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I am a new user, I found my '17 All 4 S about two months ago and I have been tinkering with small things. It has been really helpful to read through some common issues and see what everyone is up to here on the forum. I am nearing a critical stage in my project so I am sharing my progress with potential updates over the next few weeks. I have always disliked nonfunctional features on cars and the hood scoop on the Mini is a cool feature but it needs to be more.
My goal for this project to is to actively feed the air box utilizing the hood scoop opening, I am fortunate to have access to scanning and production services at work that allow me to develop replacement parts like this hood scoop. With a few weeks of work the design is nearly complete, I have been through a few designs but I feel this latest iteration is headed in the right direction. My next step is to smooth the fitment gaps and finishing the mounting connections to the existing hood points. In tandem I will be designing the duct that moves the air into the box.
Let me know what your thoughts are on this, some outside critical feedback is definitely welcome, unless you are pointing out the bugs on the front.... I need a car wash badly.
Fitment test #5 Fitment Test #5 Fitment Test #5 Ducts leading to Intake
Lots of commentary on the hood scoop issue for 3rd gen cars. Many feel the BMW OEM intake used on MINIs works pretty well, though some want more and different sound than what the stock system produces. Many others feel that having a scoop that doesn't scoop is just silly.
We are looking forward to seeing how you handle the ducting. Also interested if you have any plans to prevent water from getting into the intake system.
Thanks for putting us in the loop. And welcome to the All4 Clubman Club -- a most exclusive group of highly discerning motorers.
Subscribed! Very cool, looking forward to your project updates.
I'm in the group of people who dislike having a hood scoop that does not scoop. In my old 2009 Clubman I used the AEM intake which made the scoop functional. I don't know that it did much for performance but I felt good about that scoop afterwards :-)
I never had any trouble with water getting to the air box. It was uphill and a 2 foot long path so not much other than mist would get up there. In the case of the F-series cars, I imagine the two right angles the air will have to turn to get to the main intake will cause any water to fall out of he air.
Thanks for all the feedback! Glad to hear I am not the only one OCD on the Hood Scoop.
I don't think rain will be an issue with the shape of the duct and airbox, some testing will support this. On the performance side I am attempting to monitor the intake air temps with the iCarly App but I am not having much luck with the parameters function. My goal is to track it before and after too see if there are any gains to be had.
Some progress was made tonight, I was able to scan the duct and prepare the model for engineering the new replacement duct. Photos below show portions of that process, Enjoy!
Factory Duct Air Box inlet Scanning setup Point Cloud with Texture
From: Manassas, VA where the Civil War resides.....
While this is certainly of interest to us in the non-functional hood scoop hate group, it should be pointed out that the position of the hood scoop may ultimately affect the effectiveness of the opened hood scoop. Keep in mind that location could actually be in a dead spot in the air flow across the hood, rendering the opening of the scoop useless. I've read in the past about others attempting the same modification on other cars with no measurable positive effect and in some cases worse results than stock. Many times the design is purely cosmetic, due to past styling traditions or cues from past designs. Ways to test this are numerous and won't get into that now. Good Luck and I hope I am proven to be wrong in this application.
On the performance side I am attempting to monitor the intake air temps with the iCarly App but I am not having much luck with the parameters function. My goal is to track it before and after too see if there are any gains to be had.
Try using OBD Fusion or DashCommander. If on Android, Torque or DashCommander. Unlike Carly, those three exist only to do data visualization and logging.
Similarly interested and please add me to a list of interested purchasers when you are ready for sales !!
Cheers.
Originally Posted by gearhead60
While this is certainly of interest to us in the non-functional hood scoop hate group, it should be pointed out that the position of the hood scoop may ultimately affect the effectiveness of the opened hood scoop. Keep in mind that location could actually be in a dead spot in the air flow across the hood, rendering the opening of the scoop useless. I've read in the past about others attempting the same modification on other cars with no measurable positive effect and in some cases worse results than stock. Many times the design is purely cosmetic, due to past styling traditions or cues from past designs. Ways to test this are numerous and won't get into that now. Good Luck and I hope I am proven to be wrong in this application.
I have been thinking through the right sensors I will need to validate the testing we do, I would like to measure the pressure changes (if any) and the intake temp time to normalize in various driving conditions with a before and after. I highly doubt there will be any ram air effect at the speeds that this car will ever see.
Originally Posted by bratling
Try using OBD Fusion or DashCommander. If on Android, Torque or DashCommander. Unlike Carly, those three exist only to do data visualization and logging.
Thanks for the heads up, I will look into this!
I have the connector for the Air box nearly perfect, only a few more changes are needed. The screen shot is an overlay of the 3D designed Green Duct over the existing 3D scan data. I am working on smoothing the air flow path by I expect to have a duct ready for testing next week.
Been a few weeks. Had any time to work on this? (I know how projects can go…)
Everything has happened in that last couple weeks, the sands of time hit again! After getting married and taking on some new projects I am able to think again!
Since the last update I have created 2 additional versions with the 3rd version that will be ready for testing this afternoon.
v 0.1 of the Transition duct No mounting locations
v 0.2 Transition Duct Mounting Tabs, updated shape
I'm very impressed with your work. However, that looks very vulnerable to aspirating water. During a torrential downpour (as we've been getting every other day for two months), driving through a big puddle, or getting blasted by someone driving through a big puddle in an oncoming lane, could instantly dump a gallon of water in there and your engine would be toast (soggy toast). I could see a snow plow throwing tons of snow directly into there too.
