General Hi!

[ts86net]

Hi people!

Just registered. Drive a '98 Fiat Marea Weekend ELX (1.8 16v) in London, UK.

Completely standard apart from Kenwood head unit and de-restricted standard air box (sounds like a Scooby apparently!).

Hopefully I'm welcome

 

[polecat]

Hi,
Welcome to the site. Always glad to see new faces, especially when they drive a Marea.
I'm sure if you stick around you'll see that we are really a nice bunch, first appearances can be deceptive.
Dave

85% of Marea HLX drivers have speeding tickets.... lol they'll have to catch me first.

 

[polecat]

Just re-read your post. How did you de-restrict your air box?

Got more additives than fuel in my tank.

 

[ts86net]

The tube/pipe that goes from the front grille bit to the right into the airbox - took that off. The total volume of air that can pass through is now larger, as the hole is bigger. Is more responsive than before, especially when kissing the arses of all the done up toys around here It sounds good too [8D]

It doesn't even cost anything - heck, you could even make money by selling the part!

--
ts86

'98 Fiat Marea Weekend ELX (1.8 16v).
- Kenwood MP3 head unit
- De-Restricted standard air box

 

[ts86net]

polecat, any thoughts on the mod? I'm surprised other people hadn't thought about it and done it before me (everywhere seems to stick induction kits' in).

--
ts86

'98 Fiat Marea Weekend ELX (1.8 16v).
- Kenwood MP3 head unit
- De-Restricted standard air box
- NGK VX Platinum plugs (BKR7EVX)

 

[The Mighty]

Thoughts as to removing the cold air intake..........

I suppose it depends on how much bigger the apperture now is, but the reasons for a tube which lead away from the engine are that hot air is less dense than cold air. So by receiving cold air from outside the engine compartment the engine will make more power! The best way to achieve anything by doing this would be to have a large opening on the outside of the car, facing forwards, directly forcing air down a bigger tube and into the air-box. The Ram-Air principal was developed by plymouth/chrysler/dodge in the '60's.

If your derestriction has a positive effect for you, thats great, but I suggest that its probably only a minor increase in power with a cold engine bay, and that the increased noise maybe a factor in your belief that you're making more power. Only one way to find out - stick it on a rolling road.....

CP

 

[polecat]

ts86,

Yeah, I can see where you are coming from. I've just had a good look under the bonnet to compare pipe sizes. The entrance to the filter box is larger than the inlet pipe.

The Mighty is correct in that cold air is denser and results in more power being delivered from the engine.

SO!!

If you leave the elbow that connects to the filter box off but replace the pipe that goes from the cold air intake.... You should get the benefits of a bigger hole while still having quite a lot of cold air around.

In addition: Put in a bit of expanding alloy pipe from the grill to the filter box inlet. (Keep it about 3 to 4 inches from the hole in case you scoop up some water.) You can also put in a replacement air filter from Green, K&N , etc to make it work even better.

All in all it sounds like an inexpensive way to improve performance if you are not too bothered about induction kit styling. [8D]
Dave

Got more additives than fuel in my tank.

 

[ts86net]

Yeah, I understand the points on cold air being basically better, and I thought that is the case considering the front grill intake 'unit' is still there so air would be being rushed in into the direction of the air box inlet (there's so much volume/space in that region).

[8D]

However, those are some good ideas polecat that I never really thought about. Will seriously look into them. It's under the bonnet, so looks doesn't bother me. The sound I get though does 'cos is scares people, which is a too good feeling

Rolling Road would be quite fun. Ok, it's not a preformance car, but it'd be fun! Are any group rolling road meets planned?

Thanks (both of you)!

--
ts86

'98 Fiat Marea Weekend ELX (1.8 16v).
- Kenwood MP3 head unit
- De-Restricted standard air box
- NGK VX Platinum plugs (BKR7EVX)