cutting fins off air lid

[frusciante fan]

so i did the free ram air mod tonight and i started on getting rid of the fins on the inside of my air lid. i got most of them off with an angle grinder, and i'll finish tomorrow.

will this actually give me a power boost? does sand paper work to smooth everything out after i've got the fins off? also, if some very small pieces of of plastic stick around, will they damage anything if they're sucked up?

[Pewter2K1]

Re: cutting fins off air lid

you dont want any pieces left in there, get that thing smoothed down all the way then wash it off, even the smallest grain of plastic could cause a problem... better safe than sorry.

power boost... well, not as you would hope, but you will pick up a bit just cause its alot smoother flow through the filter

[frusciante fan]

Re: cutting fins off air lid

i finished up with the angle grinder this morning. i got all of the fins ground exept .5" of each fin closest to the end.

2 sheets of 40 grit sandpaper and a couple hours later, it's smooth.

washed it off and then dried and a couple minutes and then shook it out well.

i just hope that i'll actually see a gain from shaving the fins and cutting the bottom of the air box.

[98 3.8]

Re: cutting fins off air lid

You're off to a pretty good start. I'd recommend also taking some hose (dryer hose worked for my car) and putting it in place of the rubber/plastic air silencer between the lid and the throttle body. I didn't really feel a gain when I shaved the lid, but putting in the hose helped out a lot. If you do the hose, you will have to find a place to put your IAT sensor as it is originally in the silencer unit. I drilled a hole in my stock lid and just put it in that with a rubber grommet.

[frusciante fan]

Re: cutting fins off air lid

i was planning on doing that, but i've heard that the dryer hose is crappy and can actually make things worse?

hard to say. i'm not expecting any really noticable gains from this though, but i'm hoping the aluminum driveshaft going in this friday will help my acceleration a bit.

[98 3.8]

Re: cutting fins off air lid

No, you'll notice a difference in the sound and power by deleting the air silencer. And yep, aluminum driveshaft will also make a nice difference.