I just completed making a "performance" intake out of stock parts for the MCS. The benefit of the HAI (hot air intake), with the performance of a CAI (cold air intake).... not sure if anyone has done this before, posted or in hiding, but I wanted to gauge how interested people are to this idea. The reason I'm asking is because I am looking into the feedback you all give me to do a write up on this on my website.

I'm not looking for any money. I'm not looking to rip people off. I'm not looking to charge people $250 for an intake system that cost me $400 to manufacture the first unit, and only $50 for each system thereafter. The system is not complete, however, as it has no positive battery terminal connector to support the stand and you lose the ability to have the oncoming air routed to the intake chamber from the grill - both are points that I am working on at this time.

As a full time student and president of the company, I have very little time to play with the car. As my clutch and transmission are in the [LOOOOOOONG] process of being replaced, the car is in the shop and I have the opportunity to do a little R&D. Honestly I don't know how much performance gains you are going to receive with this setup. I can't sit here and tell you that by doing this, the intake pressures will increase, decrease, remain static, because my name isn't Andy. What I can tell you, is that for people like myself on a budget who aren't about to spend $250 to $600 on an intake system, this is a great idea.

Not to say that this hasn't been done / thought of before, but I think its what happens when people get creative. Long ago, my employees and I came up with a great idea to reduce and almost eliminate heat soak on the intercooler. We came up with a [terrible] prototype, never installed it, and passed the idea through a good friend of mine at Griffin Radiators (and intercoolers, of course) at the nearby plant. He explained to me that if I were to install that onto my car, I would lose horsepower and stop the pass of air going through the top-mount.

Great... the point is that the idea was thought of, the innovation was there, but it wouldn't work because the experts knew what I was doing wrong. Had they thought of the idea before? Nope. Has anyone thought of this idea before? Who knows. The fact remains that there are people who are creative when it comes to modding this car and those creative ideas are shown in each and every thread on this messageboard.

The information will be free. I will call my design the FLT intake. You will be able to visit my website, and, with minimal tools, a few dedicated hours (2 at most - more like 30 mins for those who know what they're doing under the bonnet), a few dollars spent on a performance cone filter, the intake can be completed. But do NOT just take my idea - BE CREATIVE WITH IT! Change something, add something, remove something. Have fun with this because that's what the intention of this car is - if you own a MINI and badger others on this messageboard for their ideas, creative or not, then you need to go back to owning a Honda. That's what I drove before I had this car, and was enthusiastic about how much fun MINI owners were having coming up with these cool ideas.

My ideas are expressions of my creativity. If you don't like it - GOOD! You don't have to, so change it and make it better. I will welcome all types of changes to the write up and will credit you on the site for the change. But first, lets get some debate going as to how interested everyone is in this design!

 

I would like to find out more about this. I went to your site and didn't see anything on this. BTW I hope your MINI is faster than you site.

 

Steve,

Sorry, guess I didn't make it clear enough. I don't have anything written up just yet. I haven't taken any pictures or done a list of required parts / tools for this just yet, because I don't know how big this idea will be with fellow MCS owners, which is why I am trying to gain feedback for it before I go through the process of writing something like this up for everyone!

 

Well then count me in as an inquiring mind that wants to know more.

 

Hi, It is hard to respond not knowing exactly what you are talking about but I would certainly be interested in a simple, inexpensive mod to the stock CAI that would improve performance.

Bill

 

I'm interested ... I think.

 

I'm with Andy.....I think there might be the potential for me to maybe have an interest. I think................you didn't give us much to chew.


Will we have to send a SASE?

 

i say do it, cause i say so.

no, actually, i think it's a good idea, and it'll give us something to read if anything.

at best, it could become a sewer of ideas where some horribly mutated air intake may take shape and destroy the world (of intakes and stuff).

 

Gotta love the positive feedback!

Sorry for the confusion, I just don't want to start explaining what i did with words only and get everyone even further confused, so I was trying to see if anyone was even interested in the thought of me making a full instruction guide on how to use only stock intake parts (and an aftermarket filter) to make this intake....

give me until the end of the weekend to have it done, and then we'll go from there.... if anyone is ready to see how it all works and wants to begin the destruction ( ), then make sure you realize that there will be no way to go back to stock once you are done.... but hey, I figured that if this didn't work out the way I had planned, I would just buy an aftermarket intake and have had the pleasure of tearing stuff up on my car - if you know me, you know that that's what I do best (hint, check out my gallery page on my website and look at what happened to my clutch!)

alright guys, let me get through this week in school and I'll be ready to start making the instruction guide.... and remember, ALL ideas are welcome to upgrade / change / modify my design!!

 

I'm going to guess:

You remove the snorkel from the grill, rotate the tubing 90 degrees, cut a hole in the hood, and have the snorkel protruding, submarine periscope style!

 

okay, so maybe not THAT destructive.........

