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Best DIY Intake Setup?

DerekKanarek

Ready to race!
I've seen a few and just want to know if it's even worth doing? I've seen people say the stock airbox is better than a open air filter. Is it worth just getting a filter? I'm not looking for any huge gains but if there's a good diy intake I could do for less than $100 that'd be sweet.
Thanks
-Derek
 

theunholy

Go Kart Champion
If you are not going to get a tune, is not worth to upgrade over the stock one, IMO.
that said, I did get a cheap Amazon intake for $90 few months before I got to stage 1, and all i get is some intake sucking noise, if thats what you want then go for it.
 

mk6medic

Go Kart Champion
I did it when I had my GTI and I loved it. Lots of WHOOOOOSH sound, especially when letting off throttle. I did not notice any power increase, but a slight better throttle response. I made mine for less than $40.

I say do it. Cheap, easy and it gets you under the hood which is always fun!
 

DasAuto1295

Go Kart Champion
I'm planning on doing the Plac DIY intake. I toyed with the idea of a dual filter Y split design but decided it isn't worth it.

Plac's is pretty well set up. He has a few YouTube videos on his channel. Search them up. His channel is LastHumansGarage.
 

[Old User]

Go Kart Champion
DO IT!!! doesn't matter that there are no power gains, for under 100$ the sound is fantastic. I'm glad I did mine, though I run a neuspeed now.

here it is, not the way it was when I took it off but close:



spectre silver 160 degree elbow, AEM dryflow filter, coupler, zipties. worked like a charm. problem was when it got above 70 degrees the filter got super hot in 2 seconds and the noise became quiet, car drove like crap. heatshield makes a HUGE difference. I'd say do it though, you'll love it especially in tunnels.
 

DerekKanarek

Ready to race!
DO IT!!! doesn't matter that there are no power gains, for under 100$ the sound is fantastic. I'm glad I did mine, though I run a neuspeed now.

here it is, not the way it was when I took it off but close:



spectre silver 160 degree elbow, AEM dryflow filter, coupler, zipties. worked like a charm. problem was when it got above 70 degrees the filter got super hot in 2 seconds and the noise became quiet, car drove like crap. heatshield makes a HUGE difference. I'd say do it though, you'll love it especially in tunnels.

Did it give you any noticeable power gains?
 

graveshb

Go Kart Champion
Did it give you any noticeable power gains?

Any open filter set up is going to lose power over stock once the engine bay gets hot. That said, I love the noise an open filter makes, and am currently running a carbonio stage 1 but have removed the shield so that it is effectively the same as all other diy open filter intakes. With any DIY intake or bought intake, the car will breathe much better at upper rpms, and to me this alone is definitely worth it.

Its quite possible to make a great DIY intake, just takes alot of work. If you can fabricate your own heat shield from aluminum or fiberglass or carbon fiber, and add ducting, you'll see power gains. The thing to keep in mind though is to get the best intake set up, the entire air flow from outside the car to the turbo needs to be sealed, otherwise the system will suck hot air.
 

nvturbo

Go Kart Champion
Not the best....but I only spent around $130 on this DIY project. Thermo lining insulated and looks failry nice without breaking the bank.


 

graveshb

Go Kart Champion
Any open filter set up is going to lose power over stock once the engine bay gets hot. That said, I love the noise an open filter makes, and am currently running a carbonio stage 1 but have removed the shield so that it is effectively the same as all other diy open filter intakes. With any DIY intake or bought intake, the car will breathe much better at upper rpms, and to me this alone is definitely worth it.

Its quite possible to make a great DIY intake, just takes alot of work. If you can fabricate your own heat shield from aluminum or fiberglass or carbon fiber, and add ducting, you'll see power gains. The thing to keep in mind though is to get the best intake set up, the entire air flow from outside the car to the turbo needs to be sealed, otherwise the system will suck hot air.

I just recently replaced the carbon shield on my carbonio, and I've got to say, while the noise from the intake disappeared, I didn't realize how much low end torque I had lost by removing the shield. My car when it is hot and without the shield acts like it wants to stall when I barely feed in the gas on starts, but with the shield creating a closed air source, it has good low end torque and top end air flow.
 

Twistedgti

Ready to race!
Diy heat shield needs to be done to see actual gains. I researched doing a proper DIY intake with custom bent tubing and apr styled filter housing and it came out to 140 or more and that's not including pcv hookups, it would require a catch can setup with a custom bung
 

graveshb

Go Kart Champion
Diy heat shield needs to be done to see actual gains. I researched doing a proper DIY intake with custom bent tubing and apr styled filter housing and it came out to 140 or more and that's not including pcv hookups, it would require a catch can setup with a custom bung

I agree a shield is key to making power, but I believe more so than just a shield, it requires sealing the airflow from the engine. Maybe a shield with excessive weather stripping to seal off an entire chamber of the engine bay could work well, but I think it would be more beneficial to create a fiberglass or carbon fiber air box.
 

Ganiman

Ready to race!
I would keep an eye on the classifieds. I picked up my APR carbonio pretty cheap about a year ago from someone off these forums. You might get lucky like I did.
 
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