The problem is when the cone filter is within the engine bay once the car is warm you get a lot of heat soak. Since colder air is denser, the bangs are better. I have an EP3 Type R, had a standard cone filter within the engine bay and when I would thrash it around, and the engine was super hot. It felt very sluggish. I then added an aem cold air intake, the filter goes down to the bumper where the fog light is. What a difference. Car feels more responsive and just keeps pulling especially when the vtec engages. Thought I'd share my experience :)

Evening James What people don’t seem to realise is the car is set up to run with the filter it was fitted with from the factory, the ecu controls the amount of air that goes into the engine so unless the car is mapped you could put the biggest air filter on it on the world it won’t make any difference, that funk motor sport is a cheap Chinese effort I wouldn’t put on my lawnmower, standard or performance panel filter is the way to go no loss of power from heat sink, great video mate and not meant to upset anyone with my comments 👍

Thanks so much for making this video! Been wanting to do the Vectra C intake on my Astra G for a long time now but never got around doing it because I didn't know how to get the old intake out etc.. 💯👍🏼

U should keep the part u say restricts the airflow on the intake they actually speed up airflow using Bernoulli principal basically the pressure decreases causing an increase in velocity

This takes me back to my two Vectra C's. First mod, remove the plastic restriction from the Airbox. Miss my Vauxhall's. Great Vid. :)

Give the throttle body a quick clean out too mate. That can sometimes help if its sluggish.

I remember this mod being rolling road tested by someone who was on the AOC (Astra Owners Club) forum. They tried various combinations IIRC. Vec C inlet, standard, K&N Filter, standard, Vec C with standard filter & K&N filter so on & so forth to see what gave best power output. I'm going back nearly 10 years but IIRC it was the standard paper filter that gave the better output and i think there was little to no difference between the Vec C inlet and the standard.

Did the same for the wife's Corsa D, got a RamAir cone, just didn't feel as nippy, although sounded nice, so changed it back to stock, took out the restrictive pipes out the bottom and top of the box, didn't swop the air intake from the grill like u did, but put a performance filter in the box, and yes so much better, i didn't test it. asked the wife to drive it for a bit and she says, smoother and a bit more responsive, great video, look forward to another Vid..

Hi James , I've always run a standard box but with a K&N panel filter in it , it improves the performance and retains the originality of the vehicle I would never go back to an original filter . Good videos by the way keep up the good work.

I had the same situation with a k&N cone filter and cold air intake pipe on my Hyundai Accent (so it was getting fed cool air) i put the stock box back in with a k&n panel filter to replace the oem one and wow what a difference, got plenty of power back especially low down.

That's definitely due to heat soak mate. Best thing you could do is try and get a flexi pipe to re-route the filter, preferably into where a fog light would go, best way for cold air, either that or I've cut a hole out of my lower grill mesh, got a thin tube to go round the whole so it looks nice and neat, plus it looks nice too, the pipe goes directly from the grill to a carbon airbox, to completely minimise warm air entering the inlet manifold

I drive since last year an astra 1.7 CDTI G Hatchback and I am astonished how good this cars were build. It drives better than a Citroën C3 of 2016 and even the new types. This kind of Astra is easy to work on because everything is so easy to access. I even raced some new astras and they have the same acceleration as the old one 😃😃

I put a cone on my 1.8 focus and it bogged right down absolutely hated it, so I put original airbox back in with a highflow pipercross panel filter and it's lovely now, definently more responsive than it's ever been!!

I done this mod on my Astra H 1.6 and it did let it rev better from 4500rpm. Well worth it. The standard paper filter is the best to use, have tried many others and always revert back.

Hey dude love the videos! Especially the corsa c ones :). I think the point of the intake extension tubes in the air box is to use more of the air filter. I think you will find that one side of the filter, closest to the intake and output of the box will get dirtier then the far end. Dont think it matters to much. Maybe just reorient it to the clean side in a year or so. Keep up the great videos!

Modern cars with all their sensors don't take well to bolt on mods like this in general. The ECUs operate under such strict parameters that trying to run the engine outside these, such as putting in more air or more fuel will often flag up a fault within the ECU and it will just go into a default safety mode. Meaning reduced power but it will still drive. You might even find ECU only allows so much air to be consumed, so when you have your foot down, if it's able to draw in more air now, the AFM will tell the ECU and it might shut the throttle slightly to revert back to factory levels.

