I believe this is the right time to share this modification that I have done to my car over a year ago. If any manufacturer uses it to develop a new product, be kind to me and let me have a prototype and I will be happy. No patent expected....

SAI - Split Air Intake

Because the opening on the hood for the Intercooler is larger than the intercooler itself, I wanted to use this wasted space and channel the air to the air filter intake. I made the modified cover for the Intercooler of aluminum. Notice that there is a divider for the side of the intercooler and the new air path to the air filter.

When anyone sees this setup, the first question is always: does this not reduce the air that goes to intercooler? I asked the thermal engineer in my company if this was a concern. He models airflow for a living and has done this for over 25 years. He agreed with my observation that the extra space area not used as an intercooler creates a vortex that would create back pressure and decrease the efficience of the intercooler. By forcing the air that goes to the intercooler to stay in a straght direction to the intercooler, air keeps its velocity better and more will flow through it than in the other set up. Granted, I have not done any experiments to measure this, but it is logical. ALTA has done something similar, with their intercooler air deflector (not sure what they call it), in that they hope to channel that air going to the unused corner and direct it to the intercooler. I could had done the same, but do not like the resulting circular air flow that this creates over the intercooler.

Notice that I had kept the air coming from the stock air source, but modified it by increasing the diameter at the later part to the airbox. Just to help some with the backpressure.

My intake gets air from three places. From stand still, most of the air comes from the opening below the window (crowl?), since I did removed the plastic wall that is behind the stock airbox. Once the MINI is moving, air is moving through the stock air source on the front and the SAI. I did drill some holes on the plastic piece that is part of the chrome grill that shields the stock air source to the airbox. I might have to post pictures of that, not sure if that makes sense to you.

Your eyes are not lying, I am using the element from my Typhoon K&N CAI with the Alta CAI hose. I have the Alta foam filter, but took it out because it had so much oil (Applied by Manufacturer prior to delivery) that a lot of it make its way to the rest of the Air intake path. I will clean the Alta element and reaply the oil when the K&N filter needs cleaning. Either one does great. But I did used the Typhoon K&N CAI tubes to increase the diameter of the last path to the air box. The fact that I cut the stock hose for that last path, in an earlier experiment, had a lot to do with my need to do this.

In an earlier version, I had the SAI feed the stock airbox (stock setup with its cover) with a K&N filter replacing the stock filter. It is an option that some of you that want true heat shielding can try. It works fine and can be a lot cheaper than the CAI in the market. I did notice that at take off there does not seem to be enough air moving to the stock airbox with its cover on. That is why I went to the CAI concept. It makes the MINI easier to drive on the street. Some of the take off hesitation on 1st was gone when I put it in its current configuration. Yes, I did try several times the before-after test and is obvious.

I have driven this for over 10K miles and not had any problems at all in heavy rain.

Go and start hacking away .........

Your comments are welcomed.

Bomboasy

PS. The modified divider cost me about $7 for the "L" aluminum pieces and I cut a piece of an aluminum rack shelf for the rest. I did all the cutting myself. Finding a rubber piece to go the last distance to the air box was not easy. The gap allows water to drop off.

 

Very clever idea. I'd be surprised if it doesn't hurt intercooler efficiency though. With $50 worth of gauges, it would be easy to test that.

 

Yes, test results would be great to see!

Above everything else, I like the fact that you are thinking outside the box! Refreshing to see knew ideas come up instead of the same old threads!

Cheers!

 

Very cool, I'd love to see the numbers.

Whether it performs well or not, great idea

 

Imagine that, some ppl actually, think about it, then make it up and try out their ideas. This is where the real deal car nut meets the road and gets his hands dirty.
This has been happening a lot lately has something gotten into the water?
Not the same old same old with a bunch of questionable pitches from the V gallery.
Thanks for the write up and pictures.

 

very good idea, i'd love to see the numbers, and some sound clips would be really cool

 

Thanks for posting your ideas. I like the thought process.

