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ORIGINAL: luvin_the_rings

Hellow All,

Well I was sitting on my lazy butt after breakfast yeasterday scrolling aimlessly through the threads on here and stumbled upon the airbox mod thread. So I figured i'd give it a shot. I read through all 9 pages and saw that it had the most effect on the DBW A4's (post b5 facelift for the n00benhousers). Well, I have a 98, and im good old fashond n-DBW. Im always up for some more sound/power/throttle response, so heres how I did it:

Step 1. Pretty simple, unplug the MAF sensor, losen the circle clamp that holds the intake hose coming form the turbo to the airbox to the airbox and get the top of the airbox out of the way, there is a wire that comes out of this wierd nipple (hehe) that you can't undo, so just fold the top back onto the top of the engine, that'll be enough room.

Step 2. Remove air filter. If your paper filter is still in there, I would highly recocomend replacing it w/ a K&N, its better, cheap, and cheap insurance to some h20 gettin all up in your grille, oops, i mean turbo.

Step 3. Notice that unlike the n-DBW cars, the bottom of the airbox DOES NOT go all the way through to the fender liner, there is no sticky tape, and no "clean section" that lets you kno where the opening sits. Well, were gonna make our own!

http://f5.putfile.com/6/16116482473.jpg
http://f5.putfile.com/6/16116490485.jpg
http://f5.putfile.com/6/16116493343.jpg

Step 4. Remove the tube that is inside the top of the airbox, two philips screws, pretty simple.
http://f5.putfile.com/6/16116500569.jpg

Step 5.
At this point you have some options, screen in or out. I chose out for the time being, but after some beer and hard reflection, i am going to put it back in for two reasons: 1. its in there for a reason, probally to str8ten out the air b4 it goes into the MAF sensor. 2. sombody with a way higher degree than i have, in germany, wanted it that way, so there it stays.
http://f5.putfile.com/6/16116550466.jpg

Step 6.
This part is the hardest part of the whole thing, its still pretty simple, but i just takes awhile. you need to put bottom of the airbox back into the car as it would sit as if it were bolted in. NOTE: there are two rubber stops that the feet of the bottom of the box sits on, those combined with the bolt hole at the top that goes into the fender will give you the three points you need to make sure that your are tracing your hole in the right spot, this is important! Using this position, trace out the area of the airbox with a bright marker in which you want to drill holes in. Notice that i made sure that the area that i was going to be drilling was the area that was closest to the fenderliner, this makes later steps much easier.
http://f5.putfile.com/6/16116560277.jpg

Step 7.
You can get as creative as you want here. I drilled 3/4" holes in the middle of ever little square that was inside of my tracing. You can cut this part out, cut some of it out, put a screen w/e you desire. This is going to allow air to enter from the bottom of the airbox through the filter, after this step there is no turning back. You will have two entrances to the airbox. More Air makes the MAF tell the engine to add more fuel, and as you all should know more air + more fuel = good...
http://f5.putfile.com/6/16116564687.jpg

Step 8.
Put bottom of the airbox back into the car as it would sit as if it were bolted in. NOTE: there are two rubber stops that the feet of the bottom of the box sits on, those combined with the bolt hole at the top that goes into the fender will give you the three points you need to make sure its in the right spot. Bolt it down if you feel you need to. Now take your bright pretty marker (neon green > all) and stick it into the holes (hehe) to trace your border of were you are going to be cutting the fenderliner. Take out the bottom of the box and connect the dots!
http://f5.putfile.com/6/16116572554.jpg
http://f5.putfile.com/6/16117011744.jpg
http://f5.putfile.com/6/16117022886.jpg


Step 9
For this part your gonna want a drill that has a power cord, at least for the way I did it, as with step 7, you can get creative here. Some people get screen and put it inplace of the little holes I drilled, I saw one guy who found a piece of a TT fenderliner that had vents in it, he just cut out a section of his a4 fenderliner and put the vented section of the tt fenderliner in. Do what you desire, but heres how i did it. I went through two cordless drill batteries by the time i was about half way through then decided to go for one that had a cord. Those are 5/32" holes, 202 of them...
http://f5.putfile.com/6/16117025660.jpg

Step 10.
Take some of the Tape shown below, and put a border around your holes tall enough so it seals off your box from the engine bay, so it takes cold air ONLY from inside your fender well near your tire. I went double tall, in heindseight, i should have went double wide too, it makes it easier.
http://f5.putfile.com/6/16117034526.jpg

Step 11.
Bolt the bottom of the airbox in first w/o the top on, stick your fingers down in the holes touching the foam and align it so the tape is not blocking any holes. You can put the top of the airbox on with the bottom bolted in, its easy, trust me. I know its hard, but you can do it, i have confindence in you.
http://f5.putfile.com/6/16117042240.jpg

Step 12.
Put the top on. Take the top of the airbox and make sure the MAF housing is sticking out the right way. There is a small rubber seal that pokes through the hole in the top of the airbox that the intake tube from the turbo slides on to, dont forget your circle clamp! Also make sure that the MAF is plugged in inside the aribox, incase you unplugged it to check it out, cuz it looked cool, which i did, so make sure everything is hooked up correctly inside b4 you put it on. Put the filter in the exact way it was before, if you reverse it, dirt might get in your engine, and your gonna feel stupid. Then set the top down on the top of the filter, making sure no vac lines/wires are in the way, or twisted or crimped. Clamp it down with the four clips, put the heat shield back on, plug in everything you unplugged, and your good to go.

Step 13.
Start up your car, make sure it runs good, then go out and enjoy! Give the ecu 100 miles or so to readjust to the new amount of air coming in.

Impressions:
I did not notice much more hp or torque, but as with the DBW guys, throttle response, and a bit more low end oomph surfaced itself.
the grumble from 1500 to 2500 is much more noticible at WOT, and not to mention the all famous whoosh from the dv is loud and clear.
Go out and try it!

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ORIGINAL: luvin_the_rings

how'd u fix it?

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