I found the easiest way to increase airflow into the airbox was to drill the airbox with as many holes as you could on the side before the air filter. On my second car (a Mondeo diesel) I made sure I had a neat patter to it so it looked professional

The intake pipe originally wasn’t connected to the cone filter and was literally 15 inches or so away from the cone, probably why you had such delay in throttle response. We know the cone and throttle body suck in air and have a suction power. The intake pipe was allowing air into the engine bay but then mixed with the hot air. And then that cone filter was sucking in hot air. Cone filter are good for all cars really turbo or not, but as long as you get uninterrupted cold air coming through the pipe to the cone then to the engine. And preferably have a heat shield. Cheap ones will suffice. It’s just to block the hot air for the cones. When you put the stock box in with the de - restriction I guarantee the engines going to be feeling much healthier. :)

I've always run standard air boxes in my vehicles as they hold the cooler air much better then an open cone filter, I don't think heat soak would of been the issue as you said it's been cold lately and the massive open space it was sat in. I belive the air is more direct and FRESH with the standard kit. Probably get a bit more responce if you remove all the plastic fins inside the box making it smooth, replacing the filter with a pipercross foam pannel and then replacing the air box to throttle body pipe with one without a resonator. It won't give you any power as say but will give you a more responsive throttle. Loving watching the channel.

That's cool! I did exactly this tuning on my Astra G 10 years ago.

Getting better and better with these videos mate 👍🏼

Get some extra noise by drilling the airbox on the side away from the engine bay. Quick, keeps stock induction set up, and you can get a deep rumble (dependent on size of holes)

U should keep them on the intake they actually speed up airflow using Bernoulli principal basically the pressure decreases causing an increase in velocity

On the air intake. I would glue some rectangular nylon plastic box sections on the 2 mounting points and drill and tap... then drill 2 holes in line through the frame above the radiator. As a permanent fix.

To create more laminar airflow you could smooth out the inside of the air box. Just sand all the fins that are purely in place to subdue the intake noise. Nice vid by the way.

'The placebo effect' i once new an engine tuner that played a trick on a young driver by sending him out on a test drive to see if he could feel the difference. When the lad came back he praised the tuner for making the car drive much better. Thing was, the tuner hadnt even touched the tuning yet lol

The restricting pipe in the top housing of the airfilter is to calm the turbulent airflow so the mass air flow sensor can get a more accurate reading ;)

Great work , always enjoy your videos .

Yes cone filters will almost always make the car slower, and lower BHP. Unless its mounted in a position where it will get full cold air flow. But normally people mount them in the engine bay, so the filter sucks in Hot low density air. Hence less performance.

Look at the cone filter, the front of it is solid. What do you expect, blocking off most of the high airflow into the intake

Cone filters actually make less power than the standard air box (on NA and Turbo cars) what they bring is intake noise when you floor it. You're trading maybe 2% power for more noise.

Hi James,great video,the trouble with the cone filter is being open it drags in the warm air off the engine,the air box it cant get to it.with the K&N air filter might be put a bit of power,hopefully you should know the difference.

Hi The Savege Garage.. when using the cone air filter you have to make fresh air intake from the front of the car. also you have not yet removed the air leveling box on the tube after det map sensor. it is there for and makes air slower down and make the air pressure difference, just remove it.. when you usa cone filter this make the car slower and make it harder for the engine to get air in fast.. and also when you press the accelerator pedal to 100% in the car, the intake will only open up to a maximum of 75% to 85% on the engine. you can adjust yourself and make sure you get maximum air into the intake.

It might be because the air is cold that it felt stronger. Cold (and wet) air being denser, you get slightly better performance. Stub pipes like those in the air box are generally there to tune out (or in) resonances in the inlet system, so you may get some booming or moosing at certain airflow rates. No biggie, just something to be aware of. There may be a slight reduction in power at certain speeds, but I doubt you'll notice it.

Get the gen II k&n intake.. comes with heatsheild. Costs$$, but works well. Got one in my Holden TS Astra (Australia). [Z18XE]. You're having trouble with your pod filter because you have no heatshield, you're sucking in hot air from around engine.

Theres many vids on cars on KZfaq etc but none like SG vids , which are pretty much straight to point no faffing about, strictly car related , no bullshit like others, and you actually learn too , we not here to talk about what i had for breakfast it is what it is , cars and cars , is why i prefer these over others , keep up good work fella 👍 Edit, yes i know this was a simple vid but you get the point 😎

It's more sluggish because the cone filter is sucking in hot air from the engine bay where its less dense than the cold air going into the intake from outside.

