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Induction Kit


Scott1970
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Hi all bit of advice if possible? I'm wanting to do a few mods to my focus, but am confused about 1 thing.

I'm after an induction kit which I have found on eBay the only thing is it says do not fit to a car if it has a factory fitted air sensor. How will I find out if it does?????? Thank

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All cars now will have a MAF (mass airflow) sensor connected to the intake somewhere! By the sounds of it this is a universal induction kit? ie will fit all cars and not model specific?

I would highly advise against such a mod! Reason being ford have spent time developing an airbox which will allow adequate air in whilst sheilding the intake from engine bay heat (heat soak) you will take a drop in performance if you just replace the airbox will a universal cone filter regardless if its a good brand such as k&n!

Instead just buy a k&n panel filter to replace the stock filter inside your current airbox! If you have an airbox with a stock cone shape filter i would recommend a green cotton replacement or the K&N 57s kit which only replaces the stock cone for a bigger one and a reshaped airbox lid to increase airflow

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All cars now will have a MAF (mass airflow) sensor connected to the intake somewhere! By the sounds of it this is a universal induction kit? ie will fit all cars and not model specific?

I would highly advise against such a mod! Reason being ford have spent time developing an airbox which will allow adequate air in whilst sheilding the intake from engine bay heat (heat soak) you will take a drop in performance if you just replace the airbox will a universal cone filter regardless if its a good brand such as k&n!

Instead just buy a k&n panel filter to replace the stock filter inside your current airbox! If you have an airbox with a stock cone shape filter i would recommend a green cotton replacement or the K&N 57s kit which only replaces the stock cone for a bigger one and a reshaped airbox lid to increase airflow

Exellent answer! exept the K&N 57s i have looked at do not appear to be fully encapsulated (allows warm underbonnet air into the filter) - you need to go for the BMC CDA or Pipercross Venom for fully - encapsulated cone filters

The Mk1 Focuses have flat - panel style filters - the 1.6/1.8/2.0L & RS use the same filter

Scott - can you let us into your secret? - is your mk 1 Focus a petrol or diesel? whats the engine capacity/ type?

PS - welcome to the forum!

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Thanks guys for your help, i have a mk1 petrol 1800 car for the record. I had one of these cone induction kits on my old escort and thought it was good and didn't seem to cause any problems. Can any of you guys send me a link to such filters just so I know I'm on the right track when buying the filter. Thanks for the welcome and look forward to the future on here. Cheers

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Exellent answer! exept the K&N 57s i have looked at do not appear to be fully encapsulated (allows warm underbonnet air into the filter) - you need to go for the BMC CDA or Pipercross Venom for fully - encapsulated cone filters

The Mk1 Focuses have flat - panel style filters - the 1.6/1.8/2.0L & RS use the same filter

Scott - can you let us into your secret? - is your mk 1 Focus a petrol or diesel? whats the engine capacity/ type?

PS - welcome to the forum!

sorry i should of said its the 57s-4000 kit! which is a replacement filter and new modified air box lid (lower half of stock box is kept) it also has an additional plug that can be removed from the right hand side of the box for more induction noise or extra cold feed location! check it out FOCA treat that mondeo ;-)

well if you have a panel filter on your mk1 scott just get a performance panel filter replacement and maybe add the st170 snorkel to it?

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induction kits lose performance on the mk1 the best way is to buy the st170 snorkel as said which can be made to fit the airbox by heating with a hairdryer and shaping with an aerosol can lid takes 5 mins that gives more air from the front into the box with the panel filter nice cold air an induction kit with the foicus just sucks in hot air the engine runs a lot hotter than old escorts so after 20 mins youll find theres poor response from the throttle and the car lacks oomph an iceman cold air feed simply is taking an extra cold air feed hose to behind the light cluster cutting an extra hole in the side or bottom of the airbox and fitting the hose with sealant then the small square resonator on the airbox is removed giving you induction roar that filters wont trust me thats the way to go or watch as that little 1.0 corsa goes past like youre pushing and no respectable ford owner can allow such a sacrilage

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sorry i should of said its the 57s-4000 kit! which is a replacement filter and new modified air box lid (lower half of stock box is kept) it also has an additional plug that can be removed from the right hand side of the box for more induction noise or extra cold feed location! check it out FOCA treat that mondeo ;-)

well if you have a panel filter on your mk1 scott just get a performance panel filter replacement and maybe add the st170 snorkel to it?

