Hi all im new here and have a question and hope im posting this in the right place!

I have a 98 audi A3 AGU engine and k03 turbo.

I brought a CAI of ebay the other day and when I came to fit it I realized my stock airbox was different to most as it has what I belive to be called a ICM mounted on the top side of the box so I wasnt able to just swap out the box and connect the cai straight to the MAF as the ICM is connected to the air box(if I take it off im left with a big hole). So I instead smoothed out the air box and noticed better throttle response.

My question is as I still have the cia kit, could I remove the pannel filter totaly, and run my CIA (cut down of course) to the bottom of the stock filter box I know it would take a bit of modding to the box and pipe, but I think this is a case of the best of both worlds as I would have a CIA and a stock airbox so there would be no chance of sucking water into the engine when going thru a big puddle say if I drilled a couple of extra drain holes.

Call it a sort of hybrid stock/CIA

Here are some picks of what im looking at doing and some picks of the ICM removed from a airbox and still attached (note the hole it leaves behind)

Thoughts please!

 

I think it should work fine as long as you connect the CAI to the correct side of the air box, but you will still have to worry about deep puddles if the filter is going to be low enough to get in them.

 

the CAI pipe I have runs up the same side as the stock air pipe so fitting is no problem, I'm sure of that bit.

As for the deep puddles I know my filter may get wet but, my thinking is I wouldnt have to worry about water getting in to the engine as it would just run up the pipe and out the air box (the airbox is designed this way why else would it have a drain hole in?) unlike If I just had the CAI installed on its own It would get into the engine