 

I would love to see the numbers too, but the budget does not allow for those expenditures. I have three kids and have to keep my priorities strait. As a strait shooter, I will tell you that I understand the principle of test first, modify and test after. I am an electrical engineer. In my single days, I did all of that with my Honda Prelude, but now I am doing all of this mods for the pleasure of doing them, not to race it. As you can see I did not liked some mods and went to something else that made more of a difference. I can tell that my MINI is way better than it was before with all the things, more than just SAI, that I have done to it. Why?

Simple, I can drive it on 3 and 4th gear in a parking lot in the low 2k and even below 2k RPM range and it does not feel like I have to go to 1 or 2nd gear as it did when I first purchased the car. It is way torquier than before and it shoots like a rocket when I put my foot down. I am almost always in the 2k to 3k range and booking it. I use my 6th gear everywhere, not just the highway. Downshift is from 6th to 5th, if I want to, not because I need to. I hardly need to go past 4.5K to get it really going and when I do, I am making another car look silly.

My Mods......

- 15% pulley made a big difference
- Webb Motorsports TB made a difference
- Webb Motorspots Reflash made a big difference
- Plugs and Hot wires made small... difference
- Ryphean #2 made a difference.
- Putting a new Bypass with the Ryphean #2, that actually closed properly really made a difference. see photo that shows the stock bypass that never closed properly.
- K&N Typhoon made a difference, but no heat shielding so out it went
- ALTA CAI made a difference, but heat shielding is not complete, big holes. See how my SAI gets the air to the Box....
- SAI made a difference specially at high speeds
- Exchanging green seal at the "runner" that connects the SC and TB. Removing extra material in air path. Drummiling extra material at the SC side and filling the inside seams of "runner" where two plastic pieces are glued together to smooth out the airpath made a difference.
- I made tons of mods to the interior for better usability that do not translate into performance, but a better car all around.


I told Randy at Webb Motorsports about SAI a long time ago, so that he could develop it. Not interested. I would love to see somebody who has the skill, measuring gear and money to continue this quest. That is why I am giving it away. If you try this you will not be disapointed.

I am happy with it. It is a big part of what I have done to my car and would love to see more of it around.

Bomboasy

PS. I just got a Header that I will be putting in next week. The fun continues. It is the $155 dollar one from EBAY that is described in another post.

 

If you look at this

http://www.altaminiperformance.com/p.../ICDIVERT.html

then you can see that they are already doing half of this mod. All that is left is to add some more dividers and a small length of tubing towards the filter housing.

 

This could all me done with ease if someone would manufacture a carbon hood that applies this issue into it.

Say a few fins over the wheel arches to dissipate heat real quick, and a filter air path something like the Evo 7.

Nice idea you have there.

 

That's some *slick* Yankee-ingenuity. I never would have thought of that idea. Compartmentalized with connecting air tubes maybe, but directional air flow- nifty idea. Thanks for mentioning the Ryephix upgraded supercharger bypass valve. It's going to be my next upgrade. (Note: see my signature )

Real quick, can you explain the "before and after" of the valve change? Improved throttle repsonse? Yo-yo fix? Noticeable boost improvement? ie. "I want it right now and I get it right now." Keep up the great work, I like what you've done.

 

You may want to try this instead, it's cheaper, easier to install, and achieves all of the purported benefits of the Ryephix:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=38268

 

Done and done. Looks like I have another weekend project. Thanks for the pictures, graphs, data, application, etc. I'll post some of my results when I'm done on your other thread.

 

This is the post from ALTA2, in another thread. I am bringing his question here to answer it for the benefit of this thread.



“bomboasy,
Just curious, did you leave the plastic divider(plastic wall between the brake booster and intake) in to give more pressure going through the IC? Or did you not know you are supposed to remove that wall? I am asking because for some reason, many people leave that wall in when installing our intake.

It has been proven by many people, one being Andy from Ross-tech, that the vent in front of the window besides providing cold air, also provides some pressurized air. This amount of pressure isn't much but i would guess taking away some of the pressure from the front scoop would cause some loss of flow through the IC. And as we all know, that little IC needs all the air flow it can get!

Blocking off the vent from the diverter-intake would provide more pressure and flow through the IC. Then removing that plastic wall would gain you back some of that fresh air and pressure had by that scoop in front of the window.

Just an idea.