Mondeo being TD will appreciate the cone filter, the Astras mass air flow and fuel control systems may compensate the extra air in some vehicles the change can affect emissions on mot , bizarre how some of the electronics work.

Great video as always and would love to know what'your day job is as you have mentioned fixing cars is just a hobby

From what I know I think it's because in the airbox and piping there is a lot of air pressure being forced into the engine and on the cone filter there is no pressure like that, could bad badly wrong but that's what i think.

I put a cone filter in my astra g, I have the 1.6 sxi twinport... and I have to say from my experience I thought the throttle was a lot more responsive.... everyone has there own opinion I suppose! But keep up the videos mate brilliant stuff! Looking for more ideas for mods for my astra if you think any is recommended

Hi James, if you have an EGR bypass it may be an idea to check how clean it all is, I remember having to do this on a Zafira a few years back and it did help taking all the gunk out. Ash🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Yes I had a similar problem back in the day i had an 99 Corsa B 1.2 16v and I had a cone filter with an exhaust and due to the ECU being tuned to standard spec it use to cut the power etc so I had the power taken up slightly as the tunener said to be the 1.2 can't take much power or the headgasket would blow

Remember doing the vectra c intake on my old corsa back in the day

Hi james mate, loving the videos pal the reason it feeels sluggish is to due the main cause - heatsoak and mapping blah blah blah, the car is mapped to the standard airbox air flow ratio therefore when you put on a cone filter not only does it suck in all that horrible hot air but it has a bigger area to suck air in compared to standard airbox. Correct me if im wrong people..... With a turbo its slightly different due to the air being compressed and cooled down etc

I know a lot of people get their NA cars mapped for a little extra BHP. Would e interesting of you could find a local garage with a dino that would be willing to run the astra standard then put a new map on? Could always take the ST in once its ready to go. Love the vids bud

i had to do the air filter job on my old astra it’s an absolute pig of a job lad. and you should notice bigger difference with the K&n filter

Im no mechanic but from what I know, the engine and all the components around it were specifically put there for specific reasons. Going ahead and replacing the stock air filter and box with a cone air filter will in most cases make the car a little more sluggish, especially on hotter days since the stock air box was designed to decrease the amount of hot air that enters whilst the cone air filter sucks in everything and everyone around it haha. In my case, I remapped my 1.7dti. This meant that certain stock parts were to be swapped out for more performance oriented parts such as a cold air intake (with the heatshield), better intercooler and much more. In this case, keeping stock components wouldn't make sense since the car is no longer functioning the way opel/vauxhall meant.

Hello, what is the reference of the OEM spare part? Thank you I want to do the same and put in a K&N filter to replace the original

For cone filter you should fit heatsheild and cold air feed pipe

flow in intake manifold is the same, so it won't do any difference. Wider intake is less air pressure, with additional air ecu would have to be tuned for that anyway

The Astra has come such a long way!

It's time to try a Vectra C. Or Signum. The 2.0 Turbo. 175. Essentially a Saab engine. A first stage update only requires a software install. Twould be interesting to feel the difference. Thank you for your hard work.

Keep that bellmouth out the top of the airbox too... although less restrictive with it out, it'll mostly give more at the top end or the rev range... the old Z16XE ain't got loads of grunt to start with, it can lose a little bit of low to mid range responsiveness & drivability without it. Something to do with inlet tract length. Ex-Z16 owner :)

NA cars generally suffer with exposed filters along with turbo cars due to too much air and not enough fuel. A map is needed to counter act the extra air otherwise you can actually lose power fitting one.

Hi James, if the car hesitates check your O2 sensors! They usually do this!

It’s the heat soak restricting power. Fit a heat shield, will improve it.

Just watched the new Grand Tour. And bang, back down to reality. Lol. I reckon your working at a slightly more restricted budget. I may be wrong 🍺

You’re lucky the oem pipe came out so easy, on my zlet it was a major pain, cut it to bits instead of dropping the rad pack. The pipes inside air box inlet are to slow the air down as it’s entering and allow any moisture to fall out of the flow, top one I’ve always been told helps smooth the air flow to the maf sensor.

Is there a difference with this change compared to what the car had on the original take? Thank you!

