Swiss Cheese

[PaulMSP1939]

Has anyone here ever heard of what people call "swiss cheese-ing" their airbox?

http://seatcupra.net/images/airbox/airbox.jpg


My buddy just did it on his stock VR6 Jetta and it is probably the sickest sounding engine ive ever heard. Theres no sucking sound that is normally associated with aftermarket intakes, but just a MEAN growl at WOT. We experemented on another guys 4 cylinder accord and it produced the same results, just not quite as drastic as the VR6.

I have a K&N panel filter right now...should I give it a shot?

[tekkie]

lol its easy to do and if it scews up you can always pickup a stock box here for virtually nothing :)

[PaulMSP1939]

Yeah its not the excessive time involved im worried about in doing this mod ha. Just worried that it may get more hot air making it not very effective. On that note i'd def have the holes located on the side facing the fender. I guess I'll have to try it to find out.

[JCell]

give it a shot, can't hurt

[k-lea]

looks oh so familiar.

[Boston5761]

I love swiss cheese....

[low_psi]

I cut a region of the side panel off mine. No noticable change except in noise.

[PaulMSP1939]

looks oh so familiar.

ha. That sounds like a bad thing... did you do this?


I love swiss cheese....

(2thumbs) Thanks dude!

[PaulMSP1939]

I cut a region of the side panel off mine. No noticable change except in noise.

Nice. Is the noise like I described... Like a growl in the engine rather than a sucking sound? Do you like/enjoy it, regret cutting a hole in your airbox, etc...?

[k-lea]

ha. That sounds like a bad thing... did you do this?

I didn't do it, no. but someone did it to my Mirage and I think he even hacked the old Miata. I believe he did do it to the Miata, either way, it had a nice sound to it.

That picture up there is a waaaaaaaay cleaner version than what mine was, heh.

[low_psi]

Nice. Is the noise like I described... Like a growl in the engine rather than a sucking sound? Do you like/enjoy it, regret cutting a hole in your airbox, etc...?

It makes a more pronounced sucking noise now. I don't regret it nor do I think it was a great mod, it was mostly done out of boredom. I'm going to be running ducting to it for tack days though.

[NoRotor,NoMotor]

mmm the power of cheese

[Boston5761]

I didn't do it, no. but someone did it to my Mirage and I think he even hacked the old Miata. I believe he did do it to the Miata, either way, it had a nice sound to it.

That picture up there is a waaaaaaaay cleaner version than what mine was, heh.

what year mirage?

[PaulMSP1939]

It makes a more pronounced sucking noise now. I don't regret it nor do I think it was a great mod, it was mostly done out of boredom. I'm going to be running ducting to it for tack days though.

Good to know. I'll probably try this tomorrow. I'm not sure if I should get the swiss cheese action going or just cut a big hole, just cause I could replace the big hole easier however I worry about what kind of animals I could possibly suck up through the large opening. I'll take some pictures of what I end up doing.

[k-lea]

what year mirage?
99

[ND4MSP]

I started out with swiss cheese, and then my callaway elbow fell off. So I figured I'm getting enough hot air as it is, I just cut the whole bottom end of the air box off. Paired with a Green Filter it sounds pretty sick. Even at part throttle when the turbo starts to spool its pretty noticeable. I fell like I gained some throttle response Because I just recently picked up a new airbox and I felt like I lost a little something. One thing I don't like is I still get turkey at part throttle with my forge bov. So the turkey kinda turned into a different turkey. Like theres two of them wrestling in there now.

[PaulMSP1939]

Did it. Put about 10 or so 1 inch diameter holes in the fender side of the airbox. Cant really hear it very well due to the Corksport exhaust system ha, but I can sort of hear the sucking of air sound. I do notice a bit more of the turkey, but def not an all out gobble.

Im sure it sounds pretty sweet, but Its overpowered by the exhaust to make a big difference. Def cool if youre trying to keep it simple or youre on a budget.

[ND4MSP]

Its definatley sssucking lol

[503MSP]

someone should get a dyno of the swiss cheese mod to see if there is actually any gains from it

[PaulMSP1939]

....not it.












My guess is the only gain is the sound (maybe slightly improved throttle response), but I doubt any intake would show gains significant enough to be dyno-worthy.

[jeffmsp]

just remove the entire bottom of the box and use electrical tape to hold it against the top. hell ive even use a sock once on my old 91 EGT.