 

As promised, my instructions are now available by clicking the link on the main page of my website.

http://www.thenewfastlane.com/site_index.asp

Take a look, let me know what you think! I'm always available by email, or during the day by phone or AOL IM, so take a look, enjoy, and try not to flame....

there's nothing worse than a MINI owner who still thinks they drive a Honda - and take it from a former Honda owner, I've grown up.... If you don't like the idea, get over it, go outside and yell at the squirrels, but don't flame....

 

Neat idea! Any pics showing how it fits?

 

Good suggestion, I have been asked to do that already, and will take that picture later on today.

One question I have for the general public: how do we feel about removing the lower intake box and making a new ECU tray? I was thinking about making it from the stock one, but the stock tray for the ECU has holes in it for venting that lead directly into the stock airbox.

Any suggestions on how someone crazy enough to do something about it should go about figuring this out? It might be a good idea to keep the lower box in, as everyone else has done in the past with their intake, but trying to figure this out with removing the weighty box (staying with the whole CUSTOM idea), might be a thought.

Ideas are MORE than welcome! Looking forward to them! I'll post a picture of how it looks completed before the end of the week, which might involve some more Dremel-ing of that lower box for fitment to make me satisfied with such a high quality product

 

you should get an honorary t shirt from both junkyard wars and monster garage. way to bodge!

 

Very nice, now just think of some way to make heat shield out of stock parts too..............

 

Or....you could just buy this and a K&N.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=38634

 

bomz????

no, no, i don't think you understand.... we're here to MAKE something.... and something that isn't going to fall apart in 20 miles!!

we sell bomz stuff to kids with civics around here.... it makes them happy because they don't like real intakes like AEM or Injen, oh well

have fun, cut stuff apart, don't give in to the BOMZ folks!!! haha

 

Hey, I applaud your clever design and functional improvements. This one was only a build/buy decision and the necessity (IMHO) of getting rid of that pos OEM hose.

Maybe all of the turbulance created works like one of these:

http://order.tornadoair.com:1088/jcw...FC5ZRXRX2IU3II

 

hahahahahahah

the tornado... my long time, arch enemy returns....

the stuff people buy because of marketing sometimes just BLOWS ME AWAY.... and oh wait, speaking of being BLOWN away, what about getting another SINGLE PSI boost for us supercharged cars - and its ONLY $300!!

http://www.electricsupercharger.com/

hot damn!

[edit]

i almost forgot to put up my favorite question asked from that website's FAQ page:

Quote:

12. Does the eRAM put a large drain on the alternator?

Answer: No, the max current draw is only in the 50amps range. This is as much as a high powered stereo, headlights or a electric radiator cooling fan. Most electrical systems can handle draws of 90 amps. We have even tested the eRAM on motorcycle electrical systems with no problems. The e-RAM generates up to 10 hp while It uses approximately 1hp (746watts) from the electrical system. This has been verified on the dyno and with current meters. Since most charging systems work off voltage drop of the battery, the burden of the current draw really depends on the shape of your battery. Most batteries in good shape see very little voltage drop for short duration current draws of 50 amps for 10 to 15 seconds.

....so what you're expressing to the public is that this stupid contraption takes FIFTY AMPS, and then trying to say its not that bad of a drain since the typical "electrical systems can handle draws of 90 amps," leaving only FORTY AMPS for the remainder of the car to function?!?!

we've got a winner!!!

 

I power mine with a honda generator mounted where the back seats used to be. Dual supercharged! Works great except I have been having these headaches.

 

okay now, on a SERIOUS note - thanks BlueMCS for some more humor on this topic....

i will be updating the installation guide in the next few days.... the intake is finally assembled as it states that it was in the guide, but some more modifications and additions have been done to get this thing to work properly - WARNING! only for the serious modder!!!

oh yeah, and you get to buy another cool ricer intake, this time, the small breather one for the blow-by tube i forgot to talk about entirely - NO ONE caught me on that!!! haha

 

new pics up - INCLUDING A FINAL INSTALL PIC!!! - and additions to the instructions are now online...

i had to change around a little bit of the stuff, because the tubing used for the custom intake routes a little differently than the expensive aftermarket ones, so the lower airbox has to be cut to make this work the best way possible... and also, i didn't like how EVERYONE'S designs still include the lower airbox because they couldn't design and build an ECU tray, which would help to make a sealed intake chamber for a quality intake...

lets see what M7 has available, hopefully they will be changing that part of the design since no one else has in the aftermarket world! any thoughts on this change? likes, dislikes - probably more dislikes than likes i'm sure.... hah

 

A for effort but I'm not sure of its performance. Bends usually hurt performance and you've got some extra bends in that funky plastic pipe. In the bang for the buck dept, I doubt this will outperform the HAI for the same money, less work, and no cutting! Keep on thinking!

 

I have been thinking - thinking that getting water pouring in from the bonnet scope sucked into the HAI isn't a good idea! In the words of Mike Barrett of MINIUSA:

"I didn't design the internal combustion motor to have water inside it, so if it gets in there, it wasn't because of me!"

Less time consuming, less work, no cutting? Sure, the HAI is literally PLUG and PLAY. How much will it cost to replace the motor after hydrolocking it? Pretty sure this isn't one of BMW's 'cheap motors,' as if there even is such a thing.....