22 replies to this topic

[cheeky_chops]

After i did some air temp testing (lots of air moving even behind the engine at any speed over 30mph) i decided it was time to look at fcuking opening up the airbox

Took it out last year and the old filter was very black after 30k miles (app. its a 40k service item!) - you can see it is blacker in one part. I also removed the trumpet in the lid while it was apart (no pic):



1 year and 6000 miles later. I have put a few arrows on to show how many turns the air has to make. Firstly the pipe is pointing back so the air coming past has to do a 180deg turn. Next is a thin tube. Next its cramped against the side and turns 90deg thru the filter (you can see the darker area). another 90deg turn to get into the inlet pipe:



So, i got out the dremel and totally ripped out the lower pipes It faces away from the engine and also away from the "ear".



So whats it like? It def feels more perky and responsive on the throttle/pickup. Coming off the throttle, with the proalloy pipe the recirc valve is ALOT louder with "pssst's" and "woosh's"! Its an acquired taste! Is sounds very much like a Viper inlet but cost f all Not sure if passing people can here it tbh...

As a side note, at full bore I noticed a small "pssst" as the recirc valve dumped @ 3k rpm. Tieing it in with the boost gauge, it dumps a load of boost 20 down to 12psi, before recovering to 17. Very difficult to watch in this slippy weather. So ordered a new boost solenoid, will hopefully solve it...

[boghouse]

after my cs2 with air box mods the recirc noises/ whooshes etc are much more noticeable. I like it....after a short trip out this eve before work I'm not too sure Kate is convinced

[Code Monkey]

Interesting, your airbox has an additional pipe on the outside of it which mine was missing. On the other VX I have removed the trumpets from it had this pipe and the noise of the turbo was a lot less noticable from inside the car. I also removed both trumpets inside the airbox, just for completeness, and yes there is a fair bit more noise actually sounds like a turbo now, in this weather makes it easier to drive by ear as well, you can hear the turbo getting ready to wake you up of a morning. Given the filter is at most a fiver, seems daft to not change it yearly and have a little more openness with the airbox.

[cheeky_chops]

your airbox has an additional pipe on the outside of it which mine was missing.

Gotcha. You werent missing much! The 2nd pic i have reconstructed the pipes into the lower box for the piccy as i had already cut them all out...

It all adds to the sensory maelstrom!!

[Paulo]

after my cs2 with air box mods the recirc noises/ whooshes etc are much more noticeable. I like it....after a short trip out this eve before work I'm not too sure Kate is convinced

Sounds great inside the car but very little of it can be heard outside

[Code Monkey]

after my cs2 with air box mods the recirc noises/ whooshes etc are much more noticeable. I like it....after a short trip out this eve before work I'm not too sure Kate is convinced

Sounds great inside the car but very little of it can be heard outside

True not much,

But running a 'modified' airbox (40k miles car) alongside a standard one(20k miles), made a noticable difference enough to prompt need for the change on the standard airbox.

[jonkelly]

i am so doing this this weekend!! takin out all of my trumpets! i just had by big service so Plans should have changed my air filter... lets find out! although this will be the first time i have ever done anything to a car bar change a fuel filter on a 106... but this does sound like an easy job! ill flick through though checking for a walk through/guide on here first mind! is it wrong but im kinda excited to to do this!

[Toady]

i am so doing this this weekend!! takin out all of my trumpets! i just had by big service so Plans should have changed my air filter... lets find out!

although this will be the first time i have ever done anything to a car bar change a fuel filter on a 106... but this does sound like an easy job! ill flick through though checking for a walk through/guide on here first mind!

is it wrong but im kinda excited to to do this!

just so you know you cant remove it (Easily) from the engine bay...it has to come out of the wheel nsr arch!

[Sambo1]

i am so doing this this weekend!! takin out all of my trumpets! i just had by big service so Plans should have changed my air filter... lets find out!

although this will be the first time i have ever done anything to a car bar change a fuel filter on a 106... but this does sound like an easy job! ill flick through though checking for a walk through/guide on here first mind!

is it wrong but im kinda excited to to do this!

They didnt do mine when i had a service at 38K

They dont do them every year like most cars :\

[Zoobeef]

On my autodata cd it says it should be changed every 4 yrs or 40k, so i'd say get a garage to do it on the same service as cambelt ones. Altho if your doing it yourself i'd do it more regularly as its only £5, especially if you cutting extra holes in the box. As a point to the holes, put some in the very bottom of the box then if any larger lumps of crap get in they can fall out again

[Code Monkey]

As a point to the holes, put some in the very bottom of the box then if any larger lumps of crap get in they can fall out again

Why does that sound like drilling a hole in the bottom of a leaky boat to let the water out?

