After fitting a SS backbox for me last week my dealer said it was a waste of money fitting a Ramair/ITG filter as MY00's already have a freeflow filter. Although I'm impressed he didn't try to make my wallet any lighter than it was ..is he correct?

 

An air filter change may give a marginal bhp increase (probably 2 - 5 bhp). The difference is the car will respond a whole lot better with a free flowing air filter or induction kit.

I am on my 2nd Turbo now I prior to selling my Old MY97 car it was restored to standard trim. I could definately feel the difference in performance after the exhaust and air filter had been removed.

I would try a pipercross induction kit - I have one on the new car and it is far more responsive than the std. filter panel. I even tried my old Ramair panel for a little while - again the pipercross is better.

The side effect of an induction kit is obviously more noise. There are various replacement filter elements on the market which will give a similar improvement but without the additional induction noise.

The choice is yours

Ian.

 

Ian

Interesting post.. I like Rico, am a new Scooby owner. I was going to have the SS back box / ITG combo fitted. I am still keen to have the SS back box, but would be interested on any other info you have on the Pipercross kit.

I was told a similar thing to Rico by my dealer - something along the lines that the induction type replacement air filters don't make a lot of difference.

What did it cost, how easy is it to fit, any effect on warranty etc?

I've fitted K+N kits to previous cars (Pug 205GTI & 306S16), so any info appreciated.

Thanks

Chris

 

The pipercross kit costs about £85.
A panel filter will cost about £50

The panel is obviously the easiest to fit...you just open the airbox and pop it in. Breathing will be improved and noise will be kept to a minimum.

The induction kit is slighly more difficult to fit. This usually requires complete removal of the airbox. The induction cone usually bolts onto the airflow meter using a bespoke bracket that comes with the kit. The piper cross kit also replaces the rubber inlet pipe after the airflow meter with stainless pipe work (which looks quite nice). If you've fitted them to other types of cars you should have no problems installing them on a scooby.

It is important to remember that the most noticable gains will be found from installing a free flowing exhaust system too. Its all very well improving the breathing at one end but you have to improve the flow of the exhaust for the best gains.

The warranty issue. It is best to talk to your dealer and determine what you are able to do. Most dealers are usually ok with the installation of exhausts and air filters providing they are from recognised companies...but some will refuse. They will certainly refuse any ECU replacement unless it is from Prodrive (i.e. the prodrive performance pack).

Ian
MY00, Pipercross, full scoobysport exhaust.

 

I swapped the standard air filter on my car (MY00) for a RamAir filter a week ago - definite difference, not so much in the power output but in the speed of pick up. Much happier to pull from lower revs, and picks up more quickly across the range. Not a massive difference, but noticeable.

Richard
(MY00, RamAir filter, standard otherwise - at the moment!)

 

I have posted on this subject several times before, but in my opinion replacing the air filter will make very little difference - if any, unless your old filter is knackered. Most people change the backbox and filter together, I believe the backbox makes much more of a difference than the filter.

MY99 , Scoobysport backbox , downpipe and standard filter .

 

Cheers Ian for the post.

C

 

I have a few bits added to my MY99 UK car:

ScoobySport Backbox
ScoobySport Downpipe
Magnex De-cat'd Mid-section
Unifilter RamPod air inductor

The bit's above cost me about £700, but I got some very impressive results at PowerStaion!!