K&N...long

[CJI <Inver@ix.netcom.com>]

I just put in my K&N and had a few thought/questions;

Thoughts:

1) I was surprised how much crap had accumulated in the "snow filter",
you know that little fine mesh screen that's put in between the main air
intake snorkel and the air filter. Considering I only have about 6k
miles on my 99 A3 GLX, and I live in the city, it would seem to me that
this is an item that needs to be cleaned at every oil change if not
sooner. Don't underestimate what that fine mesh will pull out of the air
before it gets into your airbox. If I was only using a paper filter I'd
leave it in, but since I'm running with a K&N I'll leave it out.

2) I've decided to leave the snorkel in the upper airbox. Since it
narrows I'd like to take it out, but there seems to be no way to do this
without breaking it. I'm leery of giving my dealership any reason to
hassle about modifications while still under warranty. This leads me to
some questions.

Questions:

1) Has anyone gotten any static from their dealers regarding this
filter, the removal of the "snow screen" or removal of the snorkel? I
can't imagine that any dealership that wants to keep a decent
relationship with it's customers would make the filter an issue, but
with bumper to bumper warranties clogging up the mechanics time for
every little thing the screen or snorkel removal might give them grounds
to void the warranty.

2) I noticed that there is another door on the lower airbox that is
spring loaded. Is this a door that opens at high rpm's to let in more
air or does it perform some other obscure function?

3) Has anyone figured out a way to remove the snorkel from the upper box
without breaking it? Does removing the snorkel improve performance or
does ti just make the engine sound better?

Observations:

I'm happy with this easy low cost mod. It seems to have boosted my lower
end performance as well as smoothing out the idle. I also feel that this
mod has smoothed out some flat spots in the lower end of the power
curve. I'm really not interested in removing the airbox or anything much
more radical than I've done already. I'd like to hear other peoples
thoughts on this.

Has anyone tried to get their dealers to use (customer supplied)
synthetic oils (engine and tranny)? Was it a hassle? At what service
interval did you do it?

Thanks for your time.

CJI
'99 A3 GLX
Silver Arrow Metallic/Black leather