I was disasembling my air box yesterday - the plan is to install a new one - but I came over a couple of things i couldnt figure out what are there for. So I took a couple of pics and I hope some here on the forums can explain to me what they are.

First off:
The spring loaded vent in the air box... Seems like its purpose is to close when the hose connected to it sucks vacuum..?

Second:
The hose going from the vent in the air box... Where does it go..?

Last:
The hose going to the main inlet on the air box has an extantion going down and in towards the wheel arch (cant see where it goes really)

Can someone please tell me if I can safely remove all these parts, when replacing the air box with a new filter..?

 

The extension going to the wheel arch is a muffler of sorts to keep the intake quiet. European noise law thing, your MINI does not really need it, sort of like you don't really need an appendix.

Mark

 

I believe the spring loaded vent is the warm air intake system.

 

The spring loaded vent was installed in MINI's that where sold in colder climates. The pipe that goes into the great beyond is indeed the intake resonator. As much as the MINI doesn't need it, it's a royal pain in the *** to remove. Most aftermarket intake systems have you keep that pipe as it sits anyways.