"Treat that mondeo"

It probably wont surprise you to hear i built a custom/ 1-off insulated (approx 80/ 90mm) intake that comes into (out of?) the wing (with a cool air feed), - the battery and fuse box had to be moved to make way for it. The airbox is gas-flowed (completely smoothed out- no webs etc) with belmouth (corners seriously rounded off) and all the voids filled with filler - it took about 3 weeks to do. The bellmouth alone took several days to make - it was moulded to fit and finished by hand

It was found to outperform cmmercial intakes and anything else that was tried (including a huge rally- car intake/ filter) - there is still room for improvement and im always looking at ideas but with the intake being 90mm and the outlet of the stock turbo being a teeny-tiny 35mm, its probably not the "bottleneck" in the system!. ive got a gas- flowed inlet manifold with "massive" inlet and a load of oversize boost hoses that have been sitting in the house for over a year,

As a has said Scott, a K&N cone filter may have improved an old Escort "back in the day" but it won't be an improvement over a modern stock airbox - things move on - technology advances - you've probably got a modern smart-phone, not a brick from the 1980s - you probably don't wear flares - why put 1970s technology (K&N open cone filters in the engine bay) in your car?

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Hi guy's thanks for all your feedback. FOCA the reason I was lookin at the cone filter was I had one on my escort and it sounded nice and did slightly improve the performance. So thought if I fitted it on my focus it would do the same. Just thinking of a few cheap little mods to add as I've not got a great deal of spare cash at the mo

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Hi guy's thanks for all your feedback. FOCA the reason I was lookin at the cone filter was I had one on my escort and it sounded nice and did slightly improve the performance. So thought if I fitted it on my focus it would do the same. Just thinking of a few cheap little mods to add as I've not got a great deal of spare cash at the mo


The 1.8L is already sensitive to temprature, with a noticible drop- off in performance on a hot day (as the ECU "backs off" the power) - adding an underbonnet cone filter will make this worse

With an underbonnet cone filter fitted The initial "gulp" of air can give the impression of better throttle response, and the noise can give the illusion of power

1 - when i was involved in building engines for racing, we were running open carbs with polished bellmouths, the motors were rebuilt and the head/ piston polished every meeting, some of the tracks were quite sandy/ dusty and it was getting into the carbs/ engine - we tried (massive) Pipercross and K&N filters - with the filter on the engine would not rev at the top end and i had to drop 3 jet sizes to stop it running rich - we had to remove it and go back to the open bellmouth

2 i had an MG metro turbo and i ran it without an air filter, ive ran lots of other cars without filters with no problem but the metros engine bay tended to get really dusty - i wrecked the bores/ engine and had to do an engine transplant - even then, a turbocharged A- series engine was hard to come by, i stuck an NA MG metro engine in it

3 when i fitted my "wing" air intake on my mondeo, i noticed the engine "missing/ running rough" after sitting in traffic (especially on a hot day)- it took me a while to realise there was a "slot" or big hole between the wing and the engine bay - allowing warm air into the inlet - loosing power - i sealed it up and the difference was phenominal

Moral -

1 - don't run without a filter, or only on track days or dyno runs when there is little dust or sand, i run a stock/ pattern paper filter (and change it every 6 months) because a K&N (oiled cotton) or pipercross (foam type) filters allow some dust particles through that the paper ones dont let through -

2 - There is a balance or compromise between filtering efficiency and flow ,

3 - The paper filter flows quite well when its new and gradually gets more restrictive as time goes on but maintains filtering efficiency

4 - the K&N allows small dust particles in when it is new, once a layer of dust biulds up it filters more effecively and maintains flow for over a longer period than the paper filter - but often you can buy 6 paper filters for the price of 1 K&N so a frequently changed paper filter will filter better and flow adequately, especially when it is new

5 - a K&N filter is actually quite restictive compared to open carbs/ ITBs with bellmouths

6 - When a "performance" filter is fitted, it often replaces an old, clogged filter, so an improvement may be noticed because of this - comparisons should be made like- for like, new for new

7 cooler air into the inlet = more oxegen per cc = more power - the inlet air needs to be kept as cool as possible without allowing any heatsoak/ warm air into the inlet - obviously an open cone filter does not achieve this, an open cone filter with heatshield and/ or a coold feed does not either, or a drilled airbox, the intake must be isolated/ insulated from heat sources - the filter should be fully encapsulated/ isolated from underbonnet heat or it will find its way in, reducing power

