I've ordered the radiator and intercooler from a fabricator in Hong Kong and the next step in the engine bay intake system was to install an airbox. I have seen other builds use factory airboxes from such cars as a Hyundai Getz, however I chose to use a pod filter. I know of a few people who have had their car defected or at least scrutinised by the police due to an (exposed) pod filter so I will be enclosing mine in a box. It is then legal and would also gain from a dedicated air feed duct. Since I've been making various items in fibreglass for the past 6 years, I used this as the material of choice to make the box and air intake.
A quick browse on the K&N website http://knfilters.com.au/ and I found a pod that had the appropriate dimensions. I will be using 2" piping from the filter right through to the throttle body and the K&N Filter Part # RA-0720 had the same 51mm inlet diameter and the right dimensions to fit in the area of the standard Mini radiator.
I mocked up a box first in MDF. The original idea was to have a hinge which flipped up and exposed and filter but I later decided against it.
Then it was replicated in fibreglass. To get the smooth and flat panels in fibreglass, I laid down ~3mm thick chopped strand/resin on some glass (I actually used the Mini door window glass for this). Once dry this was cut to size and held together with super glue and then bonded (inside the box) together with more fibreglass.
An access panel was then cut out of the box, and to make it much easier to remove and clean the filter I made the filter bolt directly to the access panel with a simple bracket I made. The panel will bolted to the main box via some small M4 fasteners and some rivnuts.
The airbox would also need an air feed and when I designed the radiator I purposely left a gap between the radiator and the passenger-side inner guard for this. I welded up a template for the intake duct shape - approx 150mm x 40mm which should provide more than enough air for the filter.
To make the duct from fibgreglass, I laid a thin layer with lightweight woven cloth (not chopped strand) on another piece of glass. Once dry, this would easily bend around the metal template and super glued together... and then wrapped that again in multiple layers of cloth to make it thicker and the metal template then pulled out.
My only concern at this point was the duct would feed air directly on to the filter surface and quickly clog up the filter face with dirt and bugs so I welded an extra piece on to the filter mount bracket which would redirect air around the front of the filter to the rest of the airbox
The airbox is mounted by 5x M6 bolts to the factory radiator surround/grille
The grille behind the airbox has previously been trimmed to fit the subframe spar and has left some exposed pieces. Even though this will be covered by the installed airbox I cleaned it up by welding on a small length of thick wire (actually a small length of a clothes hanger).
A quick browse on the K&N website http://knfilters.com.au/ and I found a pod that had the appropriate dimensions. I will be using 2" piping from the filter right through to the throttle body and the K&N Filter Part # RA-0720 had the same 51mm inlet diameter and the right dimensions to fit in the area of the standard Mini radiator.
I mocked up a box first in MDF. The original idea was to have a hinge which flipped up and exposed and filter but I later decided against it.
Then it was replicated in fibreglass. To get the smooth and flat panels in fibreglass, I laid down ~3mm thick chopped strand/resin on some glass (I actually used the Mini door window glass for this). Once dry this was cut to size and held together with super glue and then bonded (inside the box) together with more fibreglass.
An access panel was then cut out of the box, and to make it much easier to remove and clean the filter I made the filter bolt directly to the access panel with a simple bracket I made. The panel will bolted to the main box via some small M4 fasteners and some rivnuts.
The airbox would also need an air feed and when I designed the radiator I purposely left a gap between the radiator and the passenger-side inner guard for this. I welded up a template for the intake duct shape - approx 150mm x 40mm which should provide more than enough air for the filter.
To make the duct from fibgreglass, I laid a thin layer with lightweight woven cloth (not chopped strand) on another piece of glass. Once dry, this would easily bend around the metal template and super glued together... and then wrapped that again in multiple layers of cloth to make it thicker and the metal template then pulled out.
My only concern at this point was the duct would feed air directly on to the filter surface and quickly clog up the filter face with dirt and bugs so I welded an extra piece on to the filter mount bracket which would redirect air around the front of the filter to the rest of the airbox
The airbox is mounted by 5x M6 bolts to the factory radiator surround/grille
The grille behind the airbox has previously been trimmed to fit the subframe spar and has left some exposed pieces. Even though this will be covered by the installed airbox I cleaned it up by welding on a small length of thick wire (actually a small length of a clothes hanger).
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