Today I removed the black honeycomb plastic grill from the scoop on my R56. Much to my horror, in spite of better air flow, the opening is just plain ugly. The metal inside of the hood shows, flared upwards and gleaming though the opening. Does anyone have any suggestions? I noticed that the actual opening in the metal part of the hood is quite small. Is there any danger in cutting or bending this hole to be more open and less visible though the opening in the plastic scoop?

One observation: if I later upgrade my intake to the DDM Race model, I'm afraid that if I change the hole I won't get a tight fit for the ram air scoop.

Also, now that I've removed the grill and see the actual placement of the opening, which is just above and slightly beyond the turbo, I'm worried less about diverting air from the scoop solely for the intake while 'depriving' cooling air to the turbo. It seems more like the hole serves to allow hot air to rise up and out of the engine bay while at rest.

Any opinions??

 

paint the inside metal black OR use black electrical take OR use plasti dip

 

I popped off my scoop and sprayed the metal lip in flat black. It's practically invisible, and looks totaly stock when you study it.

 

I took my "grille" out for the intake I just installed. Someone else did this (can't find the thread). Go to Lowes or Home Depot or somewhere that sells METAL (so they don't melt) rain gutter guards. I got a pack of like 6 for 6 bucks...WAY TOO MUCH material. Spray paint them black, or silver, or whatever color you want. Cut a shape and bend the metal to fit flush against the 4 screws that screwed the original grille in.

Now you've got a new sexy looking grille and you can't see much of the inside, or at least the grille definitely distracts the eye from the ugly insides...

if I have time tomorrow I'll snap a photo and post it...

 

I like it naked... makes it look better than the stock plastic grille for sure!

Post pictures of your solutions!

 

i bent down mine

 

I agree

 

here's mine from the outside. Don't have a better shot than this... but took out the scoop, removed the stock grille, painted some gutter guard, and screwed it in place of the stock piece. And here you have it!

 

I really like how that looks TGL... very professional. Another option is to take the OEM black plastic grille, cut out the grille area and put it back in, or if you want to keep the OEM look use a dremel to hollow out all of the covered grille openings. I'm really digging the rain gutter material myself. I might go back and do that. It would somewhat match my M7 front grilles.

 

Some other options:

Wow.. oops.. I originally posted all 02-06 options... doh...

http://www.m7tuning.com/parts/produc...roducts_id=115

 

thta sweet but over my budget

 

Thanks a lot. I didn't have the proper tools for that. Considered it, but this is cheap...10 bucks at most?

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...tex-scoop.html

This was my solution. See post #4 and 5.

 

Here was my solution...

I took a dremel tool and ground out all the spots that needed to be opened. It wasn't quite done when I took this pic but it does what you need it to and it's free.

 

I took mine out a week ago and simply painted everything in there black.. completely invisible unless you really study it

 

I was going to do the same but I was trying to match my lower grilles.

 

I like the dremel idea I almost did the same thing.

 

welcome to the second generation "fake scoop"

 

i used a dremel too, didint take that long

 

So this is what I ended up doing. I think it came out pretty cool. I went with a suggestion to find the gutter screen material at Home Depot. I got a giant piece for $1.95. The hard part was cutting and shaping the piece to fit the scoop. It took me about an hour of trial fitting and trimming (and cutting my fingers - the edges of that screen are sharp!!!!) Here's my step-by-step:

Here's the screen from Home Depot:




The plastic scoop removed:




I taped off and painted the slot in the hood black:




Fitting the cut piece - screwed in place using the original holes from the factory piece:




The final result. I decided to paint the grill red to match the Alta components I've purchased for the engine bay. I may end up re-painting black for a more stealthy look later but I had this idea and I wanted to try it out.

 

nice job. not fond of the red either

 

Very well done, even though the honeycomb matches better, I like the mesh vent much more...and being able to custom the paint is awesome too.

 

well played, sir. looks good. You should take a photo from farther away to see if the red really stands out as much. I'd prefer black, but red may look pretty cool...

 

I'll take a better picture this weekend. I finished last night and snapped a quick photo this morning before I headed to work. The light wasn't the best.. I'll get one from further away. The Jury's still out on the red - makes it look a little... cheap. I may re-paint flat black soon. I think I may end up dremelling the original piece, I just thought that looked like it was gonna take FOREVER...

 

Great info gang! Couple questions:

1. Why are you doing this; Reduce scoop warpage? Increase air flow?

2. I haven't looked yet, but is the black grill easily removed without risk of causing any damage to the plastic?

3. Would you ALSO recommend cutting a portion of the hood away beneath the scoop to increase opening?

4. Anybody also using a turbo wrap or M7 shield to reduce direct heat to the hood?