Hi,

I don't like much the plastic cover on my STR



So today I removed it to see what was beneath. This is what I found:




Sorry, out of focus, didn't realize when I took it with the phone.

To me it looks much nicer with those two metal pieces with the engraved "Supercharged" on them.

Is there any benefit on leaving the plastic cover on?

Also I found some dirtiness on one of the metal pieces (what are they?)



Do you know what could be the cause? (the engine probably hasn't been cleaned since it was built on 2003).

What is the best product to clean those metal pieces?

Now that I'm looking at the engine bay, I see that the air intake for the filter is on the center kind of a RAM system. So I suspect that those that change it to a conic K&N filter sitting on the bay will get un-presurized and hotter air than the standard airbox. On the other hand fitting a panel K&N will probably work much better. Have any tried it?

Also I see that the tube from the airbox to the compressor has some funny "diversions" probably to make it resonate and improve the air intake, but I've seen aftermarket polished aluminium to replace that piece... again, I doubt that they will work better than the OEM with the resonance. what do you think?

Finally, this is how the Jaguar dealer left the intake after fitting new filter


See the unfasten brace.

Cheers!