volumes equalling higher pressure and higher air velocity--and this makes sense it would translate into more efficiently made power. Weather or not there is more HP from this or just more efficiency--that is beyond me. I can note though the butt dyno felt a nice change in throttle response-a quicker sharper response-instant response-again intuitively with a higher pressurzed box and air moving at a faster velocity--this agian makes sense.

OFten however mods that make sense dont equate to any gains and even losses-But for 10 dollars of material and 30 minutes of my time and everything bein reversible (opposed to dremmeling the box which IMO is not as good because you cannot block off the cavities and round out edges as nicely without a skill at dremeling.-its worht it

Most of you guys hate me--but I like to think I have made some good contributions and I keep doing so for the few people who often appreciate my tips-such as the thousands of people who benefited form the 25 second accelerator reset trick If I can save someone 4 mpg, give a few more hp and create a nice sound for free and save them buying a useless afe intake--job is done.

I think this compliments the RPI scoop nicely-the ramming of the air by the scoop only adds to the velocity of air and by making a more direct smooth rounded path from inlet to outlet---it just makes sense. Open up your airbox and see that it is all designed for sound deadening and makes no sense from a flow perspective.

I also thought about taking my odd cube shaped intake silencer off but I am going to leave that as that actually can have functionality of Hem. resonance--so I think this is the thing you can do to truly make the most of the stock intake/engine. I have an RPI exhaust as well and the BMS software to aid-I feel my car is maxed out as far as mods for performance without stepping up to headers, cams, FI etc which I will never do-not worth it on a car of this cheap cost.

enjoy and good luck--if you have good experience with this post some results-Ill continue to verify this improvement on mine

InFBMW

Sounds great, good job. Some pictures would be nice anyway.

Diamond

Here is a cool article-albeit from a motorcycle person but same applies to any NA 4 cycle engine--discussing the importance of the airbox as more than a noise inhibitor but as a way to increase engine performance. Makes me realy believe those huge open air intake systems really do lose power for more reasons than simply sucking in hot air-they lose the pressurization that modern airboxes use to force air into the intake track at specific frequencius.

I am going to play around with making the box even more streamline and less volume-with even a more direct path from in to out--I will see if I can find a perfect medium-not to small to reduce power but small enough to maximize pressure. These mods will likely change what peak hp you will see a gain at-the resonance changes based on airbox dimensions and Ill play with this and continue measuring mpg as a consistent measuring tool.

For all the money spent on mods--for us NA guys this has done more for my cars butt dyno and response than the exhaust, scoops, AFE by far and only second to the bms tune--which is great!

corey

I can only speak for myself. I was a bit PO'd from that other thread because I had genuine interest in the V1 but that's water under the bridge. I don't think anyone hates you, just have to be careful with tone and inflection on a forum because tone of voice is not always conveyed the way you mean it to be. Anyway, great contribution and kudos for thinking outside of the box.

InFBMW

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Diamond

no worries-my apologies right back at ya-its a little to eassy to come off as brash and I also never not speak my mind and tell it like it is--most dont like it but I feel I contribute.

And not too be corny but thinkin outside the box by looking inside the box--sorry had to throw that in im a lamo

danzanchy

What is the exact tape you used, and where can I get it? I'm really impressed and interested in doing this mod too... but I'm guessing it requires you to check your intake box for debris more often now? Please post pics if you can, a cell phone pic will do

Diamond

wow good find-it is quite similar to that picture-only much smoother-see how you can see the waffleling under the tape-this is what you dont want to happen, YOu want to lay the tap without it indenting which means pulling it very taught and pressing down only on the edges of it.. I initially used wide black duct tape and it worked fine but I wanted something a bit more permenent and some benefit with some heat shielding-it was from a stock I had from the pat I got online-basically a heat shield tape-if you google that lots will come up-anything like that will do-but you dont want the tin foil type you want the thick stuf-Ill try to find a link.

Well second observatoni after a 60 mile trip this evening-I drive a lot! Another familiar route-again have maxed out at 33 on this route and got 35.2 in 80 degree non humid weather in the midwest-I am clearly seeing this is makin a positive difference.

And I know butt dynoes arent acurate but it may be power or just quicker delivery of the power but the car is definetly more nimble from a punch of the throttle-

I hope someone else tries this to verify--Ill try pull out my old phone that did have a camara before it stopped working as a phone!-I can get some pics this next couple days.

Here is a link-it is the silver foil-the middle roll in the top image of 3 different rolls of tape.

Diamond

That looks pretty good-if tha is yours take some more tape over that with longer pieces and pull them more taut so it lays perfectly falt and you see no indentations-you may need thicker tape.

You also need to the other side-the top piece of the inake-both flow badly but the top especially has the room for improvement. If you look at the top piece--if you are looking at the outlet hole on the very left of the box facing the car, the space all to the right of the hole is cavities indented in-I basically eliminated all of that, making that entire wall where the outlet is on flush to the outlet hole. Also in that picture-of the bottom piece--you see how it slopes down to the right to go with the flow of the front wheel arch?

You want to eliminate that whole sloped area and get rid of the "dip" you want to tape over this with longer strands from one side of the dip to the other wall-ultimately eliminating the "pit" so the tape is taut over the airspace beneath for this part-you are essentially closing space of the airbox by eliminating this extra space-makes for a shorter route to the air filter by eliminating all that extra air to collect.

I also have a BMC filter for those interested. You can use your imagination too-The softer the bends and the more things funnel into the filter and out of the filter toward the outlet the likely better results..

InFBMW

Yes that is is mine. I'll do the top too and better job on bottom. I hope i will see some results in sound, so far no changes.