ALTA2

__________________
Jeff Perrin
503-643-4677
www.ALTAminiperformance.com

Authorized ALTA dealers:
Eurostyles East - Moss Mini - Out Motoring - Seven Enterprises - Terry Sayther Automotoive - Webb Motorsports”




My first mod was the K&N Typhoon CAI. I did not like the lack of heat shielding. I read Randy's suggestion about drilling holes in the plastic sheet that you mentioned, when a CAI is installed. I was drilling the holes and it occurred to me that if I removed the plastic sheet, I would be able to get cool air through the opening under the window when the MINI is not moving, at the street light and when the car is moving slowly.

I did remove the plastic sheet that separates the brake lines and the stock air box. Just as I expected, the MINI did had less hesitation at takeoff. Remember this is with only the CAI changed in the car, at that time. When I was designing SAI, I struggle with the idea of keeping the plastic sheet to reflect the air, entering the airbox space from SAI that was moving past the K&N filter. This would in theory reverse the airflow and aim it to the filter. But it would also increase the pressure that is created by the air entering the airbox space, air entering through SAI and the stock air source by the radiator. You might think that you want that pressure, but do you really want it? It would work as back pressure reducing the air volume that actually made it to the air filter. It would fight the airflow from the stock air source by the radiator. I also did not want to loose the source of cool air at low speed and take off.

So I decided to aim the air from SAI to a point at the hood where it would reflect the air to the filter. If you close the hood, with SAI installed right, the air is aimed to a point in the hood that has a curve facing the exit rubber hose of SAI. It is curved down about an inch and change. This force the air been rammed in to go down to the air filter. I can see a lot of junk exactly under this area in the air filter, telling me where the air is going. There is also nice traces of dirt on the hood reflecting area telling me were my SAI hose is aiming. Air entering from the stock air source, by the radiator, forces air up, aimed to the air filter as well. Two forces,not the same amount, aimed against each other slow the air in front of the air filter, the rest bleed off by the opening under the window. By the way, there is more air coming from SAI than the stock air source.

What about the opening under the window at high speed, yes, this should have some down pressure at speed, but if the air volume is grater coming from under the hood, than the air that wants to come down through the opening under the window, which way would you expect the air to flow. That opening works as an exhaust in my MINI, with SAI. Want proof? I can not use the open vent position in my A/C. Hot air flows in the car, even in the winter. It also has a nice smell If cool air was going in through the opening under the window, I would feel that cool air in the cabin. SAI is not completely sealed and it does bring some hot air, but then again the ALTA CAI does NOT seal the box area under the hood. Guess how it is that the air from SAI enters the Airbox area?

If I place back the plastic, it will be with a BIG hole in the middle, to let some of that air bleed off and also to let air enter the filter at low speeds and stand still from the opening under the window.


One more thing. Why do we want to let downpressure do the work that we want done in the opening under the window. I proposed before, at least 7 months ago, that somebody build a raising hood on top of this opening under the window. NO, not the silly and ugly hoods that are already in the market. It would be flush at low speed and stand still. Then the wind would open the hood at speed and the hood would force air through that opening. Then we could also put some tubing to guide that air to the air filter.


My fingers hurt now…

Bomboasy


PS


uae mini, I want someone to build something like that. It will be tricky. I would be happy to pay for it, but would be nice to get a NICE discount for helping with the concept....


regalic, I did consider using the Alta Air Reflector, but notice how much higher it is than my version. You loose so much volume than my version. My version is flush with the intercooler, lettin more air pass through. Alta could make another version of this Alta Air Reflector, to include SAI, but it would look significantly different.

 

b man,

your experiments refelect the best of what these forums offer! keep it up.

but bear in mind that the area at the base of the windshield will always be a "higher" pressure area. the opening there doesn't have to be a scoop for air to flow into the opening. if you want to "scoop" air, the scoop should be on the hood before the airflow on the hood starts to turn up the windshield and create the "higher" pressure area.

if you're really adventurous, see if you can figure out a way to "ram" the air into the ic like you have, then extract it out from under the ic with a little duct and an aft facing slot in the middle of the hood. the slot would be at a "lower" pressure area, thus giving you a push-me-pull-me pressure effect through the ic.

good luck and have fun.

