I don't know what to call them but they're basically plastic pieces that divert the air that goes through the middle bumper opening towards the radiator and factory coolers.

The problem is, they block off any air from going towards the sides behind the bumper, so if you have an Injen CAI then you're not getting any air into your CAI from the middle opening because these pieces seal off that area.

Since my bumper is a journey version, The middle opening is pretty small and the fake mesh is completely closed. Basically there's no air going in there. When I dyno'd my car for the first time I had my Injen CAI and Stillen catback only. I made a max of 250whp on the dyno (highest number of 3 runs). then I drilled 6mm holes in the fake mesh and went back on the dyno and that number went up to 254whp on the same dyno, correction factor, ambient temp/humidity, etc. I still did not remove these plastic pieces at the time.

a couple of days ago I took off the bumper and decided to remove the pieces. They're only held on by a couple clips so it was really easy. The driver's side piece is actually made of two parts both help by plastic clips. Just unclip the pieces and off they go. The passenger side however is not as easy since the power steering cooler lines go right through. You can either cut the plastic piece or disconnect the P/S cooler tubes.

Here's some pics of the passenger side plastic piece circled in red (I already took off the drivers side. It literally took 5 seconds to do)













Once these pieces are off, the filters are now exposed to fresh air coming from the middle section. My next attempt is to try and make some sort of diversion plate or scoop that diverts the air towards the filters. These should help a bit, especially if you have a Sport bumper with the larger center opening.

 

humm interesting, feel any difference?

It should have helped a bit, especially if it was fully blocking the filters before

 

very nice find, this should help a lot since there was no real fresh air going directly to the filters before this mod.

 

Wow. I'd be interested in seeing the difference on the dyno too. It's amazing that manufacturers of CAI's never took this into consideration...they probably figure it would be too much work for the average joe.

 

Nice, can i remove mine without removing the bumper? Let's say that the car is on lift and the panel is removed to install the new VB and a bigger trans. cooler?
I don't like to remove the bumper, and even if i want, i'll just come to your place, you seem to have a bad habit of removing your bumper every now and then .

 

If i were you, i would drill big holes in that piece, that way some air will be directed to the tranny and radiator cooling and some to the intakes as well.