[Zoobeef]

As a point to the holes, put some in the very bottom of the box then if any larger lumps of crap get in they can fall out again

Why does that sound like drilling a hole in the bottom of a leaky boat to let the water out?

Well if your gonna put some big old holes on the ear side of the box, chances are some bigger lumps of crap are gonna go straight in through the ear, puttin some holes right in the bottom will let the bigger crap hit the filter then drop out.

[cheeky_chops]

there is a small hole in each corner to let water out anyway If you are worried about boulders, some wire mesh might be an idea - tbh, its not facing forward, the filter is a material (not actually "paper") and the AMM has 2 grilles around it too!

Edited by cheeky_chops, 12 December 2008 - 04:18 PM.

[P11 COV]

Mine has the Courtney air box mod. The turbo noises are much enhanced with this too. What do courtney do to it? (I'm to lazy to look + its cold out there at the mo!)

[daggles]

After i did some air temp testing (lots of air moving even behind the engine at any speed over 30mph) i decided it was time to look at fcuking opening up the airbox

Took it out last year and the old filter was very black after 30k miles (app. its a 40k service item!) - you can see it is blacker in one part. I also removed the trumpet in the lid while it was apart (no pic):



1 year and 6000 miles later. I have put a few arrows on to show how many turns the air has to make. Firstly the pipe is pointing back so the air coming past has to do a 180deg turn. Next is a thin tube. Next its cramped against the side and turns 90deg thru the filter (you can see the darker area). another 90deg turn to get into the inlet pipe:



So, i got out the dremel and totally ripped out the lower pipes It faces away from the engine and also away from the "ear".



So whats it like? It def feels more perky and responsive on the throttle/pickup. Coming off the throttle, with the proalloy pipe the recirc valve is ALOT louder with "pssst's" and "woosh's"! Its an acquired taste! Is sounds very much like a Viper inlet but cost f all Not sure if passing people can here it tbh...

As a side note, at full bore I noticed a small "pssst" as the recirc valve dumped @ 3k rpm. Tieing it in with the boost gauge, it dumps a load of boost 20 down to 12psi, before recovering to 17. Very difficult to watch in this slippy weather. So ordered a new boost solenoid, will hopefully solve it...

Next time I have mine off I'll take some pics but if you look at the box in in CC's pic there are plenty of lumps and numps encroaching on the back of the filter element especially the bit where 'thru filter' is marked in red and the bit top left. The 'thru filter' lump comes very close to the filter effectively masking quite a chunk of it, hence (I would guess) the pale patches on the old filter.

After I'd taken the trumpets out of mine I heated the box with a hot air paint stripper and pushed all those lumps well back from the filter. The last filter I took out was a huge improvement in tems of grot distribution. There is actually quite a bit of room in the VX for a filter its just that the shape of the stock one isn't a great fit for the space. I've toyed with making a new airbox out of ally sheet and using a much bigger filter element. Talk in other threads about inlet pipes collapsing would seem to suggest big pressure drops acros the filter so there is a lot of room for improvement by the sound of it.

[mcewanslager]

al the astra g's have the same mounting holes so the bigger 2.2 and 1.9 cdti would fit if that would make a difference? maybe the h is the same also but would need to check.

[V220XR]

I have just done the Timbo Air box mod! Oh my it does sound good! Sounds like a second Turbo spinning with the extra 'Whoooossshhhh' and with an ITG Panel filter there is some serious base there too! Well Chuffed!

[Nev]

I agree, this is an under-rated mod. It certainly helps give extra torque at lower revs and most probably helps with power all the way trhough the rev range. Also LOTS of extra noise, which helps you know what the engine is upto, though a little tireing when u want a nice quiet drive.

[Rhyzz]

As a side note, at full bore I noticed a small "pssst" as the recirc valve dumped @ 3k rpm. Tieing it in with the boost gauge, it dumps a load of boost 20 down to 12psi, before recovering to 17. Very difficult to watch in this slippy weather. So ordered a new boost solenoid, will hopefully solve it...

Mine is doing this - how did you solve the problem? Every now and then it'll give up at 3k for a second or two, and then kick in again.

Also, I'm gonna do this over the weekend, is literally as simple as removing the trumpets in the airbox and that's it? How many should come out? I'm new to all of this manual labour stuff, I normally pay someone to do it for me lol

[Duncan VXR]

I got some pipe to flex round to the ear of the car on mine which I cut ahole and used sikaflex to seal - kind of part forced the std intake is left alone (without flex on) and obv remove the 2 trumpets. Job done! CS just take the trumpets out - sure they charge £35 Going to heat mine up and push the buldge down on mine (nothing behind it) when I get my heat gun back off Cheeky :P:P As for the cdti version etc - dont bother got one and there is no great gain to be had - or buy my spare brand new one from vuaxhall lol DG