 

Thank you for the kind complement. I agree with you that in the stock configuration, without anything removed, the opening under the window will have a vacuum that creates the downward pressure. But I believe that once the plastic wall is removed and air is channed to that area, a vacuum can not be created. To prove this I will do a little experiment. I will place a string that will hang on the hood, near the opening under the window (OUTW). If the string feel the vacuum that you expect, I will not see it come up through the OUTW. If the air been rammed to the airbox has killed the vacuum and made that an exit vent, I will see part of the string come up through the OUTW. I will have to remove the spongy material in the grill of the OUTW, so the string can come up, if it wants to do that.

I welcome any comments about this experiment and suggestions on changing it to insure a fair test.

I believe that this is biased to the benefit of the vacuum theory, because the weight of the string will be pulling down.

Bomboasy

 

Bomboasy,

PM me with your address and I'll send you my magnehelic differential pressure gauge with hoses (thanks to jlm!) to borrow for testing.

 

You have my address in a PM. Thanks for offering.

Bomboasy

 

Fracky,

It is not *Yankee* Engineering. It is South American Engineering.

SAI will not fix any Yo-Yo problems in the car. Others have found ways to address this and like you, I have found them in this and other forums. If you see my mods list, you can tell that I have gone the Ryephix #2 direction.

I did this before Andy showed us VGS. I am intrigued by it and considering trying it. But, VGS does not address one thing that made a lot of difference in my car. The seal of the bypass valve. If you see the second set of pictures that I posted, it shows you the stock bypass valve that was in my MINI. Ryephile provided me with a perfectly sealing bypass valve. I am the person that suggested to Ryephile to incorporate that service when selling his mod. Randy at Webb Motorsports has confirmed that he has seen a large number of MINIs with a not compleately sealing bypass valve out there. This alone could explain why there are some MINIs that seem "stronger" than others. Randy did notice that my MINI was not making as much power as it should had when he installed the 15% pulley. I got that power back when I changed the bypass valve.

In my case, It was not possible to adjust the stock bypass valve to seal properly, in the stock bypass valve. The butterfly is just not shaped properly.

Whether you do VGS, Ryephix #2 or nothing at all, please take the time to check the seal in your butterfly. If you descide to remove it to do this, you might be tempted to move the TB to get it out. Be very careful not to push the TB down with much force. It is wise to keep at least one screw, that holds the TB in place, partially screwed in. This is to be sure that you do not break the plastic brace that holds the runner that connects the SC to the TB. That plastic "runner" piece is held in place by a single screw at the side of the SC and by the pressure it gets from the TB pushing it in place (nothing to do with air pressure). I know of one person who did this and had to remove the front bumper to get it all together again. Also, you can loose the seal created by the green gasket at the SC side. It is a wise idea to change that gasket, as it can easily get pinched and you loose some of the pressure from the SC. Changing that green gasket is a real difficult project.

Just be careful.

If you find that your bypass valve's butterfly needs adjusting, remember that the butterfly screws are made of brass and will be damaged easily if not treated with care. If you find that it can not be sealed properly, buy one from your dealer. Check if the seal is good before you leave. Just look inside the Bypass Valve and seal all light between your eye and it. Face the Bypass Valve to a light source and if you see light, it is not sealing well. if you want to incorporate the Ryephix #2, you can buy it with the spring already installed.

I hope that all makes some sense, if not, PM me and I can call you to talk about it in more detail.

Bomboasy

 

Bomboasy,

I am going to ask the stupid question! Thanks for the above post, I understand the concept of where you are going and need to be.... But, with the valve not sealing, what are we looking at? Is it a power loss? Pressure loss? Just trying to complete the loop of what this will help given a proper seal and understand the concept fully!

Also, if you order/purchase a valve from the dealer, why would one have a better seal than another? Is the build quality for the part in question that much different to where you would see one valve sealing better than another?

I am new to SC engines, sounds like this valve is in the TB? If you get an upgraded TB, would this be corrected? Could be wrong on this?

Sorry for all of the questions, this valve theory is intriguing...

