Pre CAT – Air Filter Mod…

[MPO]

I notice the Air Filter in my Pre CAT Griff is only exposed to 6-8inch * 2 inch opening and the rest is shrouded by a plastic cover facing the engine. Quite restrictive!

I’m not referring to the smaller opening on the outside compared to the 500’s, I’m looking at the slot between the engine bay and the grill area.

Does anyone have any suggested Mods to improve air flow here and make use of the entire filter?

Out of interest, how are the later 500 filters different?

[Alan461]

Found this a while back, Refered to as the Hamish/Bluebottle soloution
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=33&...

[MPO]

Alan461 said:

Found this a while back, Refered to as the Hamish/Bluebottle soloution
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=33&...

Thanks Alan

The link did inspire my thoughts :-)

MPO

[carsy]

I`ve looked at this a couple of times. You have basically two choices, leave as it is or do the mod in the above link breaking into the head light pod area.

I`ve decided to leave as is. BUT i have opened the opening you are reffering to as much as possible. Twice the size of what TVR did. I have also done away with the fibreglass shroud as like you say it probably does more harm than good being quite restrictive around the filter.

Having removed the shroud and opened the opening, I have checked air inlet temps and once on the move they are pretty normal.

[MPO]

Having recently installed a 20am myself….

I felt the air intake hole was very restrictive (another bottle neck) and only part of the air filter was exposed to fresh air, part of it was shrouded by a plastic heat shield (touching) and the end drawing hot air from the engine bay.... Crazy!

Another thing I noticed, the oil in the air filter gravitates towards the bottom of the filter and IMO also restricts air flow further.

This is the result...



Happy Days! :-)

Pretty easy to fit really (a 3 Inch Aluminium Mandrel Pipe) no fibreglass or pipe cutting, the plastic heat shield was removed and the air filter now sits in front of the radiator gulping fresh cool air!:-


My new AFR readings and Induction Acoustics say it all… :-)


This is totally reversible!


MPO

[carsy]

Must admitt i thought of doing that but didnt think there was enough room for the k&N filter to fit..

I may have to have a closer look.


Any chance of a photo from the front of the car showing the filter.

[FlipFlopGriff]

Looks good and an obvious no brainer but I didn't think the K&N filter (assume yours is cylindrical) would fit through there but its a bit back breaking leaning over. Is the pipe a 45 degree bend, something like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal-3-Inch-76mm-Al...
Does it rattle at all?
FFG

Edited by FlipFlopGriff on Monday 26th October 15:10

[Hoover.]

From my understanding the PiperX gives better air intake when clean, but this tails off when dirty...... whilst the K&N might not give the best air intake initially but gives a more constant and better intake when getting dirty.

You take your pick..... PiperX and regular clean for best performance or K&N for best overall performance between services.....

I've been running K&N for last 10 years as I'm a lazy git

[MPO]

carsy said:

Must admitt i thought of doing that but didnt think there was enough room for the k&N filter to fit..

I may have to have a closer look.


Any chance of a photo from the front of the car showing the filter.

Sorry, the car is in the lockup. I'll take a picture next time I get it out :-)

MPO

[MPO]

FlipFlopGriff said:

Looks good and an obvious no brainer but I didn't think the K&N filter (assume yours is cylindrical) would fit through there but its a bit back breaking leaning over. Is the pipe a 45 degree bend, something like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal-3-Inch-76mm-Al...
Does it rattle at all?
FFG

Edited by FlipFlopGriff on Monday 26th October 15:10

It's quite straight forward really, granted, it in the nose but once the shield is removed and the grill underneath removed its tight but easy. I suppose if you want you could trim some fibergalss and cut the pipe down but thats your call.

This is the filter I use:-

http://tvr-parts.com/tvr-parts/part-details/tvr-e0...

This is the pipe I used:-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321506472113?ru=http%3A%...

Looks the same as yours...

When you put the underneath grill back on its tight up agains the grill.

MPO

No Rattle!

Edited by MPO on Monday 26th October 17:21