Another vote for opening up stock grill for more air
- Thread starter Nomad
- Start date
yeah, i tired a knife at first and sliced my hand open. so i sat down and had a think about a sensible way to do it and this was by drilling around the edges to make it perforated like a postage stamp, then i just cut the remaining bits off...muuch safer and easier. Just be careful u dont drill into the horn thingie.(i think thats what it is...)
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- 02.5 P5
did you guys take the tray out to cut it, or just cut it in place?
WetsuitxNinja
Member
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- Mz3
Speaking of this, the guy at the dealership noticed why I have a hole there, I had done this awhile back and put my car close to stock again. I said it seems to breathe better. I could tell he was thinkin "WTF" then he came back with well basically what you did was make a vent from the radiator to the airbox. I began thinking about it and the radiator doesnt get all that hot and doesnt really radiate heat, no more than heated air off the asphalt right? and even if the radiator did get real hot, wouldnt the moving air be pushing the heat into the engine bay anyways? Then I got the lecture about people wanting to put cold air intake on and how you loose "a ton" of torque yada yada. I didnt wanna call bulls*** and be like I didnt notice any loss in anything when I had it, cuz then he would have been like "A-HAH! i knew it"
WetsuitxNinja
Member
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- Mz3
Robot Romeo said:
In place, seemed easier just because it didnt require me trying to keep it from moving around while cutting. haha and whoever said they cut themselves, dont feel bad, I tried doing it with a box cutter at first, ended up with 12 stiches on my finger. Then I got smart and hit it with a drill and used some small bolt cutters to clip between the holes I drilled. MUCH EASIER. I give my car blood donations monthly it seems. (scratch)
took my CAI off to do this. I wasn't a fan of how long it took to get air from the filter to the TB/manifold (aka intake air velocity loss). After reinstalling the stock airbox, the throttle response is better and the powerband is smoother.
I don't really like the look of the stock airbox assembly but I drive the car more than I look at the engine. Plus the Injen dyno charts only show a hp gain up around 5200-5500 rpms and I rarely rev that high driving around the city (I never race the car).
I bought a used grille (in transit now) to try this on. I'm also going to do some painting (matching black bar above emblem to body color and making the emblem a charcoal grey color). I'll post pics when all is completed.
I don't really like the look of the stock airbox assembly but I drive the car more than I look at the engine. Plus the Injen dyno charts only show a hp gain up around 5200-5500 rpms and I rarely rev that high driving around the city (I never race the car).
I bought a used grille (in transit now) to try this on. I'm also going to do some painting (matching black bar above emblem to body color and making the emblem a charcoal grey color). I'll post pics when all is completed.
65racecoupe
Member
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- Turbo (soon) Yellow 2002 P5
This is not a good idea for those who are concerned with a WARRANTY ISSUE in the future.
Most of us are out of the factory warranty though.
As far as ram air effect on a dyno, there could be with correct fanning. The car us usually sucking hot air though, unless the fan is pretty powerful.
Most of us are out of the factory warranty though.
As far as ram air effect on a dyno, there could be with correct fanning. The car us usually sucking hot air though, unless the fan is pretty powerful.
Pro5Monkey
Member
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- '02.5 Red Pro5 manual
I did the cut-out and noticed very little difference(and yes, I did reset the ECU). My next step is a K&N drop in (rockon)
there are a couple of how-to's on this. both have to do with installing the AutoEXE grille but both describe how to remove the stock grille.
here they are:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28751&highlight=grille
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51439&highlight=grille
here they are:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28751&highlight=grille
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51439&highlight=grille
Oh also i should mention,,, on those funny clips that everyone breaks trying to take them off,,, use sidecutters and gently pry,, they will be like butter in your grasp! Came of smooth and clean for me! The grill itself does take some tugging tho so i masked my bumper around the grill with tape so i didnt get any scratches.
i just did mine. Pretty easy to do with the limited tools i had. (the majority of my tools are in storage till the new house is built)
Just a dril, and a hacksaw blade wrapped in a rag. Ghetto!! but it worked.
I dont know if it really did anything. Took it for a hard drive, i always think i feel a difference, but i thinkits just in my head hahahah!
Just a dril, and a hacksaw blade wrapped in a rag. Ghetto!! but it worked.
I dont know if it really did anything. Took it for a hard drive, i always think i feel a difference, but i thinkits just in my head hahahah!
In your guy's opinion is this a better mod then just removing the entire black box and leaving just the filter and the 2.5" up pipe (to where the box was). I did this thinking it'd be closer to an aftermarket setup if the filter didn't have any restriction to pull through...... but an now wondering if this mod is better as it is sure to pull colder air in (as opposed to the open up pipe I have now).
There was a long discussion on this on one of the "other" Protege forums:http://www.clubprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1977&page=1&pp=15&highlight=cai
