ok so a bit of a review even if it is a tad late...
Well it took a very long time for it to finally arrive from the states, im not sure what happened but it was delayed from their end, so i was very excited to receive it when i finally did!
Ok so fitting...
Unwrapping the box and all the parts inside i felt like a kid @ Christmas!
The instruction wer very clear and precise and thorough i found, however there were some issues. Firstly the clips that hold on the under bonnet padding seemed to be a bit of a pain to come out and a couple broke in the process unfortunately. (not that it says you will need these to hold the new bonnet scoop on before you break them!!)
secondly, the next problem i had was that in the pictures it shows the car having an air mass sensor (a.m.s), something my '07
mcs doesn't have!!! This was rather a problem, as the extension pipe that is used as the elbow is designed to connect to this, so some home engineering had to take place and i had to use a pipe from another, older, induction kit, borrowed from a friend. Not ideal but it had to do! This however left holes in the side of the new airbox that were designed to accommodate the a.m.s. Only small, but considering this was supposed to be a sealed pressurised cold air fed airbox... not very good! My only guess is the ones in the states have an a.m.s and European cars don't?
So after this was avoided, and the bonnet scoop only attached by 2 of the 4 clips ideally that should be used, i was a little unimpressed. (btw the 2 clips hold the scoop on firm and rigid in place, believe me i had a good tug about to check this before i drove it!)
One thing that has to be said is the quality of the product, it is of very high quality and there is no faults with it there. Althou the fitment of the top half of the new airbox onto the bottom half of the old airbox isnt great, with some gaps.
So as for testing...
I was driving around with it for a while and was constantly thinking about the gaps around the seal between the top and bottom of the airbox, and also the holes where the a.m.s should have bolted on. In addition to that fact the car also utilises the standard air feed aswel as the new bonnet intake.... so, very begrudgingly, i got out the tape... and sealed them all as best as i could to see what difference it would make!
It did seem to sharped the throttle response a very slight bit, but nothing to shout home about really.
as for having the thing in general, i feel there may be a slight different mid - top end speed wise, when the air is being forced into the scoop, both bottom end seemed to have suffered, and it seems to almost take longer to spool up the turbo, so i may reconsider the tape and try it again with it off, so the car can use air from the scoop and the standard intake, maybe it is being strangled at low speed? :S
Mid to top end the throttle is definitely slightly sharper but maybe 10% max.
So for mpg...
When i first put it on it seemed to suck fuel like nothing else, but has since seemed to have calmed down a lot and recently i have had some extremely impressive figures!!
Such as recently i was on a 120mile trip, mostly motorways, with 2 people in the car and a massive tv in the boot, doing 75ish on cruise control, i was averaging 53-54mpg according to the computer!!
One thing i have to say that could be a factor is that it has been colder of late, and the colder more dense air, especially in a turbocharged car, makes a HUGE difference to power. And its pretty obvious to say if it is producing naturally more power it will need less fuel..
One thing i absolutely love and couldn't now be without... the sound!!!
You can hear the turbo winding up, and dumping all the air, with every hard application of throttle and gear change, and this really makes people turn their heads when you drive past them, however i find it a nice addiction and not an intrusion. If you drive slow and normally it is very quiet indeed.
and if you drive through a tunnel... well... windows down, and you smile from ear to ear with ecstasy!!
I would be extremely intrigued to see on a dyno with an extremely powerful fan, wheather power is helped or not, as it would be so marginal its hard to tell, but still i love the sound and the fact that scoop is now being used for something, so i will be sticking with it!!
I hope this helps anybody, im sure there are still plenty of questions you may have, i will try and answer them all if anyone else out there is considering buying one!
