I tried to use the center grill to put in place of the foglight inserts, but that center grill didn't have enough of a curve to it. To have the foglight holes have the same grill material as the center grills would have looked sweet, IMO, so I was a little sad when I finally admitted to myself that the fittment would have been ____-poor.
So, I did this instead:







I used a 17/64 bit, since it's the only one I have right now. I'm thinking that the holes could be a little larger. I think it'd look a little better, and it would of course let a little more air in... for .005hp more.

The reason I placed the holes where I did was to avoid rocks, bugs, and hopefully water on the filter.

What do you folks think? (p.s. the scrape on the bumper was a bone-head thing...no comments, please. )

 

I think it's ruined and pointless. Why even bother drilling holes in it? If you wanted air for your intake just remove it. But then you'd look down and notice that there is nearly a square foot of hole at the bottom of the bumper under where a cold air intake would be sitting. So pointless.

 

First off, let's talk like grown ups. Condescending remarks are not appreciated.

Ok, now realize that I have the injen intake, so it sits right behind the foglight insert, NOT at the bottom of the bumper. The reason I don't want to pull off the cover is so I don't get bugs, rocks, and water in the filter. Removing the cover wasn't an option in my book. Is it going to make a huge difference? No, and I knew that from the get-go. But, I think it'll help.

I don't like the insterts anyway, so I figured I'd just get some foglights if I really screwed it up.

 

I don't like it.

If you are looking for a way to get more direct air to your filter do the ram air vents. I saw a member on here somewhere that had Chevy SS type vents. They looked similar to this: Link Here It's the grey pieces at the lower bumper.

Looked hot on the xB.

 

That's a cool idea.
Anyone know what member he's talking about?

 

I don't like it. It looks like you had something mounted there before and just left the holes after removing it.

I'm no specialist on ram air but I've seen several systems installed and they are all pretty much sealed so that the air coming in creates more pressure. I don't think those 3 little holes will increase the pressure in there. In fact it might hurt by disturbing the air flow in that space. Without the holes the air filter has a large area to draw from. There is an open direct path to air 6 inches or so off the ground. I'm sure the design of the intake is to get it out of the hot engine bay and in to that area where it can pull that cooler air in.

My suggestion, since you've already drilled holes in the cover, is to go ahead and cut the whole middle out of it. Smooth the edges and find some cool looking mesh to fit in there to protect from large debris. Then install a flap at the rear of the opening to deflect rain down. Then you'd get a direct flow of air into that space without the risk of water or debris problems.

 

I belive Homer Simpson calls those "speed holes".

 

hahahahahahahahahahaha i bet more air comes out of my butt then can go through those holes

 

Well hmm back to topic.

I think its completely pointless.

Dont worry about Rocks and stuff. it cant break your filter. but now what Im seeing is that you just did something to disturb the air flow (somewhat)

If you worry about Hydrolocking, then you might want to consider install something like a bypass valve, or just dont drive it when its raining(or dont run over a pot of water)

Cuz water cant really get inside from the front, more like as your wheel spins, it might spash some water into your filter.

 

I looked, searched and can't find it, sorry.

Pull those out and put fogs in there since those are damaged now.

Also, I didn't think about the hydolock possibilities.

 

Derk! First off i haven't talked to you in a while, still have that Borla?

Okay, now to topic. Honestly, the holes are too small for there to make an impact as far as breathing goes. If you want help on that idea, PM badbasic. He can give you tips on what your trying to acheive. Just tell him killerxromances sent ya, he'll tell you whats up!

What happened to that bumper man? You going to try and buff it out? Or repaint it?

Cya

 

Again, we're playing in the grown ups sandbox, ok? Let's keep this to constructive critisim, and we'll all learn a whole lot more.

LMAO, I forgot about that episode.


That's always been the back up plan. I may have just pushed myself over the edge on getting them, too. :D


Borla's doin' great. Thanks man! Thanks for the info and the contact. As far as hole size goes, I guess I was thinkin' more along the lines of cooler air temperature rather than simply more air.

 

I think by placing these holes I had hoped to cool the intake's charge more than "add more air."
I didn't really think about disrupting the nice still air in that little pocket that the filter sits in. I wonder if that'll have any detrimental effects?

 

I doubt it. The holes aren't big enough to really allow that much more of a flow, yet at the same time they aren't big enough to really cause a counter-effect either. I'm sort of in a hurry so cya!!

 

You gotta think of what other air the car is pushing. With the wall that is the front end of these cars, there's probably more air pressure flowing sideways across the holes than any air actually going into them, IMO. Also, you couldn't force enough water through those holes to hydrolock it if you were using a firehose. Turbulence shouldn't affect things either. The grill is open about 3 inches away from there and the filter doesn't reside in a vacuum.

Probably the only benefit will come from the weight savings...

 

Hmmm...very interesting point. You're probably dead-on.

 

Hydrolock with those holes maybe not, but with the air ram vents I was talking about earlier, maybe so.

 

only if you have a waterhose in the hole pointed into the filter.

 

If the filter is right behind the fog lamp cover and the cover is removed during a nice down poor, I'm sure driving in the rain will welcome much liquids into the filter.

 

not really. and the only intake with that filter placement is the injen sr and the weapon r. I know alot of people use the injen but i'm just saying.