8 if you just want to make more noise - drill the bottom of the airbox, it may not loose power in the winter, and the filter is not bypassed - generally you will just loose power but at least it costs zero to do - better than wasting money on cone filters

9 on some parts i wrote "open" or "underbonnet" cone filters, if a cone filter is placed in, ie, the wing, or is encapsulated so it does not draw warm air, it can work well

10 the filter itself may not be the most restrictive part of the intake system, the small diameter tubes before the filter may be more restrictive - so a better flowing filter or even no filter at all may not make any difference to performance (realative to a new filter)

11 the stock filter on a modern car often has a "tuned" frequency and boosts torque, low down, replacong this with a cone filter can often seem to increase midrange or top- end power (giving the illusion of more power) when all it is doing is reducing bottom end power (along with the increased noise, of course)

12 It is very difficult to improve on the stock intake system (of a morern car) without compromising something, you are more likely to make it worse unless you really, really know what you are doing

13 - unlucky for some! with the data ive collected i could do a 113! - but i think you get the picture

14 - (an important point to add) typical gains for upgrading a panel filter (when an improvement is measured) are around (only) 2Hp but the top - end revs and throttle response can improve a little

- here are some panel filters -

Pipercross (a dry foam filter) -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pipercross-Performance-Air-Filter-Ford-Focus-Mk1-1-8-TDCi-115bhp-01-04-PP1401-/110919053008?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item19d34a6ed0#ht_1225wt_904

Green cotton - (similar to A K&N panel filter but the green colour helps to see when it is dirty and the bondng process is better allowing a better surface area (more flow) - more expensive than a K&N though) -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Green-Cotton-Performance-Air-Filter-FORD-FOCUS-01-04-ST-170-2-0L-i-16V-/231021229755?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item35c9f036bb#ht_2941wt_1215

The K&N -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2000-Ford-Focus-2-0L-K-N-Performance-Air-Filter-/140764280297?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item20c63475e9#ht_2515wt_1199

,

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had a universal on mine was !Removed! terrible when towing the caravan, bought a k+n panel and its brill feel a lot torque god knows how much i was loosing with the cone for the sake of some noise

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Theres a video on youtube where 2 guys test filters and yhe actually give less power than factory air box untill the got a long piece of ducting and stuck it out of the bonnet and the only made a couple of hp.

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  • 5 years later...

Late to the conversation but would thermal covering, ie: insulating wrap around the intake tubing from the front grille, make any difference? Surely the better insulated tubing would minimise the plastics heating up and therefore providing cooler air

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if you have a turbo, a well made, well fitted induction kit will work together with a remap to extract a few more horse power that 99% of the time you will never use.

if its a NA car an induction kit will rob a fair bit of vital torque, in the range of 1000 to 3500 rpm that you want every drive, and will replace it with 2 BPH at 3000 you can't possibly notice and if lucky give 7 BHP at 5000 rpm that at best you'll use for 10% of your life (if you suddenly change and like wasting petrol).

it will invalidate your insurance, make and antisocial noise, on a motorway it may drone to such an extend you will regret it and might cause issues with the way the car runs in bad weather (extreme cold and or rain)

For road use, it would be far more pleasant to drive, safer and much faster if you invested in a matching set of premium brand tyres (in the standard size), get the geometry set on all 4 wheels and work on optimising tyre pressures to get handling characteristic you like.  If you have money left over an upgraded set of expensive adjustable dampers retaining the original spring rates and close to std ride height would be another idea to help you go faster

NOTE:...you will most likely unlock twice the power by doing a full service (filter, plugs oil) and running a decent synthetic brand of oil at manu spec and pumping up the tyres

 

sorry to be an old boring ***** but lowered springs, a loud exhaust, 19" wheels and cheap mismatching unbranded tyres rubbing on the arches is about 10 seconds a lap slower (and you need at least 15BHP gain to actually feel it on the road)

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Could you also cut away some of the intake ducting that's hidden away behind the upper front grille, cover the now much larger hole with fine mesh, and in theory draw more air, because the stock intake ducting on my focus MK2.5 has only two small holes, right up against the top of the bonnet scuff panel 

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