Long story short. Bought an 02 320D recently and previous owner couldn't tell me for sure if swirl flaps were taken care of.
I took a look at it today and found that the original swirl flaps were still in there and that one of them had actually snapped in half but had (thankfully) gotten stuck on the sides and didn't fall into the engine.

Is it ok to just cut the flap part of the mechanism off altogether or would it be wiser to invest in a blanking kit? Keeping in mind I need the car back on the road before tuesday. Thanks.


Edit: This is what I am dealing with - http://i.imgur.com/tmfE5IX.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Vjc0pY6.jpg