Thanks, COcycler. I will definitely post pics of the mirror delete. Since I'm not sure how soon I'll get to it, I bought my delete panels from a small company called 8380 labs.
8380 Laboratories - Products
They seem to focus more on t-shirts these days....
Just tackled a full intake system upgrade over the weekend.
Started with the turbo intake pipe that I picked up off the tdiclub.com classifieds. Since the aluminum pipe has to run around the exhaust manifold and EGR cooler at a clearance of only a couple inches, I decided to give it some heat wrap. Looks like I should have bought more then 15'. Oh well.
New PD150 pipe vs. my stock 2003 ALH pipe.
After cleanup and heat wrap:
Pipe installed:
Might as well take a quick look at intake clogging before replacing upper intercooler pipe elbow: I think I'm still ok for now...
Next, I knew I didn't want to bother installing an intake pipe that starts at 3" diameter only to run a 2.5" intake up to it. So I picked up a used air box and 3" MAF housing from a gas V6 Volkswagen off the vwvortex classifieds. I also bought a cheap 3" flex pipe intake hose kit online (only to later see it for a few bucks cheaper at my local auto parts store, doh).
Busted out a hole saw, got the air compressor and die grinder fired up, and started buzzing away at the VR6 air box:
Tried to smooth out the upper lid also, but it was just too much work so I called it ok at this point:
New lower air box in place.
Everything assembled:
I know this might seem counter-productive for mileage for some of you that run warm air intakes. But my engine has no throttle, is all drive-by-wire, and is, of course, turbocharged. So I honestly think this extra breathing will in fact help mileage. And I have to admit I'll probably enjoy the extra power also.