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Air filter heat shield - '97 M3
Quickie air filter heat shield fab:
Having a shield around an open element air cleaner is helpful for two reasons:
This is a quickie heat shield fabrication. Couldn't go to Nationals with zip ties holding the open element filter in place! I spent about 90 minutes making this heat shield, start to finish, most of that on making the template. In hindsight, I should have just bought a cold air kit...
Here's where we started. Two pieces of 3" aluminized exhaust tubing and a 3" silicone turbo inlet hose connects the big 12" K&N cone filter to the MAF hose. About $40 in parts? Most $250-400 kits for BMWs use a 6" or 8" cone.
Cardboard template creation. I didn't have a sheet of poster board and was too lazy to run go get a piece so I taped together thick resumé paper. Hey, it worked...
http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/1050842/3/96366153 - further refinement of template. cut too much, add more paper back and try again. easier than with metal...
http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/1050842/3/96366219 - checking hood clearance.
http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/1050842/4/96366415 - final template with line showing approx bend line
http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/1050842/4/96366433 - traced onto thin aluminum sheet (from Elliot's, I think?). This is really too thin for long term use. Could have this template laser cut from thicker stock at some point, or do it again myself in .040-.080" thick aluminum sheet with the right jig saw blade and a real sheet metal brake. One of those tools (brake) I have wanted to get, but that takes up more room than I've had... until now...
After cutting with aircraft snips. Looks better in person. Added one quickie bend, by hand, using a metal level/straight edge as a brake. This stuff is thin and easy to work.
Final install, with one drilled tab fastening to the chassis. Two hose junction acts as upper mount. Will add some weatherstripping to seal to hood, but its not critical.
No, I won't make one for you. It's too easy to buy the cheap crap on eBay, and quality really doesn't matter on these things. People that spend $400+ on cold air kits try too hard to spend money. They do not need to be air tight or made of Carbon Fiber composite. I am just too stubborn to buy some things that are "too easy to make", hence I waste a lot of time making junk I shouldn't... like trailer hitches, battery mounts, and crap like this.
Don't make one if you can buy a real cold air (as long as it's under $150). These pictures are a monument to my stubbornness and poor judgement. 2:40 am and I am OUT!
Having a shield around an open element air cleaner is helpful for two reasons:
- shielding the MAF signal from cooling fan pulsations (esp. with a mechanical fan)
- keeping hot post-radiator air out of the intake tract. There is a nice unsealed opening to fresh air behind the left headlight and above the horn assembly.
This is a quickie heat shield fabrication. Couldn't go to Nationals with zip ties holding the open element filter in place! I spent about 90 minutes making this heat shield, start to finish, most of that on making the template. In hindsight, I should have just bought a cold air kit...
Here's where we started. Two pieces of 3" aluminized exhaust tubing and a 3" silicone turbo inlet hose connects the big 12" K&N cone filter to the MAF hose. About $40 in parts? Most $250-400 kits for BMWs use a 6" or 8" cone.
Cardboard template creation. I didn't have a sheet of poster board and was too lazy to run go get a piece so I taped together thick resumé paper. Hey, it worked...
http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/1050842/3/96366153 - further refinement of template. cut too much, add more paper back and try again. easier than with metal...
http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/1050842/3/96366219 - checking hood clearance.
http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/1050842/4/96366415 - final template with line showing approx bend line
http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/1050842/4/96366433 - traced onto thin aluminum sheet (from Elliot's, I think?). This is really too thin for long term use. Could have this template laser cut from thicker stock at some point, or do it again myself in .040-.080" thick aluminum sheet with the right jig saw blade and a real sheet metal brake. One of those tools (brake) I have wanted to get, but that takes up more room than I've had... until now...
After cutting with aircraft snips. Looks better in person. Added one quickie bend, by hand, using a metal level/straight edge as a brake. This stuff is thin and easy to work.
Final install, with one drilled tab fastening to the chassis. Two hose junction acts as upper mount. Will add some weatherstripping to seal to hood, but its not critical.
No, I won't make one for you. It's too easy to buy the cheap crap on eBay, and quality really doesn't matter on these things. People that spend $400+ on cold air kits try too hard to spend money. They do not need to be air tight or made of Carbon Fiber composite. I am just too stubborn to buy some things that are "too easy to make", hence I waste a lot of time making junk I shouldn't... like trailer hitches, battery mounts, and crap like this.
Don't make one if you can buy a real cold air (as long as it's under $150). These pictures are a monument to my stubbornness and poor judgement. 2:40 am and I am OUT!