k well ive had an open cone filter on my 2001 A4 1.8t manual..slowly ive made the intake function even better everytime ..i had crappy small heat shield...shortly after i saw the "true heatshield" and went and made an identical copy of this $90 product for about 11 bucks ...which worked very well..well after a while the car started to lag alot in first and 2nd gear at low rpms..the other day i saw a setup like mine but with the long tube that comes in from the grill all the way to the filter ..i went and did it and the setup not only looks very OEM but custom aswell i had to turn the MAF sensor with that tophat to a 9:00 position facing toward the fender instead of str8 up in a 12:00 so that the tube would be able to attach and fit right...after i did this i noticed the car running much better dont know if it was that or what it was...i also zip tied the vacumm line out of the T i had to the boost gauge and now its real tight ...could it have been that ?

 

here are some pics of my setup..im very satisfied with it

[IMG]local://upfiles/13297/BACCCE8744BB41E0ADB4D4EA9EC0E25D.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/13297/5937CB20B676418E893609FF2A8DC70D.jpg[/IMG]

 

Looks pretty good. Could almost past for OEM to the untrained eye. Have you considered adding foam or heatshield material to the sides also?

 

^^^ what he said... its something to consider.

but besides that, looks nice... what company intake is it?

 

that is one bigass heatsheild