HOW TO: SP20 Intake Modification
 

Hi guys,

I've been lurking for a while but thought I'd finally join up and leech you for all your valuable information! Introductions aside...

Last night I was reading up on a modification to the top of the grill to allow better air flow to reach the intake snorkel. I'm certain there was some info on AGT, but after a good hour of searching I've not been able to find it again and Google isn't being my friend either.

I was hoping that someone might be able to point me in the right direction for this information.

Cheers
Jon

Hi Jon, and welcome to AGT,

- You unscrew the 2 screws holding the grill into the front bumper.
- Pull out the 4 plastic press-clips on the vertical/back edge of the grill to the chassis rail.
- Gently and slowly lift the front of the grill to unpop it off the 3 prongs that hold it down.
- Now sort of pull it out tilted up and away from the car towards you (be carefull of the 2 prongs on the back/vertical edge of the grill that project into the chassis rail).
- Now you get the largest drill bit you can find that will fit between the honeycomb shapes, and drill into and above the tray part of the r/h side of the grill.
You can additionally or optionally dremel out the bottom portion as you see fit aswell. However you will then be allowing hot air to come up from the radiator if you do this without making a duct of sorts to guide the air in better.

If you want to see if this is a worthwhile mod or not. Take the grill out and drive around for a week or so with it out of the car. It will look like poop as you can see the horn and radiator, but you will get good ram air and much better fuel economy. So try it out for a couple of tanks and see how you go before commiting a drill or blade to your precious grill.

Enjoy,
Gav.

im sure this is what ur after :
http://www.clubprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1977

Hi and thanks for the welcome Gav, those instructions are great. I had a quick look last night and gave up trying to work it out. I have a Dremel with a large assortment of attachments so will probably get into it with them.

I've just put the K&N replacement panel filter in and will let that run for a while to see if there are any fuel usage improvements. I noticed that engine temps seem to be a little lower than I remember them usually being this morning, but that could just be a bad memory. Probably look at doing this early in the new year I think...

That's the one Arden! I must have seen people mentioning it being done here and joined the dots incorrectly. Page is now bookmarked!

You can also remove the big fat bong shaped resonator.... i found a lid from a paint can, and electrical tape was perfect for plugging the hole on mine :) Ghetto ftw!
:)

Ghetto sounds good, I was probably going to follow up with questions about resonator removal ;) I had read that that resonator played a part in improving the low down torque, is this not the case?

I like cars and going fast but I've really got no idea what I'm doing :confused:

Resonator plays the part of quieting the whole thing down..its a tuned baffle..

by removing it you are removing a restriction. Restriction may artificially give you a bit more down low, but what it costs you up high is insane.

Also by removing it you shorten the whole system a bit... shorter air intake = better throttle response.....difference between my car with the standard system on (modified), to when i put the VERY short ram intake on is crazy in the throttle response department..

Plus removing the res makes the car sound a bit better ;) So... pass the bong - to the bin :)

Cool! I can see this is the place to be for all my SP20 needs :D

check out msprotege.com
for much more info.
the sp20 hatch is known as the protege5 in the u.s

Yeh the yanks have all the info on MSP....stacks of Protege5/SP20 "howto's" for diy performance and visual mods

Another thing you can do aswell as the bong removal is: Unscrew the 2 havles of the large intake scoop, and get some tape and block off the other resonator chambers. I have done this, and it made absolutely not a single fuggin difference, so I would say only to do it out of a labour of love for farken around, but not to expect anything wonderful from it...

Gav.

yeh you can only push that little snorkel so far :)

eventually you start wasting your time with it.


big fat bong resonator does make a difference....as does drilling out the grill (my grill is bodgy drilled, but you still couldn't tell without knowing exactly what to look for...)

Hey guys. Do you have any picks of the grill/snorkel/resinator mods you have done to you cars.

cheers
Dean

There are some about 3 or 4 pages into the link that Arden provided.

There is too much good DIY stuff to do with this car, I think my wife is going to kill me!

I can take some next time i'm under the bonnet.....

So where is this resinator located?

from *memory*...its like this:


pull the part of the intake system off that sits above the radiator

then remove the airbox

you'll be left with a right angle pipe, with a bong hanging off the end of it.

pull off the bong and plug up the hole

put the rest back on

its either attached to the right angle bit, or the bit just past the right angle bit..

Do you have to remove it or can you just seal it with duct tape?

you'd have to remove it in order to seal it....so you might as well remove it

i had probs sealing mine up...electrical tape doesnt stick to the plastic, so i used an old spray paint bottle as the stop, and roughed the plastic up with sandpaper so the tape would stick on...

its pretty easy, easy to take appart...30min mod without knowing what you are doing, tops.

next time i have my intake apart i'll try and remember to take photos for you.


its also worth while drilling the grill out while you are at it...extra airflow etc...