 

CooperSAZ,

The butterfly that I am refering to is in the Bypass Valve, not the TB. You are right, both have butterflies. The Bypass Valve is used to bypass the SC from the airpath. This usually happens from 0 to about 2.8K RPMs. This allows the MINI S to have a reasonable gas effeciency. If this Bypass Valve did not exist, we would benefit from the SC from above 0 RPM to Red Line, but the fuel efficiency would drop significantly. This is a simplistic description of how it works. You should read the VGS or Ryephix #2 for more specific information related to the Bypass Valve's function.

Regarding the quality of the Bypass Valve's butterfly seal, it is a manufacturing problem. Many people have seen this problem. You should check your stock Bypass Valve seal and if it is not sealed completly, you can try to correct it by adjusting the screws (be gentle), but I would buy a new one. Notice that I said your dealer, because that means you can check the seal the moment they hand you the replacement, before you pay. You can not do that by mail.

If you do not have a good seal at the Bypass Valve, when your engine is under Boost, you are lossing some power that your SC is trying to make. An upgraded TB will not take care of this......

Bomboasy

 

Is there an aftermarket vendor that sells properly closing bypass valves? I see that Detroit Tuned has the Ryephix 2 bypass valve, but I am wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to mail order one that has been re-machined to close properly, but with the standard strength spring (presumably for use with VGS or similar). It's a long drive for me to get to a dealer...

 

Before you get all depress on me TomAiello, check your Bypass Valve. it is not difficult. "Just do it". Use the light test and if you do not see any light, you are OK. Then if need it, try to adjust the seal. If this can not be done, then it is time to be sad and look for a replacement. Most people do not have a seal problem, but some of us do (in my case did).

Bomboasy

 

I tried the string test and here are the results: Nothing concrete !!! I placed 3 strings near the opening under the driver's side windshield. I did remove the honeycomb plastic shield. Two of the strings were tied securely and the third was tied loose to allow it to move horizontally along a tube. After some runs at ~80 MPH, the two strings that were seculy placed were displaced horizontaly. The third string moved about 7 inches horizontally. You can get plenty of wild ideas out of this, but nothing is clear. If anything, the only interesting thing, for me, was the third string moving that far. It is as if it was pushed out of the way. This could be from air moving in either direction. I guess have to wait for Andy's magnehelic differential pressure gauge with hoses (thanks to jlm!) to borrow for testing. I am willing to admit when something that I tried did not work and the string test is on of them.

Bomboasy

 

bomboasy,
Thanks for clearing that up, basically you are using the wall to keep some of the pressurized air from coming out the air box.

It seems that there is a lot of effort going into getting the air into the intake system differently than what we have done using the window. Things like hood scoops, window scoops and of corse the SAI, I don't see much more HP gained by the SAI that just our normal intake system. Since the window provides some pressure, and of corse fresh cool air, there shouldn't be much more to be had. Even on some of our high powered Subaurs with larger IC's, the CAI's don't gain much if any more than the HOT air intakes.

I understand that you are tyring to get some extra pressure into the intake which would act like a small SC or turbo. I am not trying to put down what you are doing at all, i just think the extra pressure you are taking away from your IC will loose you more HP than could be gained by the SAI.

The IC does all the work to cool that 250+degree charged air to ambient temp, or close to it. The mini is is already suffering from having a small IC, hardley any air flow space underneth it, and a really small scoop on the hood. Any air flow taken away from this, i going to give you a higher charge air temp which will loose you HP. How much??? I don't know that but it is all about the final charge air temp after the IC. The colder the air the better, and the more HP you gain.

Getting more air to the IC will make a much bigger difference than trying to get more air to the intake. I would love to see this kind of effort applied here. I feel this will make a bigger difference. Just like our larger TMIC, the cooler air it produces is one of the reasons why it gains 10-12WHP. I think that a better, larger scoop, or something would gain you more HP than than trying to force more air into the intake.

Some people mentioned they didn't like those aftermarket hoods with funny scoops, but in this case that is ultimately the best answer.

Please don't think i am putting your idea down at all. I truely love the ideas the NAM crowd comes up with, to get more HP. Look at the way the mini crowd found out about the diverter valve not sealing, and gained HP by this.