Well done mate Nice one 👍👍👍👏👏👏

Hey man. When you putting the GSi wheels on? Was thinking what solution you have to put 5 spoke rims on 4 spoke hubs. Adapter or change hubs? Also would love to see you convert the drum brakes on the back for disc ones

try a bigger airbox that allows you to put the cone filter in, that way you avoid heat soak, get best of both worlds.

YES THE ASTRA IS BACK

You will have heat soak with the cone just adding a good cold air feed would have sorted the bad throttle responce and dont bother sticking the cone on the mondeo as its a diesel it wont have much induction noise and will also hurt mpg

The pipes you’ve removed are originally there to deaden the sound of the induction and to stop resonating/droning noises 👍

Cool mod James good job #bluudy sent me 😁 two of the best car content KZfaqrs two of the beat cars mondy and golf bring it on that would be a sick vid and meet for all of both of your subscribers .👍🏻

Learned alot from the comments section here. People really know their stuff. Most will have experimented and as I say there is no point in reinventing the wheel when others have proved what works well.

I derestricted the airbox on my astra h, i think ill do the vectra c intake mod too, certainly worthwhile mod

Please i am having the same problem. Would you try to clean the EGR? When is under 2000 RPM like 1700 RPM and i am accelerating it is hesitating

Might be a good idea to keep the bonnet stay on as a fail safe if the strutts ever fail, that i doubt will happen soon, better to be over prepared

What happened to the focus? do you still have it?

Those turns and little tubes in the oe air box makes the air flow and tumble the way the engineers designed it,it would probably run better if it was left alone

probably heat soaking the cone filter just get a kn pannle filter or a piper cross one should help

Where are the angel eyes headlight ??

I had the same issue with my first car, slapped a cone filter onto it thinking it would give me some boost in power. No such thing happened. Reason being that cone filters suffer from heat soak especially when positioned in the same location as the original airbox. That's why it's best to put a cold air feed pipe from low down to the side of the filter allowing it to breathe better. Also the car's ECU will think something is wrong & will naturally want to limit the cars power. The size of the exhaust will also minimise the power output as well if it is stock & not free-flowing. Too many variables to that you have to contend with.

hiya mate can you do a video on installing a new head unit in a Toyota yaris 2005, I've watched a few videos but they're not good I'm hoping you could do a video?

Ah the veccy c intake, reminds me of my Astra owner club days

3:00 did you say in Norwich.... damn dude did not realise, wanna grab a drink? 😂😂

Its common to loose power with a cone filter unless you get it maped.

where are the other three clips for the airbox lid?

cold air intake would go a treat keep the air cold instead of sucking in hot air from the engine

i feel sad, my astra g is done for, I crashed it into a snowbank. Now it's wobbling, shaking and making loud clonking noises from the suspensions.

There must be a reason for all those declining diameter pipes. Venturi? Thing is it might take in air now but in the Summer it may not work so well.

I found that swapping between a turbo diesel and a petrol car you miss the extra torque you get from the turbo in the diesel.

this airbox was from vectra c or stock astra airbox. You only change intake front pipe ?

Hol up is that an Irmscher steering wheel? amazing!

hello mate, from what model (engine) of the Vectra C can I take this air-intake pipe? Thank you and many greetings, Marcel:-)

Good afternoon I've got a mk4 astra G 1.7 dti any suggestions/cheap mods to make it quicker?

This issue has got nothing to do with the engine being Turbocharged or NA. Thing is, once the cone filter is installed without an air box, it sucks all the hot air from the engine bay in, while it`s supposed to suck the cold air in instead ( engines need cold air in order to improve the combustion ). From my experience, panel performance filters are definitely the way to go. They improve both the throttle response and sound. Of course, a remap is recommended in order for the ECU to "recognize" the bigger air flow ( note that there`s no point in remapping an NA engine / minimal benefits at best ). Also, resetting the ECU can sometimes help ( this is done by disconnecting the battery for half an hour ).

Good Job Dude 👍

Nice vid I love the astra

Its probably due to the type of filter its running as im running a full ram air kit on my corsa d and its brilliant

Nice and Simple. I like this Mods.

The issue you are experiencing is heat soak, engines run much better with colder denser air

Same issue as on my astra 1.7. With cone filter feels sluggish

By “de-restricting” the air box you have actually made the flow of air less direct

When I first started of as a mechanic I was told manufacturers spend millions on designing and testing so why change it ? I though that was old fashioned but he had a point .like to see it fitted to Mondeo tho keep the vids up mate enjoy watching

Cone filter do not give more power on an normal stock engine oem works better

What's happened to the focus?