My First Performance Upgrade!

That pile of plastic under the hood where a something less restrictive should be was starting to bother me, especially after reading about the cool custom intakes others have done, the K&N Intakes not made for Ulla, and the Swedish Dynamics intakes that I couldn't justify spending money on at this point when so many other things need work...like the tires...and a lot of other areas.

That said, I went down to the local Auto Zone to spend a few bucks. If I couldn't justify the Swedish Dynamics kit right now (both for lack of money and lack of certainty that it would be worth it), I couldn't see spending the money on a K&N filter for my little experiment. So, I went over to the isle with intake parts for the rice burners, and picked up a black rubber connector/clamp, and a Spectre Cotton Fiber cone filter.

After paying for my elaborate list of parts, I headed back home, pulled Ulla up into the yard under the tree (giving me shade for the next 20 minutes), and started pulling the plastic tub, air horn, and gigantic cylinder air filter from under the bonnet. I still can't believe that the 2 inch wide opening on that pipe went into an air box twice the size of my first fish tank.

Now came the hard part...the black rubber clamp was used to strap the cone filter to the MAF.

Ok, install done.

All in all, i think I still had 5 minutes of shade by time I started Ulla back up.

I'm not going to lie, more than anything, I feel cool for doing this. It's neat to look at when you open her up and I got rid of a fair deal of plastic under the bonnet. That said, I have noticed some improvement in performance. The new intake (loose term for "filter on throttle") is significantly less restrictive, and allows itself to be considered a "cold air" type. From what I understand, More Air = Better. Also, even though I don't have the added benefit of hearing neat sounds from a turbo through the filter, there is a decidedly different sound from the engine now. Not better, not worse, just different, and I like different.

Even after a couple of weeks now (remember, I don't always type these when I do the work), I haven't noticed any problems with the intake, and nothing has shifted since I installed it. One day, I may go for the Swedish Dynamics kit, but for now, my $20 Spectre "kit" is all I need, and still looks jsut as impressive when I open the hood as the day I put it in.