Has anyone else tried this with their intake?
 

I picked up a K&N panel filter a few months ago and put it in the stock airbox. I didn't seem to help out at all, and actually made the engine feel less powerfull at low revs. Today I opened up the airbox, rotated the top half around so that the whole filter was exposed, and put the K&N back in. So now the intake just sucks in directly through the filter, and not through the box at all. The throttle response felt a little quicker and smoother, and the power felt a little better at higher revs. Does anyone know if this setup could create any problems?

It won't create any problems so long as you devise a way to keep the filter from falling out.
Yes, the previous way you had it, you see power loss. The air intake box is massively air restrictive. The snorkel that goes below the air box has one bend that has maybe a 1-1/2 in. area (or less... it looked freakin' small). It's pretty sad to say the least. I alot of people simply mod their air box. I have yet to do it, but it's a priority on my list. I have a four-day weekend coming up. I believe I'm going to open her up.

Oh. The only downside to what you did, is that now you're sucking in hot air from the engine compartment. So, say, you're on the freeway during gridlock, you're really sucking in the hot air, and power will be considerably lower than when you noticed the power increase.

Do a search on air box / intake box. You should find a few links to instructions on modifying your air box.
I actually saw a picture on the web recently of someone doing the exact same thing you did. I forget where I saw it though (you asked if anyone else tried it).

Later on.

oh yeah I did my filter that way a week after I got the car. Now I have it turned back so I can get the cool air comming from the ground. Its like in the hole between the tranny and the frame rail.

My airbox is back to normal for now; I have to get some zip ties or something to hold the filter, and I want to grease it a little to make sure it's well sealed. I think when I'm moving there's enough air flowing in around that side of the radiator that it won't be too hot. I know it felt alright when I was driving, and I hadn't even bothered to reset the ECU. If I really felt like increasing airflow I could always aim the filter straight forward and take out the driver's side head light, GT racer style. I'm sure I'd get about 20 miles before getting pulled over for that one.:rolleyes: Then there's always the ghetto airscoop approach. There's a kid I see driving around here in a Jetta GLI with half a plaster bucket glued to his hood as a scoop.:barf:

the best alternative if you dont want a cone, i think is my intake setup. An k-n panel, remove the side snorkel, remove the resonator tube over the radiator, switch the rubber tube form the resonator tube upside down, and tied it up with a tie wrap.

that should look like this:

image

I'll give that a try. I tried just removing the tube a while ago. I like the setup with the filter completely exposed because it sounded better. It whistled when it was idling, which was kind of annoying, but under WOT it sounded much better. It wasn't anything super-impressive, but it was about as good a sound as I would expect from 1800ccs :p