Non Msport pre facelift airbox cold air induction ram pipe

[randomcabbage]

Hi this is my first ever DIY on any car so here goes

this was my inspiration

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=578101&highlight=

But This is for those of use that have the non Msport pre facelift bumpers
Much the same as in the link only problem which anybody that has this type of bumper will be able to recognise the brake duct is in a different location

no photo of the brake duct i forgot at the time but its not really important anyway

so after taking the airbox out to have a look at doing this mod my first thought typical then after a little more investigation i noticed that the was space for a pipe down behind the foglight to where the grill in the bumper is again no photo but its very clear with the airbox out and easy enough to see

this got me thinking and in the end i decided to give it a go bumper grills are dirt cheap and airboxes cost around £10

so remove the passenger side of the grill simple just pull from the brake duct area

then with a very sharp knife cut the size hole you want better to have something as a template mine i used a tape measure and cut 76mm but its quite well hidden so i didn't think it matter to much

then its time to cut the box like in the link at the top i used a demal to cut the hole but if you have a holesaw handy that would make it easier

then its time to feed the pipe into the box try not to use the aluminium pipe like i did theres some nice pvc stuff on ebay thats worth the money wish i had gone for it now

then put your box back if you have used the aluminium pipe like me then make sure its extended enough to reach the bottom of the bumper


then comes the fun part get you hand in and bend the bottom of the pipe to where you want it

then comes the awkward bit attaching the pipe to the grill i used 2 cable ties and after a couple of mins messing about this is how it looked


granted its too high, the cable ties haven't been trimmed and its a little bit obvious (this wouldn't be a problem with the black pvc stuff) i have since adjusted that trim backed the ties and sprayed it with some old tinting spray to make it a little more stealthy but by this time i had been cooked by the heat yesterday and ran out of cider so i called it a day
i will take another photo showing what it looks like now asap

hope this helps show how i over came the standard bumper issue
Dave

edit: here's the updated photo the cable ties will be cut back better when I get to work monday

edit:- I wasn't happy with the look of it even though it wasn't very visible it still was visible to me so I have changed the aluminium pipe for a black PVC pipe

and from the outside about 2ft away

Edited July 11, 2013 by randomcabbage

[ellisg93]

I quite like this idea, have you had a chance to drive it with this on yet?

[randomcabbage]

Yeah been driving it round for the last couple days although small there is a change in pick up from low revs its defiantly better better above the 50/60mph mark

oh and it now sound like a straight 6 should quite deep induction noise

I imagine it would be better for mpg on the motorway I may find out if I can ever stop booting on every clear road just because i like the sound it only cost me £10 to do this mod and it looks fairly stock very impressed with it so far

[lloydhickson]

Looks like it does the job but a bit bodge jobby?

[randomcabbage]

Yeah not the tidiest job in the world but it cant be seen unless you look closely and that's with knowing its there so unless your looking for it, it looks completely stock from the outside which was the idea

i could have made it abit neater and just cut the hole and put a trumpet in there but it would stand out like a baboons arse

I'm planning on doing a bit of fibre glassing to the back of the grill piece to fit a scoop type thing so the pipe has something to fit on to and changing the pipe to a black PVC style flexipipe rather than halfords very own chavtastic aluminium flexipipe but that's a job for some other time

Edited July 10, 2013 by randomcabbage

[randomcabbage]

Original post updated with a PVC pipe

[ellisg93]

10 x better

[MarkyN]

Looks good man! Might be worth giving this a go. Is there a massive change in noise? I don't really want my car sounding like a nice chavv'd up corsa haha

[randomcabbage]

Its louder but doesn't sound as loud as a K&N filter just a nicer noise if that makes sense

[MarkyN]

Yeah that makes sense man. I might give this a go this week. Would you suggest a certain size for the intake pipe?

[ellisg93]

Guessing 76mm from the DIY

then with a very sharp knife cut the size hole you want better to have something as a template mine i used a tape measure and cut 76mm but its quite well hidden so i didn't think it matter to much

[lloydhickson]

Black PVC is much much better

[MarkyN]

Guessing 76mm from the DIY

then with a very sharp knife cut the size hole you want better to have something as a template mine i used a tape measure and cut 76mm but its quite well hidden so i didn't think it matter to much

My bad, I didn't read properly, just scanned through. Another question though...

How long is the pipe needed to be to get from the airbox to the bumper section?

[randomcabbage]

I bought a piece that could reach 1M for £10 on the bay you only need around 0.5M but its better to have more than not enough

[randomcabbage]

Just a quick update a friend ask me what difference will it make when I said cooler air intake and more available to the engine he ask how much so I borrowed data centre temperature logging unit from work and wired it up with 2 sensors (inside the airbox and down by the oem temp sensor) for a week and blocked up the hole for the first few days and opened it up again for the next few

anyway the results are (all results are mean average over the 3days and motorway based driving)

closed day

airbox sensor:- 21.96 C

open air sensor:- 22.64 C

closed night

airbox sensor:- 15.32 C

open air sensor:- 15.86 C

open day

airbox sensor:- 21.22 C

open air sensor:- 23.54 C

open night

airbox sensor:- 15.28 C

open air sensor:- 17.15 C

although not perfect test conditions as the weather and temperature changed towards the end of the week (got hotter and more humid) it gives an indication on the change having the pipe would make and although not massively cooler a couple of degrees can make a difference

[randomcabbage]

Just a quick update not sure if its down to this or not

but me and a friend went for a drive and although they are both 323's our fuel economy was quite different mine was an average of 42.8 over 33 miles my mates 37.1 both of us were doing similar speeds between 70/80

I cant imagine that it is all down to this but maybe it helped a little towards it

[-Ad-]

I did this on my first saloon! It was the same colour too! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rebel]

Black PVC is much much better

Wrapped around a tasty brunette

[mit]

I have no contribution to make to this thread other than the OP's nickname is awesome!

[randomcabbage]

Cheers mit

[Hickyboy]

i wonder what it would be like on my 320d ?

wonder also if my MPG would be better aswell

Edited November 21, 2013 by Hickyboy

[randomcabbage]

Well my mate has a very similar 323 with 30k less miles on it and my mpg on a run is better than his not saying its down to this could be how the engine was looked after or not in there previous lives

but having driving both I would say mine struggles less to pick up from 70mph on the motorway and is defiantly quicker off the mark also sounds much better on a cold night

[kib]

I have done this on mine,just a word of warning with all this rain around big puddles be

carefull of water going up pipe, water and petrol just don't mix the filter wont stop the

water if there is a lot.

Edited December 30, 2013 by kib

[randomcabbage]

should be fine I still have the high level pipe only if I hit flood water deep enough to cover both intake pipes is a problem the the bottom one gets submerge water does not travel all the way up the pipe