In a quest for more air flow into the engine. I am going to be replacing the stock air box w/a cone filter from K&N or AEM since they have universal filter, and only an adapter is needed to make it fit onto the stock accordian hose. With that, i want more air pulled in, on the '06 3i in the lower bumper is a piece of plastic on the driver side that looks like it could be used for airflow, but it is just a piece of plastic in the honeycomb design with plastic behind it. has anyone taken this out, or replaced with an actual grill(i dont think it can be called a grill though) or can it even come out. if nobody knows what i mean, i will post a picture in this thread later this evening. if someone does know, please respond with some helpful info.

 

I have seen that part of the "grille" taken out. It should be a foglight area but that is your option to make it so. Putting in a mesh grille for the entire bumper would really allow for more airflow into the particular area that you want but you also have to watch out for having too much water and dust come up into that zone. I know there is an airbox modification that you can do to your original intake system that helps out but very little.

If you wanted more pull with your engine, the AEM or K&N setup would be fine if you did the entire system. The full cold air intake, that is. Now for the stock air box mod, I'm not exactly sure how much power you would gain from it but I do know that most people that had that setup did it only because of lack of money and they quickly changed over to a full CAI system soon after they did this mod.

Now I took out the stock air box completely with all of the other dead weight and installed an Injen CAI. Not only did I gain more torque/hp... but my shifting is much smoother and there is almost no engine lag with the startup from a dead stop.



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I would like to do a CAI, it is expensive, but thats not the reason for me not doing it. i have seen to many posts on the forum from people who have a CAI and there CEL comes on because of it, i dont want that, also, in the stock hose going to the intake manifold are sensors for the car, what do you do with those with a CAI, is it made for those to plug back in or do they just hang loose. K&N has a product called the "Apollo" (looks like the rocket) that replaces the box and goes on the stock hose, it is for cars that use the MAF sensor. And really, a CAI in Az, would get alot of dust and the in the summer, the ground is like 150degrees, so its not cold air, a short ram intake would make more sense, which would basically putting the cone filter on the stock hose. I noticed your entire bumper removed in your pic, did you have to do that for the CAI? how do you remove that piece covering the hole where the fog light should go.

 

michael: I have not had my CEL come on from the cold air intake (AEM) on my car except for oil traveling from the cone filter (made by K&N) through the tubing which then contaminated the mass airflow sensor. Now, AEM came out with a synthetic oiless filter to address that problem so that should no longer be a problem with the system.
Yes, when installing the CAI, the sensors for the intake are not neglected and have a place to go once the system is installed.
Also, while installing the CAI, I noticed the potential for airflow increase to the intake through the lower bumper exactly how you explained. I have not done anything to get the air flowing back their but maybe i'll look into for the upcoming auto-X season. I have also seen someone set back their left foglamp about an inch which also allows for more airflow to the air intake.
I noticed the same results from the AEM system as the_gray received using the Injen system. Increase in hp and torque and instantaneous throttle response. The car has a lot more get up and go with the CAI with no more lag whatsoever.

 

Thanks for the input you guys, it helps me out. There are alot of different CAI systems on the market, which one is a better value for the money (hp increase compared to $ spent) the K&N set up is only say like 4hp@4500rpm, which to me, does not warrant a $283 price tage. As for Apex'i, AEM, Injen, they all have oil-less filters, but do they make a set-up for the 3i w/2.0L engine, and are they worth the money?

 

does anyone know what the size is of the stock accordian hose, I need the size where is attaches to the air box?