Before we get to the TTDA, I gotta tell you how I started my day and share these pictures of a 1936 Bugatti Type 57 Ventoux. The car is at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum for the French car show, but arrived with some dust and salt from storage and transport. The Museum staff asked me to come and clean it up. As Bugatti is now owned by VW-Audi, it's like a old, French cousin to the TT. The Curator explained that is has a constant-mesh transmission that employs multiple clutches -- like the DSG! The twin-cam engine is amazing.
Okay, now back to reality ... In order to improve the flow of air into the TT's engine, I decided to install a Twin-Tube Dynamic Airbox (TTDA) from the Mod Shack. The TTDA replaced the stock, squarish, plastic airbox and panel filter, with a cylindrical airbox and a K&N conical filter. The TTDA is finished in aluminzied fiberglass, with carbon fiber "finished" end panels. I asked for red trim to match the caps for the spark plugs. Below: before and after -- the colors are an excellent match.
The installation is extremely strait-forward -- take out the old, install the new. Removing the factory airbox requires the loosening of two "captured" screws, and two screws on the MAF collar (the collar holding the mass-ariflow sensor). The top then lifts up. Remove the panel filter, and remove two 10mm hex bolts on either side of the lower body. You can see the difference in size.
Removing the little "feed" snorkel is the hardest part of the removal -- remove a 10mm hex nut, and then you really gotta twist and pull it out. Some foam pads get a bit torn in the process (and I cut my finger right open!). Once the snorkel is out, you gotta run these "aircraft grade" neoprene inlet hoses -- they're really springy and tend to fight you. They don't want to go where you want them to go!
The tube that feeds from the top of the fender space is very hard to guide, casue you cannot get at the other end. The other tube feeds space the space vacated by the battery (in the TT 3.2, the battery is in the trunk), but I had to really fuss with the thing to get the end feeding "level" (as opposed to feeding from the side of a metal support). Once that's done, the tube ends are set into a pair of aluminm collars on one end of the TTDA; on the other end, a rubber adapter fits over the end of the MAF collar and is held with a ring clamp.
Put everything else back the way you found it. I understand it takes a while to break-in the TTDA as the computer systems adjust to the increased, and cooler air-flow. A couple quick laps around the block and the car seemed happy right away.
[click the above picture for a larger image]

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