Last time the 850R was at the shop they noted that the factory intake pipe from MAF to turbo was on its last legs and needed replacing soon. Which sounded to me like a great excuse for an upgrade. The stock pipe is an accordion type plastic hose and is a slightly smaller diameter than the turbo inlet. That combo makes it a little restrictive. Not the most restrictive part on the car but still an easily eliminated restriction.
Here’s the stock intake pipe angling down from MAF to the turbo.
Choosing between the do88 hose and the snabb pipe and hose was difficult. Both seem like good options and I have been very happy with all the do88 products I have. And I was very concerned how much the polished snabb pipe would stand out in my engine bay. But I decided to go with the snabb pipe because long term I figure it will be easier to replace the silicone connectors if needed than to replace the whole silicon hose.
First step is to remove the plastic factory pipe and then cut the ptc valve grommet off and shave down the lip at the end of the valve so it fits in the snabb pipe. Quick work with a razor knife and a dremel and some sandpaper. Then figure out its orientation and clamp it in place. And that of course is the hard part.
Here are the two setups side by side. Though I left the plastic bags on the new silicone connectors and that looks silly. The reducer on the top connects to the turbo, the ptc (intake heater) goes in the bung with the short silicone hose, and you can see two of the three total vacuum ports on the snabb intake. Of which I only needed one so two are capped.
Once the ptc is in the snabb pipe just align the pipe, connect all the houses, and tighten them down. And that is the hard part. It took me probably an hour making small adjustments to get the pipe to an orientation where nothing rubbed. The relocation of the ptc valve puts it very very close to the stock wastegate on my 15g.
And there it is in place. A little more obvious than I would like, but not too flashy.
The whole process would have been only a few hours except partway into the job after modifying the ptc I realized I did not have a tool for the oetiker clamps on it. Fortunately Amazon Prime next day solved that problem. And I was able to use the extra time I had to replace the cbv and tcv vacuum lines with silicone hose from ipd. That is a lot easier to do with the airbox out of the way.
Driving impressions have been brief so far. Low end power certainly seems improved, but to be fair this car has everything except the stock intercooler pipes upgraded. The sound of the turbo spooling up is a little more prominent now, without being annoying. So far so good. And the quality of the intake components is very good. Should not have to worry about this setup for a long long time.