cold air feeds?

[towelie]

Hi all, first ever post..

im considering putting a k&n induction kit on my mk1 1.6, but im struggling to find some where to route the cold feed to, without either getting a headlamp vent or cutting holes in the body work.Is there a way of putting the feed below the radiater at the front without leading it over the exhaust manifold?

any pictures would be much appreciated

thanks

[bluetone]

Let me Google that for you...

[dylan0451]

the previous owner of my car ran some flexible pipe from the filter stuffed on the AFM, straight down and through the little inspection hatch thingie on the undertray

probably not as good a solution as those shiny pipes you can buy but then it only costs a couple of quid

[tuttle]

Hi and welcome If its of any help: The K&N 571 kit runs a cold air feed as described above. In addition it has a scoop type thingy which is fixed below front bumper. Its fairly inexpensive <>£60-70 IIRC. My 1.8Mk1 came with one of these kits, it seems ok. My only grouch would be that it seems to hoover quite a bit of road junk, bits of grass, leaves & stuff onto the lower part of the filter body.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Isn't it a low pressure area under the car (probably not on a Mk1 with no chin-spoiler)? If so, fixing a feed there will suck air out of the engine bay rather than feed cold air into it

[jamhow79]

Not sure about the mk1 but my mk2.5 has a hole below the headlight which leads straight through to where the fog lamp would be (if my car was speccy enough!!) Ive taken the plastic trim covering the fog light hole off and run a funnel / piping up to the air box from there.

seems to be getting plenty of air through as my k+n needs a good wipe down to remove all the wildlife every month or so.

[tuttle]

MX-5 Lazza said:

Isn't it a low pressure area under the car (probably not on a Mk1 with no chin-spoiler)? If so, fixing a feed there will suck air out of the engine bay rather than feed cold air into it

You are probably right here, However, the leading edge of the scoop is positioned right under the front edge of the bumper. It would seem to me ( & I know nothing about flow dynamics etc!) that so long as the car is moving, the scoop would be collecting air before it reaches the low pressure engine bay.

[JFReturns]

I've got the K&N57i kit and the tubing you get with it is rubbish.

A better bet would be to get the headlight cover intake from mx5parts and a tin of paint from Halfords. I did, and although I can't notice any difference in performance (maybe after a very long run the pick up is better) it is nice to know that cold air is reaching the filter.



If you do fit one of these, soak the screws in oil the night before to loosen them. Also, theres a strip of black plastic that needs to be removed to allow the air past.

[G-P]

dylan0451 said:

the previous owner of my car ran some flexible pipe from the filter stuffed on the AFM, straight down and through the little inspection hatch thingie on the undertray

probably not as good a solution as those shiny pipes you can buy but then it only costs a couple of quid

This is what I did on mine and it works fine.

[gdaybruce]

I received a K&N filter as a present a little while ago, complete with the cold air feed as described. The route suggested by K&N for the air trunking is, I decided, impossible with air con fitted; there's simply no room to feed the pipe past the power steering pump, the air con compressor and the associated drive belts. It looks to me like the best alternative route is to feed it behind the radiator fans and in front of the timing belt cover and then down to the undertray and forward to beneath the front bumper. However, the trunking supplied is not long enough for this so I've bought some more to extend the length. It all seems a bit Heath Robinson but I'll have a go at sorting it out, just as soon as I've got my cylinder head (complete with new valve stem oil seals) back on.

(By the way, and off topic somewhat, has anyone else had the joy of refitting the valve spring split collets? Hours of fustration with dropped collets lost amongst the vlave gear until I perfected a technique using tweezers, a jewellers screwdriver and a tub of grease. I now consider myself something of an expert!)

[GravelBen]

Fulla I bought the turbo MX5 off said he did some tests on one of those headlight lid vents - turned out that once up to speed air was actually being forced out the vent rather than coming in.

AFAIK about the best 'normal' option is through the (non structural) plate at the back of the engine bay, drawing from the high pressure zone there.

Found this pic on the net of a fancy-looking kit that avoids the hassle of putting a hole in that plate and moving the washer bottle:

Edited by GravelBen on Tuesday 27th April 12:05

[JFReturns]

That does look like a good option^

[GravelBen]

As posted in the other similar thread, my setup looks like this:




But now has decent heat shielding between turbo and intake duct. Its very effective and easy to bodge one up on the cheap yourself.