During my most recent engine detailing, I noticed that the fins on the intercooler of my MCS are taking a beating from road debris. Are there any aftermarket alternatives in terms of some sort of grill (hopefully subtle) to block junk from flying in and denting things up? I noticed another member used some aluminum gutter guard material to resolve this issue but wondered what alternatives may exist. Where might one find some sort of fairly fine durable mesh material (black if at all possible although I assume this may be a maintenance issue due to rock chips over time) to fabricate to satisfy this requirement?

 

I made myself a grille from the gutter guard, as you mentioned in your post. It looks pretty cool IMHO. I made a 2nd one, painted it black and clearcoated it and used that for a while. After a couple of months, there were visible chips out of the paint, so I went back to the silver.
Answering your original question, I believe that either Mini Mania or Moss Motors (both NAM sponsors) sell scoop grilles, somewhere around the $30 mark.

 

I found an old metal screen window in the basement of a friends house and cut out a piece of it. The scoop is easily removable form the hood and I found that I could sandwhich the screen in around the back of that piece. The holes in the screen are small enough that nothing gets in there.

 

Is this what you looking for?:

http://www.cooperaccessories.com/cat...products_id=59

 

I, too, did the gutterguard screen. Mine's painted and does need a touch up every 2 or 3 months. It's only about a 30 minute job to pull it, paint it, and put it back. No big deal. :smile: .... I can paint it many, many, many times before I come close to totaling the $30 they want for the one on that site.

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03 B/W S model; Madness intake; Cibie 45 lamps; Magnaflow exhaust; H&R springs; Helix swaybar

 

By adding a screen, you are restricting the total amount of air permitted to enter over the intercooler. Would this not raise the temp of the intercooler robbing you of hp? If you crunch the screen down and hold it next to the scoop, you will see how much less air you are restricting from the intercooler........Just an observation!

 

Problem solved, just make a bigger scoop.

 

There would be a reduction in mass air flow with the expanded metal mesh
grills, much more then with a simple screen wire mesh grill. It would take
a "relatively" sophisticated setup to test. You may find that the numbers
are not that much different from a totally open opening to one of the
restricted ones. But there will be some restriction anytime you put
something in the airflow.

 

I've run mine through the hottest days of a NC summer with little noticeable affect. What small affect it has on airflow is more than made up by the piece of mind that some foreign object isn't going to perforate my intercooler. :smile:

 

I followed the guide at How to Build an air scoop grille for you MCS for $1.87 guide. But I didn't like the alu look. So I went to the same area for the gutter shield and bought the black plastic next to it. The holes are the same size. There's obviously no chipping, but it probably isn't as durable. I put it in a month ago and I survived so far on expressways daily with Michigan roads (lots of salt and gravel) without any damage. Anyway, for $1.87 I still have more than enough to replace it 20 times over. I made a template for the scoop and just used an exacto blade to trim around the template. Overall, it took me maybe 10 minutes. The trick for me was getting it to not curl as I was sandwiching it between the backing and the exterior opening. Once sandwiched tight, it should be strong enough.

BTW: the black plastic is actually $0.30 cheaper than the aluminum.

 

>>... bought the black plastic next to it. The holes are the same size. There's obviously no chipping, but it probably isn't as durable.

I was thinking of the same thing but my concern is: can the plastic withstand the heat from the engine?


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04 IB/W JCW MCS

 

It hasn't seemed to be a problem, yet. Though it's winter, but I expect that the scoop experiences little variance summer or winter idling at a traffic light, since the heat would still rise from the engine. I guess all I can say it, so far so good at 1 month and no probs.

 

I'm wondering how much flow restriction the scoop grill creates. Just looking at the pictures it would seem that the actual opening area is restricted by at least 10-15%.

My question, is the scoop grill counter productive?

 

>>Problem solved, just make a bigger scoop.
>>

TwoMinis,

Is this a bodyshop or photoshop job?

If it is for real do you have more pics?

Thanks

 

>>>>Problem solved, just make a bigger scoop.
>>>>
>>
>>TwoMinis,
>>
>>Is this a bodyshop or photoshop job?
>>
>>If it is for real do you have more pics?
>>
>>Thanks


If it's real I want a side shot and a shot from above.

How much?

earl

 

Sorry guys, I'm afraid it's only photoshop magic. I think it would look pretty cool and who knows, perhaps help in keep the intercooler a bit colder. Only problem is its big enough to suck in a bird.

 

>>
Only problem is its big enough to suck in a bird.

 

You could use it not only for the intercooler, but also run it back to the air intake too.

 

What if you used the chrome scoop with mesh and augmented it with the Alta air flow diverter/sprayer? Then the decrease in airflow would be counterbalanced by the increased efficiency of the Alta diverter? What do you think?

 

Funny how this thread was resurrected after a year's passing. It does give me the opportunity to state that after another year's driving the restriction of the grill is negligible, while the benefits (judging from the 2 large dents I've had to pound out of it so far) have been great!

 

I'd agree Moorlock. I've never noticed a power difference from the grille, but I have had some pretty damn big dents in it. One I had tro remove the grille from the car to straighten.

 

On every car I've owned over the years, I have used black metal screening in front of my radiator. For my MCS, I have a small piece attached on the inside of the scoop, kind of loosely fitted and haven't had any bugs or road debri on the intercooler. I also dropped in a doubled up a larger piece in front of the lower grill and another piece in front of the radiator to protect against the same. It works very well and I can just lift the screening out and brush away bugs and debri. All of this has been in place since October with no problems.