Lozz

First, I should probaly make it aware that I'm almost a complete stranger when it comes to cars... (infact..I'm waiting for my brother to get home atm because I can't even figure out where the oil drain valve is on my car if you wish to know the extend of how little I know)... however I learn very quickly and I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty or spend hours contemplating how I did what I did and how to fix it(lol). I have two questions

1) I was reading this thread for an easy way to try out some modifications to my 00 Protege ES(if it matters at all, I have the 1.8L stock engine), and being as ignorant as I was.. without pictures it might as well been in french ... but after reading a couple more websites and learning a little more about what the heck they were acutaly talking about I became aware of what the general area was more of where he cut.. but I'm still not completly sure. so Before I start cutting holes in my air intake snorkel I wanted your guys opinion on if my guess was the correct one on where to cut. I attached a picture of the front air intake snorkel and outlined in red approximately where I plan to cut(except... on the bottom half of the snorkel..not on the top, since I was too lazy to take it out and flip it over)

2) I read in this thread that removing the MAF(which.. I just found out today was) sensor screens might also be benefitial, except this time I know clearly where the "Black waffles" are located in the tube.. except there so frecking hard to get to... there are two bolts that are connecting the MAF to the air filter encasing that I can probaly get off with better tools,so no big woop there..except that the hose that is on the end opposite of the air filter that connects the MAF to the engine seemslike it's glued or the plastic has been melted to the tube for the MAF..is it okay if I use alot of brute force to try to remove it to get to the other MAF screen or would it probaly not be worth risking damaging the MAF sensor you think?

thanks for any help guys(or gals?), if you think one of my questions has already been answered on another site or thread please link me.


I also uploaded a picture of the snorkel w/o read lining if you want to outline where I should cut instead. I had planned to just buy a $35 ebay air intake kit..but I wanted to try somthing on a smaller scale first.

MyLowPro5

i removed the "waffle" in my maf. shouldnt need a whole lot of force. i think we popped it out with a screwdriver. you can take the whole maf out of the tubing itself. just be careful not to get anything in the maf...there pretty sensitive from what i understand. should be a pretty easy thing to accomplish. hope this helps you a bit. and nice to see you used the search button and read around first. that will help you almost all the time...theres alot of good info on this site. also....welcome to the board, hope you stick around for awhile.


james

kargoboy

Welcome. The very first mod I did to my car was kind of what you are talking about.
I never saw anyone actually cut the snorkel, though.
If you look just in front of the snorkel, there is the plastic grill and a sort-of depressed flat area that most of us use for laying tools.
You cut that flat, retangularish section out.
I did it by removing the grille (careful not to break the plastic holders), and using a razor knife to score it. It popped right out perfectly.

Lozz

haha so I was still completly wrong. O well, thanks for catching me.

I'm 99% positive you're talking about the circled area?


I just used a pair of plyers, but I'll try a screw driver, thanks


edit:
just found out why the MAF screen was hard to remove.. because there is long piece of plastic that extends the legnth of the tube of the MAF screen about 1-2mm heigh that's apparently preventing it's removal.. I'll have to cut it off in order to remove the screen.I took a picture so all can have a looksee at what I'm taking about. I was able to get the MAF unti out of there though,so it'll be easier to do away with the plastic (obvisouly.. if I had the thing in the house to take a picture of.. ) just used the old twist and pull trick instead of just pulling..

x-acto knife to the rescue!


edit2: I (finnaly) removed the MAF screen, ultimatly it took a steady hand, screwdriver and hammer (yes.. a hammer) to knock the thing out of there. it was probaly just caught on some of the plastic that was left beind from the blocker piece.Thanks MLP5 for suggesting I could remove the entire unit... if haddent I probaly woulda be outside for hours trying to remove the screen and not even see the plastic preventing it's removal. I knocked the screen out by it's edges, carefull not to get close to the MAF sensor..I never acutaly touched it. So I'm fairly confident I'm okay in that respect.

MyLowPro5

not a prob.....yeah when you were describing how you were gonna do it im like....man why not take the whole thing out. i dont remember if we had that much trouble removing the "waffle"...but this was over a year ago so who knows. i may not know a whole lot about doing certain things but i try to help out when i can.




james

kargoboy

And yes, I'm talking about the circled area.

Luzer

I removed my MAF screen several months ago. Butt dyno says performance is better, but probably no appreciable gains. No CEL though, and I do like the sound.

Lozz

I finnaly did the air-intake mod today(I'll snap a picture later).. I had the battery unpluged for a little over 7hours the previous night to reset the ECU(got home late last night..)... idk if that was long enough to ensure the STM was reset so I'll leave it unplugged again for a good 12-14hours again tonight, I didn't have alot of time to test it throughly, but the car seems to defentaly pull harder and gets up in the 4.5-5.5K range faster. The waffle mod didn't give any noticable increase... but the small sound difference is defentaly worth keeping.

macdaddyslomo

resetting the ECU just requires a simple unhook of the battery and press the brake pedal....no need to leave it for HOURS

Lozz

ohh, okay -.-' I just read in the post I linked to that they left it unhooked overnight, so i just assumed it would need that long to reset. Thanks for the tip I'll do that when I get home

mazdabel

Welcome to the site! Do you plan on any exterior mods/upgrades? You know like rims, lights, etc.??

Lozz

probaly the farthest I'm willing to go on exterior mods would be HID lights(I just bought 4K silverstar's so that won't happen for a while unless I role upon $200 just lying around) and tires xD... though I might try some dash color improvement and mabye a new driver seat..anyway, I want that shock factor to sink in when I leave people in the dust(since it won't happen often.. rofl) with an economy car..



I took a picutre of the cut out section and uploaded it, I cut a little more than I ment to off of the left side but overall I'm satasfied with it until I get my Air intake.

Stueck

would the knocking out of the maf screen do anything if you have a SRI?

kargoboy

Eh, I'm not convinced it does much of anything, but I suppose the air movement would be less restricted.

Lozz

yeah.. but I think it's acutaly there to stop the air from going in a circular motion so the sensor can get an accurate reading. it'd probaly be better to leave it in than remove it for the extra airflow.