Should i keep the airbox, or go with the Cone/heatshield?

[87-325ic]

Well, i just got the new head on, the headers on, and will be going with a new exhaust system,
Now i'm looking at the afm, and airbox, thinking maybe a conefilter, with a heatshield of course, might help me out a little bit too...
looking at the spare AFM i have laying around, i find that it has a built in adapter for some reason, and it perfectly fits my AFM where it mounts to the stock airbox..


So what should i do? Stick my new stock mahle panel filter in and call it a day, or
build up a heatshield and slap on this adapter and get a cone filter?

Keep in mind i have that Air flow tests page bookmarked. (bolhuijo.com or something)

[ddavidv]

Oh boy...you're going to open up a can of worms on this one.
My personal opinion is the cone filter is a waste of money. I could blather on endlessly about why I think so, but then someone else will post about why the cone filter has to give you more power. The truth is, until someone runs a dyno test on these we simply won't know. Based on past data on other cars, I'd expect this to maybe give you 1-3 hp at most. The oem setup is quite good, draws air from exactly the spot it should and is shielded very well from engine bay heat. I don't feel that a homebrew solution can do better.

[doucy2]

I wouldn't worry about it, I considered doing it but was swayed away from people on here. Just think its all gonna have to get replaced when you turbo your car :), so why waste money on it now.

[HST]

I personally like the sound of the cone vs. the stock box, as far as performance, I don't think it matters eather way.