Alright, as many of you have seen some people are throwing little mesh grills onto their hood scoops to get rid of the majority of bugs and debris that hit our intercoolers. This is really easy to install if you have the stock diverter for the intercooler on the car, but takes a little modifying to get it on with the Alta diverter.

As I was looking at it I was trying to figure out how I was going to get the thing stuck on there without using the plastic part that you take off from under the hood when you install the Alta diverter. Thats when I realized, what the hell, lets try to get the stock plastic part back on there WITH the air diverter as well. This actually seals the hood to the intercooler MUCH better than both the stock diverter AND the Alta diverter.

So, first things first I ripped off the foam sealer that was on the plastic piece and tried to fit it. Negative, hood wont close. So I took a closer look and realized that it was BARELY catching on part of the rubber sealer used on the alta diverter. A few snips later and we are good to go! Here are a few pics.

Here you just see the stock piece reattached and the foam that used to seal to the intercooler diverter ripped off.



This is the Stock piece holding the grill in place. You basically just wedge it in there and it wont budge.



This is where I trimmed the rubber for the diverter to allow the hood to close.



And THIS is the finished product!

 

Does any company actually make the mesh grill for the hood scoop? Maybe one that matches the aero grill?

 

Nope. A guy from NorCalMINIs just cuts them out of what I am guessing is fencing. It actually matches decently well with the aero grill as you can see in the last pic. It has to be smaller mesh though if its going to keep all the bugs and debris out of the engine area though. PM dinlo if you have a question about how to make or cut them.

 

I think you might actually cut your airflow back down by putting the plastic piece back in. I've got the Alta diverter too and instead of trying to put a screen on the hood scoop, I got some aluminum mesh (Window screening) and cut a piece to fit between the bottom of the air diverter and the top of the intercooler. Keeps good airflow and keeps bugs, etc. out of the intercooler.

 

I doubt it cuts airflow. Rather than having that huge gap between the diverter and the intercooler it now seals the hood to the diverter. On top of that, the back piece doesnt normally QUITE touch the hood. With the stock piece back on, it seals perfectly. Only tests would show really, but I know now that ANY air going through that scoop goes through the intercooler.

 

Has anyone else had this install problem? I've checked the threads, but without success. I installed the Alta diverter, but cannot shut the bonnet with the stock plastic scoop extension in place. . .you know, that plastic thing that fits on the underside of the bonnet?

I trimmed the rubber stripping on the diverter, even radiused the front edge . . . the diagonal part of the diverter. I then cut off the underside of the plastic thing. Still no success. It's not a huge deal, but if I'd prefer to put it back in. Any feedback?

 

I believe that you're suppose to remove the plastic piece?

I have the Alta TMIC that has a similar diverter and it requires the complete plastic IC interface to removed