Ford Fiesta mk6 (2005) air intake position doubts and questions

[Eclipse99]

Hello! I`ve been having some thoughts that kept me up at night regarding the air intake on my 2005 Fiesta. The air intake , in pure stock form , takes in air from just behind the grill , which it should be fine for the most part but , what about all the dirt , dust and water that it can suck in? So one day I decided to remove the pipe (check pictures) that leads from the grill to the filter box. The idea behind this is that , its safer, cleaner and I dont have to worry about anything nasty going in and eventually ruining the filter quicker or even the engine. I have to also add that the car feels much smoother in operation , less jerky when starting or idling even. I was thinking if this could in any way do more harm than good , and yet again , keeps me up at night. At this point, if the car feels better and safer like this, why not just make it like this in the first place? 

Notes: The cars in the pictures are not mine , they are just for reference, also despite taking out the intake pipe , i have left that plastic cover thingy behind the grill, otherwise as you can see in the picture with red text , its left open , and all kinds of stuff enter the engine bay, defeating the whole purpose.

[Luke4efc]

Complete waste of time and can do more harm than good. Ford spends millions for engineers to design their cars, and most things are there for a reason. After all, why on earth wouldn't they save money on some intake hose if it didn't serve a purpose?

If you serviced your car properly then the air filter box wouldn't get full of dirt and debris. I've actually seen air filters that have been installed for 50,000 miles and still looked reasonably clean, so they don't go that bad anyway. The Ford service schedule is to inspect every service, and replace regardless at 38,000 miles or 3 years. Unless you live in the desert, your intake shouldn't be getting that dirty to warrant replacing more frequently.

The problem with your setup is you're now drawing in hot air into the engine, which means it doesn't mix with the fuel and ignite as well as hot air (basic physics). Less bang = less engine power.

TLDR: Stop trying to be clever and refit the intake pipe.

[Eclipse99]

Thank you for the reply. I am not trying to be clever or anything , its just a thought that I kept going on about. It is true what you are saying regarding hot air , however , from what I know , hot air , in this case warm air because there is a mixture of warm engine air with fresh air from the existing hole in the grill , has less oxygen , which should force the ecu to lower the fuel injection to prevent it from running rich , thus lowering fuel consumption in theory. On another note , I don`t see how servicing a car , would prevent dirt and debris from entering the airbox , considering normally it takes in air from the grill , its something out of my control. When using the stock method, all the filters i have changed , appeared to have the usual amount of dirt , which wasnt a lot , however they were warped , every time. Warped as in water damaged , which indicates clearly that water makes its way into the airbox. I have also had issues with the throttle getting stuck from nasty stuff , combination of dirt and gunk formed by possibily humidity. All I am trying to do is to prevent anything like this again , even if it means getting less power, as I couldn`t really care less about it, car just needs to do A to B , doesn`t need to win a quarter mile. I also understand what Ford is doing to the vehicles , research and all that. But I have had my fair share of issues on the car , relating all to poor design. Leaks in places they shouldnt be for example. The airbox itself is a poor design choice , a pain to take off, and the metal bolts turning back and forth into the plastic casing eventually break it ,like it did already. 

Note: I want this to be a debate, not a fight. Not trying to outsmart anyone.

[Tizer]

The Air Intake on a Rover Diesel that I owned was like a snorkel and it formed a deep U bend which presumably was to trap any water at the bottom of the bend and if any heavy objects got sucked in then they would likely not make it back up towards the Air Filter. Seemed like a great idea to me.

In the olden days when cars had Carburetors and no fancy electronics, if they took their air supply from within the engine bay they often had a summer and winter position that allowed you to twist the intake point towards the engine in the winter and towards the grill in the summer. Some cars moved in from that and had a thermostatically controlled diverter piece that did the same and was always pointing to the engine when it was cold.

[unofix]

16 minutes ago, Tizer said:

Summer and winter position that allowed you to twist the intake point towards the engine in the winter and towards the grill in the summer.

Holy crap Batman !! I had forgotten all about that thing. It's something from the days of early cortinas and possibly mk1 escorts.

In answer to Andrew's 'experiment' it is a fact that fuel will mix better with cold air and produce a better 'Bang' hence more power. Just look a the trouble that Rally cars go to with air intakes to try and get as much fresh air as possible in to the engine.

[DaveT70]

The whole idea of an air filter is to catch the dirt.

Having the air intake on the front of the car ensures cooler air is sucked in from the front of the car whilst moving

Removing the "dirty air feed" pipe has now ensured you are sucking hot air from inside the engine bay, which will effect performance and economy

[Luke4efc]

5 hours ago, Eclipse99 said:

I don`t see how servicing a car , would prevent dirt and debris from entering the airbox

It doesn't, but servicing it means you either clean or replace the air filter every time. By doing this is should never get dirty enough to affect the performance.