Did you know, there is a extra lip on your driver's side intake duct?
 

I was doing some reseach on my Boxster and noticed that the driver's side intake duct that feeds the air into the intake has a beveled lip on the front part of it. The other side does not. I went to my local dealership and noticed that some models had this and others did not. It depended on the year it was. I asked the dealership and they said that the earlier models 99-97 have smooth intake ducts on both sides, and that 2000-04 models have the beveled lip. It was changed for better cooling purposes. Apparently the beveled edge creates better airflow into that area. Some of the earlier models had trouble with cooling. The only reason I even posted this was because I was going to buy the FG ram air Scoops, but noticed they do NOT have the beveled edge on the front part of the duct, leading me to believe it will not pull the air in properly. The designs are completely smooth with no extra lip. I also found a CF intake replacement duct on-line and it to was molded from one of the earlier design models, which makes me believe it would not cool as well also. Anyone else notice this?
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y15...vers_side2.jpg
Driver's side.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y15...passenger2.jpg
Passenger side, smooth with NO lip.

Hi,

I'm not sure the dealer is correct. There were never any cooling problems with the Boxster, earlier cars, or not. Besides, this is the Engine Air Intake, it serves no purpose in cooling the engine whatever.

There were however issues with rain water entering the engine during driving in torrential rains and several cases where this was so severe as to hydro-lock and destroy the engine.

Porsche's response was to add a better drain to the ducting inside the intake and to add this lip to the exterior. With this lip, the water stacks up before entering the intake and the accumulated weight of it is heavier than the suction of the intake, so the water runs down the sheetmetal and away from the intake, not into the engine...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

I heard that the change was made to prevent water ingestion and stop cigarette butts from entering the intake. They also added a cup to the end of the air snork tube which sits right behind that grill that runs up to the beveled edge.

Thanks for that information. That makes allot more sense to me than what the dealer said. So if I were to pursche one of these aftermarket intake sccops or Carbon Fiber duct WITHOUT the extened lip, would my car start sucking in more water?

Anythings possible. But the lip was put there for cigg butts and water mainly. Ive been fine with my smooth lip, and I think it looks better, lol. If I were you, Id consider doing a custom job. Buy those vents you like, then take a mold of them with silicone or alginate (prefer alginate) and fill it up with plaster. Return the vents you bought, get your money back, then take the mold to a shop and get them to fiberglass that plaster part for you. Then I would cut it to fit inside the stock intake and screw it in. You will probably have to get them to mold an inner lip so it still fits flush on the car. This way, you keep your stock lip, and you get that little ram air look you want. And you can also take it off and have it still look fine since the screw holes should be too deep in the vent to see. Maybe a crazy plan, but paying a shop $200 and making a mold yourself is cheaper than paying $400.