Originally posted by mcgarvey:
Are there really any harmful effects from this? From browsing the forums, it looks like lots of people set up their intakes this way with no problems. Not to say you're wrong, but I'm just wondering since I can't figure out any other way to do it.

Also, I want to put some sort of airbox around my cone filter with a pipe going either to the bottom of the engine compartment or the wheel well. I've seen lots of heat shields for sale, but most of these aren't full enclosures. Any suggestions for one that i can hook up a flexible intake hose to so I can draw in cold air?



A few points;

1) There are no harmful effects from attaching the cone filter directly to the MAF. The stock airbox is directly connected the the MAF.
Its more of a "keeping you from 100% benefits" kind of thing. Although the losses are nothing that the average person would notice.
If you get into tuning or high HP applications, it will become more obvious.

2) The stock airbox has a cold air draw and flows fairly well, there really is no reason to replace it, other than to say you did it. What needs to be replaced is everything between the MAf and the TB.
A K&N cone filter will support 800HP and a K&N panel filter will support 500HP. (Those aren't exact numbers, but it makes the pont). Which means both can flow way more air than the Zetec can suck in. The pressure drop difference between the two is like 0.000x (in other words, too small to notice).

3) The real intake problem with the Zetec is the intake manifold. Its a bad design. Too little volume and not great for airflow. If you want to get above 170BHP it has to be replaced.
The pre98 Contour manifold is almost a perfect match to the famed early 2000 Focus manifold. So don't bother looking for one of those to have "optimized".

4) The intake question has been asked way too many times here. There is tons of info and pics available. A very nice intake setup can be found "stickied" at the top of the Zetec Performance forum.

Frank McCoy aka Mod-deth aka Mid Life Crisis aka SVT Doood aka mcgainer is a SCAM ARTIST Pre98 Zetec - Some Mods