I already drilled the grill out and cut the bottom portion of the grill. I took the snorkel and air box out along with the right angle bit with the baffel and used duct tap to seal off the baffel from the inside. It should be ok, even if the tape comes off the filter will block it before it gets to the intake manifold.

oh and i get the coke can noise on shutdown.

Not a very wise idea.

Ever heard of Helmholt resonance...?

AVOIDING this resonance is the reason why manufacturers use the resonator box.

When you remove it, you hear more induction noise. This is due to a coarser air flow into the AFM. The resonator smooths this air flow allowing more air down the pipe for its given diameter.

They are very common on NA cars especially in F1 where air speed along a pipe is critical.

Here is a web site to explain the technicalities of "that little box" > Here <

If you shorten the intake tract with (say) a pod filter, then you shift the resonant frequency up beyond the rev range so its not an issue.

However, if you keep the longer intake tract (standard pipe work) then the resonant frequency of that intake tract is lower & (usually) within the RPM range of the engine. Thus the need of the Helmholtz resonator to overcome it.

REgards

Not a very wise idea?

Ever heard of a panel air filter...?

It creates all sorts of air upsets, far above and beyond any that which you will encounter in the stock or modified air intake ahead of it.

Point of case is: Everything you said doesn't matter except for the noise part, as the panel filter shapes the air into the MAF anyhow. People modify this air intake not because they are worried about noise, but to increase the airflow into the stock airbox. That is their main concern, not Helmholtz resonance.

Gav.

Proven additional mile an hour at the track - which is a good indication of an increase in power.

Crack it open and hav a look at it, its NOT going to smooth out the airflow in a pink fit. no way known. It is a massive restriction. Don't believe me? shove it on a flow bench.

Yes it makes your intake more noisey. By removing it you are making the intake tract shorter. considerably shorter.

Smooth air flow is also *impossible* to achieve on our standard pipe work. Beyond the airbox, it goes through a corigated pipe.

Stripping resonators out of cars for cheap/free power has been done for ages, and is a proven way to gain a bit of extra throttle response and maybe a small hit of power.

I have removed the resonator, and am making more power. Be that because the pipe work is shorter, more direct and less turbulent, or because the pipework is shorter and thus the air doesn't have as much time to heat up, or a combination of both, its definantly given a noticable gain.

Anybody got pics on how to do this mod?

:D

Next time i've got the intake off i'll show pics of it in pieces...but its pretty easy to work out without photos....just remove the bong :P

Nah, I'm a real dumb ass with car mods, got NFI just ask Gav...

Front grill has been drilled out at the top left corner.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...4/IMG_0351.jpg

Top of the grill has been cut out to provide better aire flow to the snorkel.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...4/IMG_0350.jpg

Underneath the air filter box and hanging of the right angle bend is the resinator.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...4/IMG_0352.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...4/IMG_0355.jpg

Hope this helps some people

Yeah, it does help, thanks!

Did you notice much of a change (and how much I guess)?

Now wheres my drill???

The pics are awesome, thanks!

the throttle response is a bit better, and revs cleaner in 2nd and 3rd.

Yeh.... should sound a bit chunkier too.... free mod - free power....you can't complain really :)

Your improvement in fuel economy is what you'll notice most. PPL with AutoEXE grills like blacksp20 and orion should've noticed similar gains also.

Gav.

How did you get such a neat finish DB0984 - rough cut and then sand back as required?

I was just thinking that, I dont have a dremel or anything so wondering what the best way to cut it out will be, went and had a look at the car and the plastic seems a bit thick for a stanley knife.

I used a dremel on mine....and its a bit messy on the inside....just drill it out, and use rats tail files to get it nice.....gotta say, DB0984's setup looks great - far neater than mine :)

Right, got the grille off my car now to find a way to cut it, might have to wait til tomoz when I can get my hands on some tools.

Mine's not all that neat if you look at it up close. I used a drill and a hacksaw blade. helps if you have a handle for the blade, but if you dont just put some electrical tape around the end you will be holding onto.

Took me about 2 hours to do both mods to the grill, and about half an hour for the resinator.

i hacked the top part of my grill with a stanley knife.
must admit it was hard work but not impossible...mine ended up pretty neat too.

i have now ordered a hiclone and will see if this helps with the fuel consumption issue, it will hopefully give a bit more power aswell. I will let you guys know how it goes.

Mine was dremeled out first (cut along the bottom) then belted out with a screwdriver and hammer
then rats tail filed back to semi-neat

in retrospect i'm damned lucky i didnt break the thing

drill it then file it, thats how i'd do it if i were to have to do it again