Snorkel intake and foglamp cover mod

[LizardOfBodom]

Hi all!
Not sure if that was already covered, but I dont seem to recall seeing it here.
Just thought I can share another of a very simple but IMHO brilliant mods that I looked up at good folks from US forum. Had implemented them on my car and very happy with results, think its worth sharing as those take almost no skills and time to undertake.
No credits for any of those goes to me, just sharing the ideas that I found worth implementing if any of you is interested

- At the begining of air intake duct, there is flat part that is attached to front bumper over the radiator grille. It is flat-closed, with openings on both sides, allowing air to enter only on sides and not directly trough. Removing this part is really easy (unclip from under the hood, radiator grille out, plastic rivets out, cable-ties) and opens the whole intake duct allowing more airflow.
Part #11 on this diagram, wouldnt even know its there if I wasnt told.



Removing it may result in intaking more of "dirty" air so I am now prepared to check & replace air filter more often, but most importantly - it actually improve throttle response and as a nice side effect - seem to change a intake tone when turbo spools up. Dont expect any HP gains of this, but I'm really happy after changing it, feels just smoother to drive.

- I also did the foglamp cover mod yesterday. I dont think it adds any value as for IC cooling, but looks really great. I also didnt really think old covers were bad until I actually did this. IMHO looks miles better now and nicely blends in with middle lower grille. 30 mins of fun with Dremel & sandpaper, 3 coats of black bumper spray, voila.

BEFORE


AFTER





Cheers!

[Petey80]

Great little mods

I did the fog surrounds on mine too.

Is the induction system/layout the same for all V50's or just the T5?

[LizardOfBodom]

Originally Posted by Petey80

Great little mods

I did the fog surrounds on mine too.

Is the induction system/layout the same for all V50's or just the T5?

Sorry, should have mentioned - induction system mod will only work for T5, 2.4i and D5 models. Not familiar with air routing for other engines but this part is only used in 5pot versions.

[Bigchewie]

Have a 5 banger d3 so going to check this out when I get a chance if it work will post back here, cheers for the info

[domhart10]

Looks good, im confused the holes by the fog lights are just general holes into the engine bay area? and removing the shroud will just leave the rest of the pipe hanging?


What did you use to cut that metal in the bumper? when I remove the plastic inserts around the fog light there is quite a think metal part behind it to cut through I think?

[LizardOfBodom]

Originally Posted by domhart10

Looks good, im confused the holes by the fog lights are just general holes into the engine bay area? and removing the shroud will just leave the rest of the pipe hanging?


What did you use to cut that metal in the bumper? when I remove the plastic inserts around the fog light there is quite a think metal part behind it to cut through I think?

As for snorkel: ok I see what I did there (just re-read what I wrote and I understood it may be confusing). Let me explain:
Part marked as no #11 is the intake "mouth" fixed in its position with plastic rivets. This part is actually made of TWO pieces - what you see on picture, and another - cover - that actually blocks the bottom the direct airflow with widening on both ends. Its hard to explain but once you see it when radiator grille is taken out - it becomes obvious. Both parts are using plastic rivets to hold to each other and to the upper bumper part aswell. You need to remove rivets to disjoin both parts but that leaves upper part loose. Thats where 2 cableties comes handy to fix it to holes where rivets previously were.
All in all, to do this you need to just need to:
- unclip front grille (butterknife comes handy
- unscrew the plastic snorkel (#12 on pic) and that plastic cover that goes between headlamps, with yellow sticker warning about moving fan etc. 5 screws alltogether, M10 or M8.
- pull rivets out, take the blocking cover off, cabletie top part, reassembly.

As for the foglamp question - yes, those holes are really going under the engine bay, kinda straight to the sides of intercooler. There really is nothing behind them except for pipes and plastic so there is no other interference needed at all, whatever is behing is deep enough not to be noticed. If you look straight trough them you would probably notice those serve no purpose and there is really nothing this air may blow into, but IMHO those look far better than stock flattened covers. BTW - no clue how that is in FL cars - I noticed foglamp covers on FLs are different so maybe different approach is needed.

[domhart10]

sounds awesome thanks for that

Yeh slowly prepping to do stuff to the front so thought maybe I could get this in as well as looking at removing the fog lamps as well soon and get a pipe in there directed to the brake calipers for cooling.

[LizardOfBodom]

Originally Posted by domhart10

sounds awesome thanks for that

Yeh slowly prepping to do stuff to the front so thought maybe I could get this in as well as looking at removing the fog lamps as well soon and get a pipe in there directed to the brake calipers for cooling.

Curious!
do tell, when done :>

[domhart10]

Originally Posted by LizardOfBodom

Curious!
do tell, when done :>

Yeh sounds good was suggested by Chris850 to help cure brake fade. Will do a write up and photo's when I start, just moving at the moment so will have a go when done, all equipment has been order as well so all set to go.

One thing I still dont have is a good tool to use to cut through the bumper, any suggestions?

[LizardOfBodom]

Originally Posted by domhart10

Yeh sounds good was suggested by Chris850 to help cure brake fade. Will do a write up and photo's when I start, just moving at the moment so will have a go when done, all equipment has been order as well so all set to go.

One thing I still dont have is a good tool to use to cut through the bumper, any suggestions?

What exactly do you need to do? (big , small, precise?) Dremel in general is very good for precise tasks but not sure how it will react to this type of plastic (heat makes edges of cut melt a bit).